BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 28, 2022
Caribou will need more rural housing in the next decade to keep up with current demands. But new housing has largely not materialized since the early 2000s and might not happen any time soon due in part to Maine’s subdivision laws. Initially passed in the early 1970s, the state law was intended to prevent “urban sprawl” in southern areas. While a rural city like Caribou wants to protect sensitive and economically viable waterways, the state laws discourage housing developments that the city needs to grow, Code Enforcement Officer Ken Murchison said.