The Themes from What we’ve heard: 

• Downtown is the heart of Freeport with places to gather for people of all ages.

• Maintain the feel of a friendly small town. 

• Human-scale traditional architecture that is authentic to New England and Freeport.

• Keep local services downtown such as the Post Office, Town Hall, Schools, and other essential local services downtown, as well as restaurants and retail.

• There is great interest in building more housing downtown in existing parking lots. 

• Creating the housing market in downtown Freeport, there is an opportunity to attract retirees or those aging in place, young people moving to Freeport, and people who work in downtown freeport. 

• Need for housing that is available for people to live of all ages, incomes, and abilities.

• Proximity to downtown amenities such as schools, town hall, community center, library, shopping, grocery store, L.L.Bean and other jobs, and the Train Station make downtown a great potential neighborhood for building future housing in Freeport. 

• Results of the Residents Survey indicate that when asked, “If there was more housing available in Downtown Freeport, could you see yourself or your family living in Downtown?” residents responded 42% “Yes”, and 58% “No”. This indicates a pent-up demand for housing in Freeport even among existing Freeport residents.

Discussion Questions 

• What are the barriers to housing development?

•  What is the target market? What is the target and current mix of market/ affordable units?

• What should housing Downtown look like? 

• What is the appropriate height and density of future housing downtown?

• Why has there not been any housing developed in Downtown in recent years?