Castine
Castine Patriot, July 22, 2010
Castine Comprehensive Plan given thumbs up by state

BY JONATHAN THOMAS
The Maine State Planning Office has found Castine’s new comprehensive plan to be “complete and consistent with the Maine Growth Management Act,” according to a letter dated June 21.

“The whole [comprehensive plan committee] was really thrilled that the plan went through the first time with no re-writes,” committee chairman Scott Vogell said.

The plan is meant to address the changes and the needs of the town over the next 10 years.

The plan process has taken four years. The committee’s first meeting was on May 17, 2006. The minutes of that meeting list Vogell, Jean Cass, Sheila Corbett, Dan Gregorie, Robin Mass, Liz Parish, Lynn Parsons and Lee Wylie as the original members. Also present were Town Manager Dale Abernethy (an ex officio member of the committee), Selectman Tim Sampson, and Tom Martin, executive director of the Hancock County Planning Commission.

The plan submitted to the state planning office was dated April 23, 2010, nearly four years later. Jeff Loustaunau and Donald Mordecai were included in the list of committee members by then. Corbett and Gregorie, who were active on the committee for several years, were not listed in the final roster.

In his June 7 letter to the town, MacGregor Stocco, senior planner at the State Planning Office, notes that not every town is successful in submitting a plan that is both complete and consistent with the state’s Growth Management Act when first submitted. Stocco said later by phone that the committee’s achievement is “definitely something to be proud of. They definitely did put in a lot of hard work.”

The original Growth Management Act went into effect in 1988. Stocco said that when it was determined years later that the act was not having the desired effect of reducing urban sprawl, the SPO modified rules and procedures for these plans. The new rules went into effect in 2008. Castine’s plan was reviewed using these new rules.

As submitted, Castine’s plan was 194 pages long; 161 of those pages were text and maps. The other 33 pages were the submittal form and a detailed self-assessment checklist showing each required element of the plan and the page(s) where that element appeared in the plan.

Vogell said the committee will hold a public hearing on the plan on Wednesday, August 18, at 4:00. He said that a date has not yet been set for a special town meeting to vote on the plan.

During the state’s review process, copies of each plan are submitted to the state’s Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, Environmental Protection, and Transportation departments.

The staff at DOT had no issues with Castine’s plan.

The DEP found the plan to be consistent with the goals and purposes of the Act. However, it found four instances relating to marine resources and water resources in which it recommended that the town amend the zoning ordinance and map to make them consistent with state law.

IF&W also listed several changes that it would like to see made to the plan, zoning ordinance, and maps.

Stocco said in his letter that these comments from other agencies “are meant as recommendations, actions you can take to improve your Plan, but not requirements from this Office.”

Vogell said that in early August, on a date not yet set, the committee will hold a meeting to decide how do deal with the issues raised by the DEP and IF&W.

Copies of the plan are available for public inspection at the town office. Also, a PDF copy of the plan can be downloaded using a link on the home page of the town Web site, www.castine.me.us.

When finally approved at a town meeting, the new plan will replace the previous plan dated 1995.

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