The Damariscotta Planning and Advisory Committee (DPAC) hosted a community conversation at the Mobius community center Oct. 18.
DPAC member Buzz Pinkham presented a chronological series of slides of maps showing the location of residential buildings in Damariscotta in 1900, 1950, and in 20-year increments thereafter.
The presentation included maps projecting the appearance of Damariscotta in 2030, 2050 and 2070, if the town continues to follow the same rates of growth. The 2070 map is saturated with residential buildings.
Jane Lafleur, the coordinator of the Heart & Soul Community Planning initiative, continued the presentation. Lafleur reviewed the negative connotations of sprawl and talked about the “growing-preferred alternative,” which she called “village expansion in compact form.”
By concentrating population growth in village areas, this type of expansion allows towns to preserve large tracts of land for agriculture, recreational or other uses and results in lower environmental, fiscal, health and social costs to towns, Lafleur said.
George Parker, the Damariscotta architect and DPAC Vice Chairman, followed with a presentation about “Smart Growth 101.” Lafleur and Parker responded to questions and comments during their presentations, and a lengthy question and answer session followed.
Form-based codes discourage large, paved parking areas like those around many big box stores like Hannaford or Walmart. In response to an audience question, Damariscotta Selectman and DPAC member Dave Wilbur said underground or rooftop parking may help provide alternative parking solutions.
Lafleur said the town could include specific restrictions in a new code. Camden, for example, does not allow any drive-thru downtown, she said.
Lafleur briefly addressed planned improvements to the town as a result of the Damariscotta Heart & Soul Planning Charrette Report. In coming years, townspeople can expect employee parking for downtown businesses, public restrooms downtown and sidewalks along Rt. 1B, she said.
“Doing code work is not sexy from the standpoint of the general citizenry,” Parker said.
“At some point, this is going to be a political decision,” Dick Mayer said. “You’ve got to get more people out somehow.”
Others present remarked on the lack of any representation of Miles Health Care or non-profit conservation organizations, including the Damariscotta River Association and the Pemaquid Watershed Association.
Becca Evans, one of the few non-DPAC members in attendance with her husband, Bruce Evans, deplored the lack of public involvement. “There are wild rumors going around town about what’s going to happen with the ‘Piper thing,'” Evans said.
Many residents oppose the development of form-based codes simply because it represents change, Evans said.
“The biggest change you’ll see is if you stay with your existing codes,” Lafleur replied. Unfortunately, she said, “People think the best way to protect what we have is to pretend there’s not going to be any change.”
Bruce Evans said DPAC should try to involve the approximately 400 people who voted on the charrette report. “They think the work is done,” Evans said.
“The charrette was the vision. This is the implementation,” Lafleur said.
The day after the Oct. 18 community conversation, DPAC hosted a showing of the film ‘Livable Landscapes’ at Spectrum Generations. According to DPAC literature, the film explores “five communities struggling with choices about transformations… [and] trying to preserve the qualities that make them unique.”
DPAC will soon face additional administrative needs, Mayer said, because the Heart & Soul grant which funds Lafleur’s involvement will expire Jan. 31. The grantor, the Orton Family Foundation, extended the grant in late summer to “help move DPAC through this critical planning process,” Mayer said.
“We’ve been operating under that grant for the last two years,” Mayer said.
Next week, on Mon., Oct. 25 from 2:30-4:30 p.m., DPAC will gather at the Maine Coast Book Store Café for a “walking field exercise on form-based codes” with Paul Dreher, the Zoning Administrator for the town of Newport, Vt.
Later, at 6 p.m., Dreher and Patricia Sears, Executive Director of the Newport City Renaissance Corporation, “will discuss their community’s form-based codes and what the zoning amendments have meant to their town.”
At the Oct. 18 community conversation, Lafleur called the implementation of form-based codes in Newport “exceptional” and said a similar system “may be right” for Damariscotta.
“They’ve had millions of dollars in investment come in recently,” Lafleur said.
On Tues., Oct. 26, from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Dreher and Sears will be available for a “drop-in workshop” at the Damariscotta Municipal Building.
