Maine Association of Planners Annual Meeting 2007

2007 MAP ANNUAL MEETING

Environmental Policy and Planning
in Maine and New England

Topsham, June 1, 2007

Conference Chair Jane Lafleur
Friends of Midcoast Maine

Maine Association of Planners 2007 Award Winners

Student Planner of the Year - Molly Casto

Nominated by: Charles S. Colgan PhD
Chair, Community Planning and Development Program
University of Southern Maine Muskie School of Public Service

Molly is completing her master’s in community planning and development this spring, and will soon be starting work for the City of Portland’s Planning Department. 

In addition to her excellent academic record in the program, Molly distinguished herself last summer when she undertook an internship with the City of Augusta.  Shortly after her arrival, departures and delayed arrivals in the regular staff placed a heavy burden on her to take on substantially increased responsibilities than had been anticipated.  By all accounts she performed both her original and her new tasks with great credit and was of substantial assistance to the City in this transitional period.

Molly has also been a leader among the students in the Muskie School, and has prepared herself to work with the most difficult planning boards possible by serving as the student representative at Community Planning and Development faculty meetings.

Citizen Planner of the Year - Steve Wight

Nominated by: 

Gwendolyn R. Hilton
Municipal Planning Consultant
Madison, Maine

Steve Wight has been an instrumental part of Land Use Regulation Commissioner’s (a.k.a. LURC) planning and land use regulation activities having served as a Commissioner for 20 years; 10 of those years as Chairman of the Commission.  As you probably know, LURC is the planning board for the 10.5 million acres of inland Maine and 300 coastal islands in northern Maine.  “Steve Wight is a pioneer in the effort to integrate effective land conservation with the principles of sound land use planning. He has worked tirelessly and passionately in these endeavors. Through his leadership and membership on LURC, as a founding member and chair of the Mahoosuc Land Trust, and as an active member of the business community in Bethel, Steve has worked successfully to help his community and all of Maine conserve the foundation of its natural resource economy even as the elements of that economy shift dramatically. At the community, state and federal level, Steve is always seeking the resources and providing the leadership for Maine to build a successful future.”  Steve has also been very active as a planner, conservationist, community and business leader in his hometown of Newry, and in the region. He was instrumental in establishing the town’s Planning Board and served as a Selectman for over 25 years. He also was the founder and Chair of the Friends of the Androscoggin (13+ years) and founder and Director of the Mahoosuc Land Trust (13+ years).

Project of the Year - Park North Development in Saco, Maine

Sebago Technics, Inc., and the City of Saco are pleased to nominate the Park North Development for Project of the Year. Park North is a proposed mixed use development with frontage on both Routes 1 and 98 in Saco. The developer is Elliott Chamberlain dba Park North, LLC, and Preston Properties, LLC.  This nomination is deserving of the project of the year because it encompasses the whole planning process.

The Park North development proposes:

• 235 age restricted housing units consisting of single lots,
• a condominium of two and three unit buildings
• ninety  units of elderly independent living with high end and low moderate end units in two buildings,
• Approximately 700,000 square feet of retail/commercial space with the potential for two hotels and a 15 lot commercial park. 

The project as designed would provide access to the general public for recreation trails throughout the development as well as to Cascade Falls, a local landmark.  The proposed trails would connect to the Eastern Trail network as well as a regional trail network into Scarborough.

Three years into the project the developer and City have agreed on two contract zones and a $17 million Tax Increment Finance district, the latter providing funds for a 4 mile extension of the municipal sewer system.  True collaboration has occurred between the developer and the City of Saco as well as Saco Bay Trails, the Eastern Trial Alliance and the Friends of Scarborough Marsh.  In closing, the vision of one man and the work of many individuals deserve credit for an imaginative and thoughtful project that has been embraced by the municipality and neighborhood in which it is located.

Nominated by: Maureen O’Meara, Cape Elizabeth Town Planner - Cape Elizabeth Conservation Commission and Cape Elizabeth Planning Department

The Winnick Woods Master Plan was prepared by the Cape Elizabeth Conservation Commission, and adopted by the Cape Elizabeth Town Council in January, 2006. The master plan proposes to enhance the public access, use and enjoyment of the 60 parcel donated to the town by establishing a trail network and preserving a variety of landscapes consistent with the passive use restrictions of the conservation easement on the property.

The Town of Cape Elizabeth has previously prepared master plans for municipal open space. This is the first plan, however, that identifies preservation of a variety of landscapes as a goal. Most town owned open space is either well-maintained athletic fields/parks or natural woodlands. The Winnick Woods parcel, however, includes a meadow that the Town will take steps to maintain, and a scrub-shrub area that will be cooperatively managed with the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife (USFW) as a habitat for the New England Cottontail. Both areas, if left alone, would evolve into a woodland.

The cooperative management of a portion of the land with the abutting USFW parcel also is unique. The abutting parcel, at 12 acres, is not large enough to manage alone as a New England Cottontail habitat. Adding approximately 15 acres of the town parcel to a common management scheme, however, makes support of a New England Cottontail population feasible. The Town will be able to partner with the USFW, availing itself of wildlife habitat management expertise.

2007 SPONSORS