Peaks Island is about to undergo a radical change: As many as a dozen families with young children have either moved off the island or plan to leave, most by the end of this summer. The number of children among them is roughly 22.
That may not sound like a lot to many, but for an island where school enrollment hovers at 50 or so, the number is significant. The imminent departure of so many families has many on the island worried about the future of the school and also about the mix in population on Peaks. Still others, particularly parents who hadn’t been planning to move, have been taking stock of their plans to stay and weighing their options.
Kristen Mitchell, whose oldest child, James, will enter kindergarten in the fall, said that not long ago there were 11 kids on the island who would have been in her son’s class. Now there are four to six, she said.
“It does have an impact,” Mitchell said. “One of the things that I like about Peaks Island is the community. And if the community is leaving … but on the other hand, I also think that all the same things that we liked about Peaks are still going to be here. It’s a small, wonderful community.”
The reasons for leaving are varied among families. Some have been renting and can’t afford to buy a house on the island. Some own their homes but have lost their patience with the inconvenience of the ferry schedule. Others cite economic issues as the main reason for leaving. And job offers have lured them away. Many also said a combination of all of these factors, topped off by the increased cost of living on the island, was the reason for moving. A tax increase expected to result from an upcoming property value reassessment was not named as a primary reason for leaving, but was considered to be just another factor on a long list of reasons to go.
“A couple of decades ago, this was the cheap place to live,” said Johan Erikson, who will be leaving the island with his wife and daughter in time to begin a new teaching job this fall in Tacoma, Washington. Erikson, who owns his home on Peaks, has a Ph.D. in geology, but hasn’t been able to find a full-time teaching job in Maine, his home state.
Lalania Mandeville, 34, grew up on Peaks. When she was a child, there were 100 kids in the school, she said. But Lalania and her husband, Louis, can’t afford to buy a house on the island. They can’t even afford their rent here, which went from $850 a few months ago to $1,250. They are in the process of buying a house in Portland. The Mandevilles, who have three children, plan to move at the end of April.
“If we could have stayed out here, we would have stayed,” Lalania said. “But there’s nothing we could do.” It’s surprising to see the community she grew up in change so radically, she said. “This used to be a place where you could buy a house for $70,000. Now that house will sell for $300,000.”
Kirk Goodhue of Port Island Realty, who has listed a few of the homes for sale by families planning to leave, said that the houses haven’t sold yet. “But I would say that, given the level of current value, that it will be harder for young families to be buying them,” Goodhue said. He added that buyers are not likely to be year-round families with young children.
Reprinted with permission of Island Times of Peaks Island, which ran a longer version in its April issue. Mary Lou Wendell is Island Times’ publisher.