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Introduction

Towns across Hancock County enacted comprehensive plans in the early 1990s. Several also enacted land use ordinance revisions and undertook other measures to implement their plans. Many towns are now approaching the ten-year anniversary of their plan’s preparation. Planning, however, is by definition an on-going process. It is thus important that towns take time to review their current plans and determine if they need updating.

A review of the plan is particularly important for those towns with a certified growth management plan. Under 30-A MRSA 4327 (part of the state statute pertaining to the Growth Management Act), certification is valid for only five years. Certification gives towns preference on certain competitive state grants. In order to maintain certification, a municipality must determine if its comprehensive plan needs revising and make the necessary revisions.

This depends on the town and the amount of development or other changes that have taken place since the plan was prepared. The first step should be for the planning board and select board or council to review the existing plan and hold a joint meeting to discuss in general terms the extent, if any, that the plan needs to be updated. The outline presented below can guide the discussion.

If the initial review reveals that revisions are needed, the town should decide if it is appropriate for the planning board or a comprehensive planning committee to oversee the effort. Many communities may choose to re-activate the comprehensive plan committee. Remember that committee appointments must be made by the municipal officers (30-A MRSA 4324 (2)). It would be helpful to have at least some members of the earlier committee serve on the current committee.

This depends on the amount of updating that is necessary. However, many portions of the plan may need little if any change. For example, there have probably been relatively few changes to the basic natural resource data and the plan offers good foundations for sections such as economy, housing and public services.

In most cases, the final product will probably be no more than ten to fifteen pages long. It will probably involve several months of meetings and public outreach. It will be far less demanding than the two to three-year process faced by most towns in preparing the original comprehensive plan. Those communities that completed their original plans quickly will probably also find that their updates proceed at a faster rate.

It is important to keep residents informed of what you are doing from the first day. It is not enough simply to post notice of all of your meetings (although this is required by state law) and invite residents to attend. At the least, you should hold an initial informative public meeting during which you invite people to express their thoughts.

It is particularly important to hear the opinions of residents regarding the successes and failures of the previous comprehensive plan. One important topic is likely to be opinions on any land use ordinances. If residents feel that there are already too many land use restrictions, the committee will need to prepare recommendations differently from if there is a consensus that these ordinances are inadequate to protect the town.

You should also have another meeting when you have prepared the draft recommendations to solicit any final comments before you prepare the plan for a formal public hearing.

Revisions should be made before the final public hearing. If you feel that there are several serious issues facing the town, you may want to conduct a public opinion survey.

Since the focus will be on the Goals, Policy and Implementation section, there is relatively little data collection involved in an update when compared to the initial effort. This saves on labor costs. The HCPC staff will be able to attend some meetings during which the plan is reviewed at no charge. If a community decides to undertake a major update and conduct a public opinion survey, it could spend several thousand dollars. The cost, however, should be far less than preparing the original plan. The town might want to take advantage of the opportunity to prepare computer-based maps if it did not do so at the time the original plan was prepared. The HCPC will be able to help you develop an overall budget.

As of the spring of 2000, no funds were available for updates. The State Planning Office, however, is reviewing its funding priorities and may have funds available in the future. Contact the HCPC for the latest information.

If you decide that major revisions are needed to your goals and implementation strategies or your inventory and analysis needs revising, you may need to hire a consultant. A professional planner could help you phrase the language of your goals and identify resources to help you in the implementation process. For example, if one of your goals was to increase the supply of affordable housing, the consultant might refer you to the appropriate grant program. Perhaps equally important, the consultant can do the actual writing of the draft documents and serve as a liaison with the State Planning Office.

The following is a series of suggested steps. Each community will have to decide on how best to proceed. The HCPC would be happy to meet with any community to discuss how to adapt this approach to meet your specific needs. It is also important to decide when and how to involve citizens.

The committee should read the current plan and assess the status of each goal, policy and implementation strategy. One way to do this would be to create a matrix with these goals on the left and a status check box on the right. (See page 6). The boxes could indicate if the goal has been achieved, is still relevant or no longer practical. After completing this matrix, the reviewers would be able to assess how many of the plan’s goals have been achieved.

This initial matrix might could also serve as a presentation at a public meeting and help the reviewers solicit public input. The public might help the committee assess why certain goals were not achieved. Was there resistance to the idea of zoning? Was it simply a case of committee burn-out? Were the strategies overly ambitious or too timid?

The comments could help serve as "red flags" as to where more detailed analysis is needed. In some cases, this analysis could be as simple as calling the fire chief and asking if there have been any significant new equipment or facility needs. Perhaps the plan called for a new fire station in the East Village. The chief should be able to determine if that is still a need. In other cases, the committee may need to gather data from out-of-town sources. For example, if the plan identified improving regional health care services, it may want to contact various health care providers. A recommendation on job creation may require follow-up with various regional economic development organizations.

The committee should review the entire Inventory and Analysis to determine if any changes are necessary. The committee may want to assign chapters to different members to speed up this process. Rather than attempt a rewrite, the focus should be on gathering key pieces of information. Some of this information may be available from town sources and some from the HCPC. Here are some suggestions:

Step Three: Report Initial Findings to the Public

The committee should hold a public informational meeting to present its initial findings. It is important to encourage an exchange of ideas since the public may feel that certain issues are more important than the ones the committee has indicated. Also, meeting participants may bring up issues that have been overlooked by the committee.

Based on this brief review of the Inventory and Analysis, the committee should decide if any new policies are needed or if the issues identified can be addressed through clarification of existing policies. The committee would then produce the new policies. This is where the services of a consultant would be most useful.

The committee needs to assemble its final report. This would normally contain highlights of any changes necessary to the Inventory and Analysis and the new and revised policies and implementation strategies.

The HCPC can help towns with this process. It is important to use the appropriate forms and submit the required number of copies.

If the State Planning Office has any formal objections on the proposed update, town officials should meet with a representative of that agency. Often, state objections can be addressed through minor changes in language. In other cases, more involved discussion may be necessary.

After the committee has made the final revisions, it should schedule a public hearing and vote of adoption by your legislative body (town meeting or city/town council) for the plan amendments. State law requires that plan amendments be available in their final form for public viewing at least 30 days before the public hearing. The notice of the public hearing needs to be posted at least two times.

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