The Damariscotta Charrette planning session spawned a preliminary “pie in the sky” vision for the town Monday featuring a series of “pods” connecting downtown to the Great Salt Bay School/Damariscotta River Association properties.
Town officials praised the effort of the consultants and planning advisory committee, but they candidly admit it won’t be built tomorrow.
Bill Dennis, a consultant who led the design team that queried townsfolk through a series of meetings, presented a vision through a series of maps and slides.
Then the design team asked the 100 people at the presentation at the Great Salt Bay School to vote on various aspects.
The Charrette was part of a town planning process triggered by the community involvement following the bitter fight that surrounded a vote to limit building size, thereby rejecting a proposal to construct a Walmart superstore in 2007.
Last year, the town, with help from an Orton Family Foundation community $100,000 grant, assembled the Damariscotta Planning Advisory Commission. Dennis was hired to study the town, conduct a series of planning sessions and make recommendations.
Dick McLean, the chairman of the town’s Board of Selectman, thanked the residents for their participation, calling the process “an amazing weekend,” but he cautioned the “vision” would take years to implement.
However, Damariscotta town planner Tony Dater cautioned the “vision” is a “pie in the sky” plan. “The planners don’t know about old battles or what will stimulate taxpayers’ support,” he said.
Longtime businessman Norman Hunt called the vision plan “interesting.”
“There is a lot here to consider. I have to think about it,” he said.
Caroline Janover also called the plan interesting, but she seemed a bit more supportive. “I am glad they talked about nature and keeping things green. In the last town where I lived, in New Jersey, all they would talk about was parking spaces.
“I liked it; they kept it beautiful and full of nature,” she said.
Some key points of the initial vision plan include:
• Modifying the downtown parking lot into a series of squares to accommodate a waterfront park. Consultants say it can be done in a way to increase existing parking spots. A waterfront boardwalk is also suggested.
• Rebuilding the intersection in front of the Damariscotta Baptist Church on Bristol Road.
• Opening the proposed Piper Village mixed use development not far from the current entrance to Damariscotta Hardware. Note: Developer Frank Roberts says he has no plans to construct anything as of now.
• Building a new town hall square at the intersection of School Street and Bus. Rt.1.
• Modifying Route 1 B to slow traffic.
• Hannaford-Biscay neighborhood modified to make it more user friendly.
• Unifying the Great Salt Bay Community School and the Damariscotta River Association facilities to create an educational component.
• Unifying the town with walking/biking paths.
• Enhancing the streetscape with tree plantings.
All the data and future suggestions will be considered and folded into a draft report to be delivered in six to eight weeks. A final report will be presented in January. Both the draft report and the final report will be made public.
