State gives approval to comprehensive plan
State gives approval to comprehensive plan
Implementation process underway
By Zack Anchors
Staff writer
Scarborough’s updated comprehensive plan got a nod of approval from the state last month when the Maine State Planning Office announced that they have found the plan to be consistent with the Maine Planning and Land Use Regulation Act. The planning office and several other state agencies provided the town with a number of suggestions, but had mostly positive comments. Assistant Town Planner Dan Bacon said the state’s positive response to the plan affirms the Town Council’s formal adoption of the plan last July and signals that the town is fully prepared for the next step – implementation.
“The plan is very well organized and its analysis is well presented,” wrote Ruta Dzenis of the State Planning Office in a letter. “The town is to be commended for its approach to key aspects of the plan.”
After a Comprehensive Plan Update Committee finished a two-year process of revising the plan, the Town Council established an implementation committee in July that began meeting in August. Bacon said they will be meeting once or twice a month for the next two or three years. Rick Shinay, chair of the now dissembled Comprehensive Plan Update Committee, said the implementation committee would be overseeing the council’s efforts at amending ordinances and shaping initiatives to reflect the vision laid out in the plan.
“It’s really a committee to make sure what we said should get done really gets done,” said Shinay.
The town first adopted a comprehensive plan in 1994. Although many aspects of the plan were implemented, the Maine Supreme Court found in a 2004 decision that aspects of the plan were neglected. The court’s finding, which came out of a lawsuit involving local developers, concluded that Scarborough had failed to meet the requirements of state law relating to the implementation of comprehensive plans.
Much of the work of the Comprehensive Plan Update committee involved public outreach and minor changes to core elements of the plan. The committee also added emphasis in the plan on emerging issues facing the town, such as the need for affordable housing and the direction that development west of the Maine Turnpike should take.
One of the principal components of the comprehensive plan is a focus on development transfer – the effort to funnel growth into designated areas.
“The town is going to try to transfer some degree of development from rural areas of town to the center of town,” said Bacon.
In particular, the comprehensive plan calls for focusing growth in the Dunstan Corner and Oak Hill areas in an effort to create downtown-like areas. Bacon said the council would soon begin working on “amended zoning district changes that enable more mixed-uses.” A schedule of the various ordinance changes that are planned as part of comprehensive plan implementation is available on the town’s Web site, on the planning department’s Web page.
In their letter to the town, the State Planning Office recommended the town offer a more complete analysis of affordable housing needs and “identify a responsible party to identify potential sites and developers and help facilitate development reviews.”
Among the other state agencies that reviewed the plan was the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. One of the DEP’s main suggestions for the town is to emphasize in the comprehensive plan the importance of participation from the public and citizen groups in the watershed management process. The DEP cite The Friends of Scarborough Marsh as an example of such a partnership.
“The town needs stable, effective groups…of local advocates with technical capacity working to protect, improve or restore every watershed in town and the region through public involvement and coordination of citizen activities,” wrote Don Kale of the DEP in a letter.
Kale wrote that, overall, the DEP was impressed with Scarborough’s plan.
“It goes a lot farther than many plans and for good reason,” wrote Kale. “Scarborough is a coastal town near Portland and I-295 with growth pressure and many and varied natural and marine resources.”
Town Councilor Patrick O’Reilly said he had never seen a letter from the DEP so positive.
Although the implementation committee will be pushing implementation of the plan forward, the responsibility of implementation ultimately lies with the Town Council.
Implementation process underway
By Zack Anchors
Staff writer
Scarborough’s updated comprehensive plan got a nod of approval from the state last month when the Maine State Planning Office announced that they have found the plan to be consistent with the Maine Planning and Land Use Regulation Act. The planning office and several other state agencies provided the town with a number of suggestions, but had mostly positive comments. Assistant Town Planner Dan Bacon said the state’s positive response to the plan affirms the Town Council’s formal adoption of the plan last July and signals that the town is fully prepared for the next step – implementation.
“The plan is very well organized and its analysis is well presented,” wrote Ruta Dzenis of the State Planning Office in a letter. “The town is to be commended for its approach to key aspects of the plan.”
After a Comprehensive Plan Update Committee finished a two-year process of revising the plan, the Town Council established an implementation committee in July that began meeting in August. Bacon said they will be meeting once or twice a month for the next two or three years. Rick Shinay, chair of the now dissembled Comprehensive Plan Update Committee, said the implementation committee would be overseeing the council’s efforts at amending ordinances and shaping initiatives to reflect the vision laid out in the plan.
“It’s really a committee to make sure what we said should get done really gets done,” said Shinay.
The town first adopted a comprehensive plan in 1994. Although many aspects of the plan were implemented, the Maine Supreme Court found in a 2004 decision that aspects of the plan were neglected. The court’s finding, which came out of a lawsuit involving local developers, concluded that Scarborough had failed to meet the requirements of state law relating to the implementation of comprehensive plans.
Much of the work of the Comprehensive Plan Update committee involved public outreach and minor changes to core elements of the plan. The committee also added emphasis in the plan on emerging issues facing the town, such as the need for affordable housing and the direction that development west of the Maine Turnpike should take.
One of the principal components of the comprehensive plan is a focus on development transfer – the effort to funnel growth into designated areas.
“The town is going to try to transfer some degree of development from rural areas of town to the center of town,” said Bacon.
In particular, the comprehensive plan calls for focusing growth in the Dunstan Corner and Oak Hill areas in an effort to create downtown-like areas. Bacon said the council would soon begin working on “amended zoning district changes that enable more mixed-uses.” A schedule of the various ordinance changes that are planned as part of comprehensive plan implementation is available on the town’s Web site, on the planning department’s Web page.
In their letter to the town, the State Planning Office recommended the town offer a more complete analysis of affordable housing needs and “identify a responsible party to identify potential sites and developers and help facilitate development reviews.”
Among the other state agencies that reviewed the plan was the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. One of the DEP’s main suggestions for the town is to emphasize in the comprehensive plan the importance of participation from the public and citizen groups in the watershed management process. The DEP cite The Friends of Scarborough Marsh as an example of such a partnership.
“The town needs stable, effective groups…of local advocates with technical capacity working to protect, improve or restore every watershed in town and the region through public involvement and coordination of citizen activities,” wrote Don Kale of the DEP in a letter.
Kale wrote that, overall, the DEP was impressed with Scarborough’s plan.
“It goes a lot farther than many plans and for good reason,” wrote Kale. “Scarborough is a coastal town near Portland and I-295 with growth pressure and many and varied natural and marine resources.”
Town Councilor Patrick O’Reilly said he had never seen a letter from the DEP so positive.
Although the implementation committee will be pushing implementation of the plan forward, the responsibility of implementation ultimately lies with the Town Council.
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