Major progress on the North Windham Sewer Project, which has been in development since 2021, was made last month when the Windham Town Council unanimously approved the implementation of a Tax Increment Financing District (TIF) to pay for development costs.

The TIF, according to Town Manager Barry Tibbetts, increases the buy-in fee for new businesses to connect to the sewer system from $3,500 to $5,000, and will apply to new businesses looking to set up shop in North Windham, It will go into effect at the beginning of 2026. Existing businesses and homes, Tibbetts noted, will not see their fees increased.

Tibbetts explained on Nov. 12 that the buy-in fee is paid when a property connects to the sewer, and that the increase of $1,500 for new businesses is to pay for the capacity that Windham needs to build a new sewer treatment plant. The alternative to the connection fee, a standby fee, was yet to be determined as of the end of November.

When asked what would happen if someone didn’t want to connect and just wanted to pay the stand-by fee, Tibbetts said that if they don’t connect, they pay the stand-by fee, but if the ordinance was passed the town would have the ability to order them to connect. He also said if someone was in the process of building apartment units in North Windham that would connect after January 2026, most would have to pay the $5,000 rate. However, he noted, that there would be some exceptions for certain developers who are in the process of construction but might not have all units built by that time to pay the lower rate.

“There’s only going to be so many (apartment units) built every year,” said Tibbetts, noting that the TIF will be phased in over the seven years of construction of new development retail stores and apartments.

This is only the latest step in a project that began in 2021, when the town entered into an agreement with the Portland Water District to put a sewer site together. The following year, the town voted in favor of of a Clean Water State Revolving Loan by a margin of 80% in favor to 20% against, which Tibbetts noted was a complete reversal of a vote on a previous sewer plan a decade prior. The main impetus for the project, Tibbetts said, was to clean up the nitrogen and phosphorus in Windham’s groundwater, which in much of the town was over EPA limits, and was polluting the nearby Presumpscott River.

The first phase of the project is located at Manchester Elementary School, where the construction of a new treatment facility is coinciding with the development of multiple new sports fields. The facility, which connects to around 70 of North Windham’s 101 businesses, is a membrane bioreactor, a type of facility that is capable of turning waste into “almost potable water,” Tibbetts said. Construction on this phase began in 2023, and is due to be completed in 2025, with the “first flush” predicted to take place on Feb. 3, 2026. The total cost of this phase of the project is $47.5 million, with a projected bond payment cost of $1.819 million, which is to be paid for through TIF funds.

The second phase focuses on establishing a connection between Windham High School, the still-under construction new middle school, and the treatment plant. Tibbetts boasted that WHS was one of just two high schools east of the Mississippi with its own treatment plant, but said that the old plant would be removed due to its discharge dumping into the Presumpscott River.

A new sewer line will run down Windham Center Road to the middle school, and then be pumped all the way to the treatment plant at the elementary school. Although the sewer will open by the first quarter of 2026, the high school and middle school will not be connected until 2027, as the middle school will not take occupancy until the third quarter of that year. The project is set to cost $13.5 million, with $625,000 in bond payments set to be paid for through the TIF.

The collection lines will be put in during the winter, spring and fall of 2025, with hopes of avoiding work during summer traffic. Homes and businesses are expected to hook up to the system in fall 2025, when the plant will be “pre-loaded.” While there is concern from residents about traffic and inconveniences, Tibbetts said that this project had to be done because Windham was putting way too many phosphates and nitrates into the ground.

Much of the funding comes in the form of a $40 million grant from the state, which is the highest amount of money ever given out for a project of this type, due to it’s goal of cleaning up the Presumpscott watershed. Both of Maine’s U.S. senators, as well as U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree, went to bat for the project, supporting direct Congressional funding to help cover the costs.

“I don’t know any other municipality that’s taken on a project this size,” said Tibbetts, who has worked in municipal government for more than three decades.

The total cost of these projects is $61 million, $51.2 million of which will be funded by TIF funding. The first phase of the plant will be able to treat 154,000 gallons per day, and by the time the high school connection is complete, that number will be more than double, about 320,000. As the TIF is implemented incrementally, the revenue from them will gradually increase until it reaches roughly $3.4 million by 2029, the year the town expects to break even. Tibbetts expected much of the money to go towards sewer payments and expansion.

Rory Sweeting — (207) 689-2862

rsweeting@metln.org