Davis Island residents seek selectmen’s help with disaster relief funding (ME)

Three December storms resulted in severe flooding at Davis Island properties and a resident is now looking for help. John Allen requested Feb. 20 Edgecomb selectmen assist their homeowner’s association with submitting a Maine Emergency Management Agency application for natural disaster funding.  Read the article…………………………….

South Berwick, Maine, Fire Damages Condo Units

The South Berwick Fire Department responded to a fire in the roof of a building at a condo complex on Saturday.  The smoky fire in the Woodland Hills Condominium damaged the roof and caused extensive fire, smoke, and water damage to two of the four units, according to the South Berwick Fire Department.   Read the […]

Augusta residents on private roads seek city trash pickup (ME)

Residents on Three-Cornered Pond want something the residents of most other homes in the city get now: their trash picked up at their homes by the city.  But not all of them are willing to sign over a public easement to their private roads that officials say is required for city crews to venture onto […]

Court sides with Falmouth in homeowner association sewer suit (ME)

The Maine Superior Court has ruled that the town of Falmouth has the “unambiguous” right to extend a sewer line through The Woodlands neighborhood.  The Woodlands Homeowners Association filed a lawsuit against the town in November, claiming that an existing sewer easement didn’t allow the town to build a new line through the private neighborhood.  Read […]

Falmouth neighborhood plans to take legal action against town over sewer project (ME)

There’s a fight in Falmouth over plans to build a new sewer line.  A lawyer for one neighborhood is ready to take legal action, but the town says it’s doing what’s most cost-effective.  The Woodlands Homeowners Association says it’s challenging a $3 million sewer project that was just approved.     Read the entire article……………………………….

Portland bets on co-ops to meet need for affordable housing (ME)

Back in March, Houssein Abdi attended a special meeting to find a way to help fellow tenants whose lives were just starting to be upended by the coronavirus pandemic.  They hatched a plan to prevent any tenants from being evicted for nonpayment of rent and to help find additional support for five households struggling to […]

West Harbor Pond siphon resumes operation (ME)

When the new West Harbor Pond siphon began operating in early March, drawing water from the bottom of the Pond and expelling it into the Harbor, there was an odor of hydrogen sulfide in the immediate vicinity of the siphon outfall. In mid-April, the West Harbor Pond Watershed Association (WHPWA) and the Boothbay Harbor Yacht […]

Marijuana fumes dispute drives Augusta condo neighbors to court (ME)

One homeowner says secondhand marijuana smoke sickens her; the smoker, a neighbor, says she needs medical marijuana for her own health.  Now their dispute is in Kennebec County Superior Court, where Philip and Jessica Manfre are suing Ashley Seile. Both parties are owners and occupants of adjacent condominiums at 136 Old Winthrop Road in Augusta. […]

Seasonal Maintenance: A Year-Round Responsibility

Building maintenance follows a schedule based on the seasons, each of which presents a unique set of challenges to a co-op or condo. At certain times of the year, it just makes sense to do certain regular maintenance projects: weatherizing, boiler maintenance, winterizing gardens and landscaping in the fall; cleaning, repainting, pruning, and switching off […]

The 2014 Legislative Agenda in New England

The old saying that the only sure things in life are death and taxes leaves out a third certainty: legislation. Across New England each year, thousands of bills get filed in state legislatures, many of them as mundane as the naming of a bridge or a new state “something”—like designating the Fluffernutter as Massachusetts’ official […]