A proposed update to the town’s Comprehensive Plan, which should be completed by June, includes timelines and other components meant to ensure the visions for the community are included in the town officials’ work to update and apply zoning ordinances.
“We were talking about these issues years ago, we’re still talking about them, let’s put our heads together and do something about them,” said Raegan Young, special projects and communications manager for the Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission, who is working with the town on the plan.
The comprehensive plan, last updated in 2007, is a non-binding document that guides town officials, boards and committees as they craft land use zoning ordinances.
A committee of residents, town councilors, and planning commission staff has been meeting monthly for 18 months to update the plan. Contacted about their work on the plan, the resident members of the committee declined to speak to reporters and at least one said they were told to refer questions to the town manager, Young or Town Councilor Jessica Cyr,
Cyr, the only councilor on the committee, responded to a request for information by suggesting a newspaper article on the comp plan be delayed “until we have a bit more information on the timeline of the draft being released to the public for feedback.”
The committee has invited the public to give input during the drafting process. The next meetings of the comp plan committee is today, Monday, Jan. 22 on the first floor of Town Hall. The town website shows no meetings on the calendar for this committee.
South Berwick’s draft plan suggests solutions for the common fate of comprehensive plans – they are approved and then forgotten or dismissed. The draft includes timelines and funding strategies for everything from budgeted items to actions that will take several years to accomplish.
There are also timeline designations of “ongoing,” “immediate,” “short-term” or “long-term” for each item, and an assignment of each to a department, employee, or committee to follow through on projects.
“These definitions are part of what will make these recommendations more actionable,” Young said.
Though it is not legally binding, the plan is a touchstone for a community. It also guides new local officials as they are hired or appointed over the years.
“The committee has remarked on the importance of ensuring decision-makers are aware of and knowledgeable about the plan,” said Young.
The committee last spring completed an inventory of cultural, social, natural and economic resources in town. At the time, focus groups made up of local leaders and issue-specific experts were invited to brainstorm the town’s strengths and weaknesses and suggest ways to shore up the weak spots. They considered economic development, land use and housing, conservation and natural resources, arts, recreation, and the downtown village.
Planning Board members agreed last year to wait until the plan is finished to update land use ordinances that are due for an overhaul.
The public will be invited to a meeting to learn about the draft plan and give feedback to the committee this spring.
The state of Maine recommends all towns develop comprehensive plans. Two hundred of the 450 communities in Maine have submitted plans to the state Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. The emphasis is on land use, though South Berwick and many other towns include arts, recreation, and historical resources in the process.
The final plan will include maps of town features, including water bodies, scenic areas, Water District wells, and any transportation systems. The data is meant to help developers and boards in planning and decision-making.
Concerns today that also were relevant 17 years ago – traffic, conservation, historic preservation and affordable housing. – are in the existing 2007 plan and have been carried over to the new draft, according to Young.
In addition to Cyr, the members of the committee are Chair Laura Leber, Jonathan Donahue, Nora Gibson, Elita Galvin, Deb Ganster, Chris Harris, Town Economic Director Denise Clavette. Regional planning commission staff providing consultation are Young and Paul Schumacher.
Leber declined to answer questions about the committee’s work and did not attend half of the committee meetings in 2023. When the Reporter reached out for comment to other board members, they either said they didn’t have time, referred questions to Cyr, or didn’t respond at all. A draft of the first part of the plan – an “inventory,” or updated data section from spring – is available on the town website here. Other draft sections accompany committee meeting minutes on the town website.
