The Ramada Hotel and Conference Center on Pleasant Street in Lewiston. Lewiston Housing is seeking to turn the facility into 118 units of affordable housing with supportive services. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal file

LEWISTON — A proposal to turn the Ramada Hotel into transitional housing appeared to have support from the City Council on Tuesday, but the project faces complications.

During a workshop session Tuesday, the council had its first public discussion regarding Lewiston Housing’s potential purchase of the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center with the help of state grant funding aimed at curbing homelessness.

While councilors discussed the controversial nature in which the proposal was rolled out, they appeared on board with Lewiston Housing’s proposal to turn the hotel into affordable housing with supportive services.

The plan would create 118 studio units with services focusing on workforce development, mental health and more, which Lewiston Housing officials said would be intended for “Lewiston residents who are homeless, priced out of the market, and/or victims of no-fault evictions.”

The organization said that despite concerns from the public about the nature of the project, it is not a homeless shelter.

Chris Kilmurry, director of Lewiston Housing, said the state and federal definitions of homeless have several categories, and that more people than ever are living on the fringes of those categories. He said that could include people seeing rent increases that are forcing them from apartments, and are couch surfing or will be evicted soon. The categories also include homeless or disabled veterans, unaccompanied youth under 25, those fleeing domestic violence and others.

“It’s clear from the number of people coming to us, the need has only gotten more drastic,” he said referring to the need for housing options. “We believe it’s a location that can be a stabilizing point in someone’s life and can make the difference.”

Questions posed by councilors also centered on whether the housing could be utilized by asylum seekers at the Portland Expo — it can’t — and whether the units could be limited to local residents.

Kilmurry said Lewiston Housing is able to create a local preference that limits potential tenants to Lewiston, Lisbon, Sabattus and Greene.

A few councilors said Tuesday that the information provided by Lewiston Housing alleviated some concerns about the proposal, but also urged Kilmurry to host a community conversation if and when the proposal moves forward.

“I hope a lot of the public, especially those who have negative views on this, tune into this to get all the facts,” said Councilor Bob McCarthy. “This is the type of housing that I think is extremely important. It can help prevent homelessness, and could be a first step out of homelessness. To me, it’s more important than a homeless shelter. This offers the next step for people.”

Councilor Scott Harriman said he’s also in support.

“One of the big goals this council identified was to create more housing in the city,” he said. “We loosened the restrictions on multifamily housing in that zone for a reason.”

Councilor Lee Clement was outspoken with concerns on the project, but mostly relating to the process that played out to get to this point.

He said, “Some people are up in arms” over the plan, but also believes the council was “misled” by Kilmurry.

The purchase and sale agreement was signed Friday, June 16, after Lewiston Housing had been informed that its Park Street proposal would not be funded, but prior to a City Council hearing on a potential license for it.

During that meeting, Clement asked Kilmurry if Lewiston Housing had an alternative plan that it had “not yet divulged to the city.” Kilmurry responded that he didn’t but would love to “figure one out.”

Asked specifically about the Ramada, Kilmurry said he’d love to buy the property and has looked at it many times.

Responding to Clement on Tuesday, Kilmurry said he was purposely opaque with Clement’s question during the previous meeting because of the sensitive nature of the purchase and sale agreement. Kilmurry said the hotel’s owner asked him to keep it confidential because it could potentially hurt business.

Kilmurry said after that meeting — and subsequent reporting on the potential deal — business has been impacted at the hotel. He said about half the hotel staff has left, people are canceling events and if the project doesn’t move forward “it’s going to be difficult for him to regain his business.”

Another hurdle facing Lewiston Housing is a minimum unit size in the city’s ordinance for multifamily housing. The city requires units to be a minimum of 300 square feet, but most of the rooms at the Ramada are 288 square feet.

Officials from Lewiston Housing and city administration said they would have further discussions on how to address the issue, whether it’s through a Planning Board or Zoning Board of Appeals process.

Mayor Carl Sheline attempted to get an informal poll of councilors on their support for the project, but Councilor Rick LaChapelle declined to participate, and the informal vote didn’t occur.

Asked about a potential timeline for the project, Kilmurry said there is not a lot of work to make the units ready, but the building does need significant electrical upgrades. If it moves forward, he estimated it would take between three to four months once Lewiston Housing owns the building.

According to a copy of the purchase and sale agreement between Lewiston Housing and the hotel owner, Emerald Hospitality, the total purchase price would be $7.5 million. The agreement says the closing date on the sale would be on or before Oct. 31.