Maine Catholic Convent’s Planned University Housing Project Stymied By Development Ban

By Ted Cohen/Maine Wire

The University of New England has been set back in its bid to begin creating student housing in a Biddeford convent.

Biddeford councilors Tuesday imposed a temporary development moratorium on the school, according to the Biddeford Gazette.

The college has been planning to buy St. Joseph's Convent two miles west of its southern-Maine campus.

Good Shepherd Sisters of Quebec’s complaints that the proposed moratorium could kill their planned sale of the convent fell on deaf ears.

They said they can't afford to maintain the property and have been planning its sale since 2017.

The school has received approval of its conversion plan from the Saco River Corridor Commission.

But city officials decided they need time to review the impact of the college’s long-term growth plans.