On Thursday April 8th the Deer Isle Select Board will again take up Island Workforce Housing’s property tax exemption application.

The school is first on the agenda so it is expected that our portion of the discussion will begin at 5:30 PM.

Our responses to the select board’s questions can be found in this PDF document.

Because of covid safety protocols, we need to limit the number of supporters attending in person. We've spoken with a handful of folks who will attend in person, and we are kindly requesting that everyone else, if you haven't heard from us directly, please join via Zoom:

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6284562083?pwd=SHR5cENWUlIxbHYwL0x4VlY3cElyQT09

Passcode: DeerIsle!

Dial in +1 (301) 715-8592

Meeting ID: 628 456 2083

Passcode: 874437769

One tap mobile +19292056099,,6284562083#,,,,*874437769#

Their questions were written out in the minutes from the previous meeting meeting. Many of them have been answered in our public documents: the needs assessment, strategic plan, planning board application, covenants, and recent newspaper articles. We described the relevant portions of those in our response, and attached the documentation.

The discrimination concerns are answerable by the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin, and the Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan, which allows a residency preference for persons who reside or work in a specified geographic area, as long as those preferences are clearly stated in marketing and application documents.

We are very proud of the wide local support for the project, and we hope these answers address the board's concerns and questions.