A listing sheet asks one question about wastewater, and the answer is usually one word: septic or public. Around Boody's Corner, that word no longer tells a buyer much. Under Windham's sewer rules, a property near the new line can have an annual fee before it is ever connected. A single-family home can keep its septic system until the owner adds a bedroom or an accessory dwelling unit. Then the rules change. A multifamily building gets 120 days to connect once the town sends notice.
The sewer that makes all of this matter was dedicated last month.
A Pipe Built to Let North Windham Grow
On October 8, Senator Susan Collins cut the ribbon on the North Windham Wastewater Treatment Facility. It sits on the grounds of Manchester School, and the Portland Water District runs it. For decades, North Windham's commercial district relied mostly on individual septic systems. Studies found nitrate levels rising in the aquifer underneath, and the lack of public wastewater service limited what businesses and housing could be built there. The Portland Water District expects the system to eventually replace more than 100 septic systems. It also expects the system to keep about 22,000 pounds of nitrogen and 3,000 pounds of phosphorus a year out of the North Windham aquifer.
The technology fits the site. The plant uses a membrane bioreactor. Treated water then goes into a drip dispersal system under new athletic fields at Manchester School, because North Windham has no suitable river or lake to discharge into. The district calls it the first project of its size in Maine. Wastewater from RSU 14's Windham Center campus and the new middle school on Windham Center Road will also be piped to North Windham. That will eventually let the campus retire its own treatment facility.
How it was paid for matters to buyers. The Windham Eagle put the project at $48 million. Funding came from a $38.9 million Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund award, a $3.25 million debt forgiveness grant, $1.7 million in American Rescue Plan funds, $2 million in congressional direct spending and $1.5 million from Cumberland County. In 2025, then-Assistant Town Manager Bob Burns told The Windham Eagle that residential property taxes would not repay the loan. Revenue from the North Windham tax increment financing district would.
The system was built to support growth, and a growth system pays for itself with users. That explains most of the rules that follow.
Where the Line Runs Today
The collection system serves the commercial area around Boody's Corner, on Route 302 from Franklin Drive by Home Depot south to River Road. It also reaches some multifamily buildings and a few single-family homes in that area. Town Manager Robert Burns told the Portland Press Herald that the plant would treat about 50,000 gallons at startup and up to 160,000 at full buildout.
The plant starts out with far more capacity than it uses, and that shapes how it is paid for. Last December, Burns told The Windham Eagle that the town expected the plant to start out well below half capacity, so tax increment financing money would help keep rates affordable for businesses. He said the subsidy amounts to more than $1 million and that rates could come down as more North Windham businesses connect. More users spread the fixed costs, and the fee structure is set up with that in mind.
What Being Near the Pipe Costs
Windham's Master Fee Schedule, last amended by the Town Council on May 26, 2026, lists three charges for the North Windham Sewer District.
Charge | Amount | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
Sewer user fee | $16.00 per 100 cubic feet per month | Effective April 1, 2026 |
Readiness-to-serve fee | $2,400 per year | Effective April 1, 2026 |
Buy-in fee | $5,000 per unit | New installations after January 1, 2026; previously $3,500 per unit |
Every 100 cubic feet is about 748 gallons, so a user is billed by the volume of water that goes down the drain.
The readiness-to-serve fee is the line buyers are least likely to expect. Windham's sewer user fee ordinance charges it to properties that abut a public sewer with a connection stub available. The money can only pay fixed costs that don't depend on flow. The fee is tied to the stub, so it can apply before a property ever sends a gallon to the plant. At $2,400 a year, that is $200 a month. A buyer comparing two houses with similar taxes would want to know about it.
The buy-in fee scales with the building. The ordinance charges it per unit for new installations after January 1, 2026, using an apartment as its example of a unit, or it can be based on design flow calculated by the superintendent. Rising from $3,500 to $5,000 adds $1,500 per unit. On a four-unit building, that is $6,000 more than under the old rate.
When a Single-Family Home Gets Pulled In
The Town Code keeps a map of "sewer expansion areas," meaning places where public sewer is expected within five years. In those areas, the rules for existing single-family homes are deliberately lenient. Here is the key sentence from Section 181-7E of Windham's sewer ordinance:
Existing single-family residences in designated sewer expansion areas may, at the owner's election and expense, connect to the sewer, but shall not be required to do so except when an existing subsurface system requires replacement or expansion, or the residence is being expanded to include the addition of one or more bedrooms or an accessory dwelling unit.
That gives a home in an expansion area three situations that require a connection:
- The septic system needs replacing.
- The septic system needs expanding.
- The owner adds a bedroom or an accessory dwelling unit.
The superintendent can waive the requirement only if the building is more than 2,000 feet from the sewer line or if connecting would cause undue hardship because of the building's location or other site features.
For buyers, the third trigger matters most, because the ordinance lists adding a bedroom or an accessory dwelling unit as a connection trigger. Anyone with renovation plans in an expansion area can ask the Town how the rule applies to their parcel before budgeting the project. The ordinance says owners who elect to connect do so at their own expense. During construction of the sewer, owners of unimproved lots and land abutting it had the option of a service stub brought to the edge of the road at town expense.
New construction has its own rule. Any new building in a sewer expansion area must install a service pipe for an eventual connection as a condition of its building or plumbing permit, unless the superintendent says in writing that it isn't advisable.
Multifamily and Commercial Owners Work on a 120-Day Clock
Investors face firmer rules. Once the superintendent announces that service is available in an expansion area, existing commercial and multifamily buildings must connect. Under the general rule in Section 181-7A, an owner has 120 days after notice to connect, at the owner's expense.
There are two ways to get more time. An owner with a properly working private system can ask in writing for a hardship deferral, but the ordinance says the need to pump wastewater to the sewer does not count as a hardship by itself. An owner who proves a suitable private system is in use gets a three-year exemption, pays the readiness-to-serve fee until connected and must connect when the three years end.
Put the pieces together and a small apartment building near Boody's Corner carries possible costs that a septic-or-public checkbox can't show. It could owe a connection deadline, a yearly fee during any exemption and a buy-in fee for each unit. All of that bears on what the building is worth to its next owner.
Maine's seller disclosure law requires residential sellers to disclose the type of waste disposal system on the property, with more detail if the system is private. You can read the statute on the Maine Legislature's site. The disclosure tells you what system the property uses. The Town and the Portland Water District can tell you whether a stub is in place, whether the parcel is in an expansion area and whether notice has gone out.
The Next Project on Route 302
The sewer is the first of two big projects along this corridor. MaineDOT's Route 302 reconstruction in North Windham passed its final public hearing on August 12, 2026. The current state schedule puts the start of construction in January 2028 and completion in July 2031. The Town's project summary lists a $31.25 million cost. The work includes about 9,000 feet of Route 302 redesign, three connector roads, new signals, raised medians, access changes, sidewalks and about 11,700 feet of new multi-use path. It also notes that the sewer work is a separate project.
At the dedication, Collins told The Windham Eagle that "the two projects complement each other." For a commercial or mixed-use property on the strip, that means sewer service now and about three and a half years of road construction starting in early 2028. Medians and access changes can change how customers get into a parking lot, so it is worth looking at the plan sets for a specific frontage before buying.
Questions Buyers Ask
Does a home on septic in North Windham have to connect now?
Under Section 181-7E, an existing single-family home in a sewer expansion area connects only when its septic system needs replacement or expansion, or when the owner adds a bedroom or an accessory dwelling unit.
Will the sewer raise residential property taxes?
The Town said in 2025 that residential property taxes would not repay the project loan. North Windham tax increment financing revenue would cover it instead.
Who decides whether a specific parcel owes the readiness-to-serve fee?
The ordinance ties the fee to properties that abut a public sewer with a connection stub available. The Town of Windham and the Portland Water District can confirm a specific parcel's status.
This post is general information about published rules and fees, not legal, tax or financial advice. Before you make an offer or plan a renovation, confirm your own situation with the Town, an attorney or the right professional.
If you're weighing a property near Boody's Corner, we'll bring the parcel questions to the table early. That means asking about the stub, the expansion map and any connection notice before you're attached to the house. Bailey Pate and the Maine Real Estate Co team are happy to walk through a North Windham listing with you. Get in Touch.