Standish gets a hand in controlling growth
By Ann Kim, staff writer. Portland Press Herald: Monday, Sept. 17, 2007
An anti-sprawl group hopes Standish can demonstrate to communities across Maine that they can control their destinies in the face of intense development pressure.
GrowSmart Maine wants to help the town implement its comprehensive plan -- a state-mandated blueprint for land use and growth that often sits on town shelves.
GrowSmart plans to bring in eight to 10 other organizations, each with its own specialty, to help. It also will provide Standish with technology and model ordinances from around the country, said Alan Caron, the group's president and chief executive officer.
"We're going to bring about as much talent and resources as you could reasonably expect," he said.
The organization hopes to figure out what kinds of resources a community needs to implement its comprehensive plan, the state-required document that is supposed to guide land use and growth. The arrangement will provide Standish with resources estimated to be worth between $80,000 and $100,000.
"It could be a real good thing for us," said Wayne Newbegin, a town councilor and a member of the comprehensive plan committee. "They're going to offer us expertise and help us out."
If the experiment shows that towns can get the work done with resources, GrowSmart Maine will fight to get the resources to them, Caron said.
Sprawling development is a major concern in Maine, with "smart growth" advocates saying it leads to pollution from increased car use, wear and tear on roads and costs for additional schools and infrastructure. Communities around Greater Portland, York County and the midcoast have struggled with sprawl.
Stacy Benjamin, director of the land use team at the State Planning Office, said communities vary widely in how well they implement their plans.
"It's all over the place, and it depends on such a wide variety of factors," she said. "Some towns do a great job in implementing their comprehensive plans and others finish them, and they sit on the shelf."
Standish was chosen from a field of about 75 applicants to be the first community in GrowSmart Maine's model town program.
The town's status as a fast-growing community and the likelihood it will continue to grow, its commitment to "smart growth" principles, readiness to implement a new comprehensive plan and its enthusiasm are some of the factors that made Standish the organization's choice, said Bruce Hyman, director of the Maine model town program.
The town has gone through a great deal of growth and is increasingly becoming a bedroom community. The population grew 21 percent, from 7,678 to 9,285, from 1990 to 2000. The population is expected to reach 11,215 by 2015.
The changes have highlighted a desire among residents to preserve the town's rural character and foster economic development -- two of the areas the town will tackle with the assistance of GrowSmart Maine.
According to the comprehensive plan, a previous version did not protect the rural character. Between 1999 and 2004, 73 percent of new development was in the rural areas and 27 percent was in the areas designated for growth.
GrowSmart Maine will work with a newly created open lands committee to develop a conservation plan to protect rural areas.
Access to the Saco River and Sebago Lake, wildlife habitat, forested tracts and orchards are some of the items that may be part of the plan, Hyman said.
GrowSmart Maine will also be working with the town's economic development committee to create a village center at Standish Corner, where routes 25 and 35 come together.
"There's not a 'there' there yet," Hyman said. "There are some businesses that have taken over homes, some shopping centers and a Dunkin' Donuts, but cumulatively, adding all that up, it doesn't equal a village center yet."
Towns often find they are unable to attain the lofty ideals put forward in a comprehensive plan, said Carol Billington, chairwoman of the town's planning board and comprehensive plan advisory committee.
Small towns can rely almost exclusively on volunteer boards, and while Standish does have a planner, most of his time is taken up with applications with limited time for new projects, she said.
"We're growing, and if we continue to grow in the direction we're in, we'll lose the rural character," she said.
"The fix for that is a hard thing," she said. "It's to redirect what market forces would naturally bring about -- spreading to the cheaper land."
Staff Writer Ann S. Kim can be contacted at 791-6383 or at:
akim@pressherald.com
|
