Funding Opportunities
Community Development Block Grant Assistance
SCEC helps Washington County communities and businesses with economic development projects under the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.
View the 2023 Program Statement
CDBG Deadlines for the FY2024 Program Year will be posted here as soon as they are available.
Map of Brownfields projects in Washington County.
Regulatory Barriers to Redevelopment
There are only a handful of municipalities in Washington County with locally adopted zoning ordinances. Others have very basic land use ordinances or nothing at all besides the state-mandated subdivision and shoreland zoning regulations. None of these regulations contain regulatory barriers to infill development. Indeed most of them, and the Comprehensive Plans on which they are based, encourage it.
How are Brownfields chosen for redevelopment?
The Washington County Brownfields Advisory Committee help to select properties by using a set of ranking criteria that is based on many factors. Strong redevelopment potential is high among them. Properties also score points where redevelopment is supported by available infrastructure and when the community has expressed a policy about desirable locations for development.
A threshold requirement is landowner willingness – site assessment is entirely voluntary at the direction of the property owner.
Examples of successful redevelopment include:
- tank removal and re-use of a former Route 1 gas station;
- re-use of a Maine DOT maintenance garage by the town of Pembroke;
- demolition of a former sardine factory with contamination by lead and organic compounds into a now thriving indoor lobster storage facility, and
- repurposing of an old Five and Dime store into offices, computer training lab, and community arts space.