Four candidates are competing for two open seats on the Rockland City Council, with elections set for Nov. 7. Both seats represent three-year terms. Those running for office are Adam Ackor, Nathan Davis, Kaitlin Callahan and Louise MacLellan. 

Penobscot Bay Pilot has posed questions to each candidate, providing the opportunity for the public to better understand their positions on issues. Here, candidate Nathan Davis responds:

Please provide a concise biography of yourself.

I grew up in New Hampshire and studied math and music in college and graduate school. My wife and I moved to Rockland in 2013. I co-founded Steel House, a collaborative workspace in Rockland, in 2014.

I served one prior term on the City Council, from 2019 through 2022.

I write software for a living, compose music and create mathematical art, and volunteer for a variety of causes in Rockland and throughout Maine, including by donating technological support and expertise to organizations such as WindowDressers and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art.

What are Rockland's greatest strengths, and how do you hope to support them?

Rockland combines some of the most appealing attributes of rural and urban communities: closeness to nature, clean air and water, walkable neighborhoods, and vibrant culture. Rockland has also been able to welcome people from all walks of life, but we are in danger of losing that ability due to rising housing costs. I will do my best to expand access to housing while maintaining and enhancing what people love about Rockland.

What are Rockland's greatest issues to address?

Housing supply and affordability, including the difficulties that our high tax rate imposes on homeowners; infrastructure improvements, including those related to sidewalks and stormwater; and the complex of social issues related to opioids, poverty, and precarity.

Social Issues: Feel free to combine your answers concerning the following questions, because there are so many facets to the problems.

Rockland, the region, state and country remain locked in an opioid crisis. While the state has taken a leadership position in responding (see Maine Opioid Response) to the crisis, how would you, as a City Council member, work to build a healthier community?

I don’t pretend to have policy expertise specific to the opioid crisis, and the specifics of policy response are better left to those who do. But this crisis is bound up with poverty and precarity, and we can do much more to develop stable and affordable housing.

We need to both make it easier to build housing and institute policies like rent stabilization to ensure that housing remains affordable now and into the future.

More generally, we need to take more seriously at a municipal level the problems of poverty, including our lack of child care and the large population of children in unstable home environments.

Some fixes are relatively cheap and easy; for example, providing child care at public meetings.

Some are more expensive and difficult; for example, working with RSU13 to implement something like the Educare model that has been successful elsewhere. But we have to do more than we are doing now.

Rockland’s Police Dept., as well as Fire and EMS, face a constant barrage of overdoses and mental health crises in their line of work. How will you support them?

By continuing to fund the mental health position that was established in this year’s budget, and possibly expanding it, as well as funding appropriate training or other resources. More generally, by addressing the complex of social problems that I described in my previous answer.

A dearth of workforce housing is plaguing the region. What would you do to help encourage expansion of the housing stock for the middle and working classes? Should Rockland’s zoning ordinances support denser housing patterns and construction of accessory dwellings on smaller lots? Is there an ideal balance for regulating short term rentals and allowing property owners to earn money from short term rentals?

This is a big, complex set of questions. In general, I believe we must make it easier to build in Rockland, including by enabling and encouraging density, accessory dwellings, and apartment buildings.

A full list of code changes I would propose is long and beyond the scope of this answer, but some include: eliminating most minimum parking requirements (which encourage sprawl and asphalt, decrease density, and increase per-unit construction costs); reducing frontage requirements; and allowing multifamily dwellings in all residential zones.

But we also need to be more assertive in our outreach to developers and in our offers of incentives like TIFs.

In general, I believe that an appropriate balance regarding short term rentals is allowing people to rent out portions of their primary residence while they live there or are away for trips of limited duration.

There is likewise a rise in homelessness. How best can the city help to mitigate and alleviate that trend?

In addition to making it easier to build housing, we must also protect renters. It’s taken me years to come to this conclusion, but I think it is time to start exploring rent stabilization laws.

Rent stabilization is generally a softer approach than rent control, and rather than capping rents at some maximum, it attempts to prevent large year-over-year spikes in rent.

Rent stabilization can incorporate accommodations to allow for rent increases based on taxes, inflation, or unusual capital expenses, so that it need not be punitive to landlords nor prevent a reasonable rate of return.

We should also do a better job of providing emergency overnight shelter. A group of volunteers accomplished this at the Flanagan Center during Hurricane Lee, and we can learn from their example.

Public resources: What is your vision for Rockland Harbor given the increased demand for real estate, and Maine’s longtime goal to protect the working waterfront?

In general, I feel that Rockland has done a good job at balancing recreational, industrial, and commercial uses of the harbor, and I’d like to see this balance of uses continue.

Does the city have enough public access to the ocean and lakes?

There is never enough public access! Near the top of my mind in this regard is the still-unsettled nature of the relationship between the City and Safe Harbor, the company that wishes to redevelop the marina area in the South End. Safe Harbor has offered some verbal commitments regarding public access, but we must secure these commitments in written form.

What public projects do you feel important to tackle over the next several years?

Repairing our sidewalks and roads, strengthening our stormwater management system, and repairing and improving our piers.

Local economy and taxes: Rockland’s mil rate is high, and the city has scheduled a revaluation. How will you help protect the Rockland property owner from ever-higher creeping taxes.

Despite some loud voices to the contrary, there is not much waste or fluff within the municipal government. Tax relief must come through sustainable development. In particular, we do a poor job of encouraging dense, high-value, mixed-use development of the type that exists downtown.

Extending such development along our commercial corridors such as Camden St., Park St., and Tillson Ave. would go a long way towards broadening the tax base and reducing the tax burden, but our code (and our culture) often doesn't support such development.

For example, until I proposed changing this requirement during my first term on the City Council, we used to require front setbacks of 30 feet for new development in the area around the Good Tern! Why would we want to prioritize large, low-value lawns or front parking lots in that area?

Our code is unfortunately full of self-defeating provisions like this. Density is good for walkability and housing — and it’s also good for our tax rate.

Knox County is attempting to rebuild its 911 call center following a personnel collapse, a situation that puts the spotlight on county government, its taxes on municipalities, and its budget. What will you do to be more aware of county services, and Rockland’s share in paying for those services?

I’d like to schedule regular meetings between County and City officials to keep lines of communication open. For that matter, I’d also like to schedule regular meetings between RSU13 and City officials and generally support regional communication and coordination to a greater degree than now exists.

How do you see Rockland fitting into the greater regional economy and culture, and how would you like develop that?

Rockland is and will remain an industrial and cultural hub for Knox County. However, I recently reviewed the State Economist’s demographic forecast for Knox County, and it’s scary.

Rockland is expected to lose population through 2040, whereas other municipalities like Rockport and Camden are projected to grow. If we want to retain our importance and economic and cultural dynamism, we must find ways to keep Rockland inviting and affordable - especially by ensuring the availability of affordable housing.

What is the importance of local government, and how do you see yourself, as a city councilor, in it?

My view on this has changed somewhat in recent years. There are lots of things to love about local government, but I’ve come to realize more and more that local government is often an impediment to the creation of affordable housing, or to change generally.

Service in local government is about being responsive to citizen concerns - but it’s also about knowing when to push against these concerns for the greater good.

Where are your favorite places to spend time in Rockland?

The Apprenticeshop, West Meadow Road, the bog, jogging through the Industrial Park on weekends.

Free space! Anything else you'd like to say to the voters that we haven’t considered?

Thanks for reading!