BANGOR – Eastern Maine Community College’s plans to build a new four-story dormitory received site development plan approval Tuesday night from the city’s planning board.

The dorm, which will provide housing for 165 students enrolled at the Bangor campus, is among three such projects proposed for the Maine Community College System.

Two others will be built at Central Maine Community College in Auburn and Southern Maine Community College in South Portland.

The three student housing projects, which combined will cost an estimated $22.4 million, will be financed through the community college system’s revenue bonding authority and paid off with room charges by students living in the facilities, according to published reports.

The project is necessary to ease “pent-up demand” for housing, which has resulted from an increase in enrollment, especially among younger students, MCCS trustee Daniel Wathen said late last year.

Enrollment of recent high school graduates, many of whom want to live on campus as part of the full college experience, has jumped by 50 percent during the past three years. That growth is expected to continue.

A housing crunch has forced some campuses, including EMCC, to put students up at local motels and other facilities.

In other meeting action, the board granted site development plan approval to:

. Machias Savings Bank for a proposed 2,373-square-foot building addition at is 1126 Hammond St. location. The expansion will be located on the backside of the bank.

. Dunmurray LLC, which operates Northeast Pain Management at 1365 Broadway. The approval paves the way for an 11-space expansion of the facility’s parking lot.