This is a draft document put together by staff based on the task force meetings so far -- the proposals have not been voted on by task force members. Additional recommendations and comments, as well as more detail on the proposals, will be welcomed at the public hearing.

Working Paper:

Proposals for Addressing Sprawl and Promoting Smart Growth Development

For Discussion at Public Hearing


Public Hearing:

Monday, December 13, 1999
3:00 PM - Afternoon Session
6:00 PM - Evening Session

Augusta State Armory, Room 209
Western Avenue, Augusta



[DRAFT] The mission of the Task Force on State Office Building Location, Other State Growth-related Capital Investments and Patterns of Development is to encourage orderly development and discourage development sprawl in order to enhance the historic role of downtowns, strengthen the State’s regional service center communities, promote rural enterprise and preserve the open lands on which rural enterprise depends.

By sprawl, we mean low-density development beyond the edge of service and employment, that results in escalating costs for schools, services and infrastructure, and that impacts the continued viability of a natural resource-based economy and the vitality of Maine’s traditional downtowns.

By downtown, we mean the traditional central business district of a community, that has served as the center for socioeconomic interaction in the community, and that is characterized by a cohesive core of commercial and mixed-use buildings, often interspersed with civic, religious and residential buildings and public spaces, typically arranged along a main street and intersecting side streets, walkable and served by public infrastructure.

By regional service center communities, we mean communities that are job and retail centers and that offer an array of social, cultural, health and financial services to the surrounding region. They are the hub communities where people from the surrounding region go to work, shop, get services and turn for help in time of need.

In order to achieve our mission, the objectives of the task force are as follows:

1. To meet the demand of municipalities for establishing new or updating existing comprehensive plans;
2. To maintain the freedom to choose to live where one wishes, understanding that the costs of developing rural lands outside of service centers will be born by individuals based on their decisions;
3. To preserve lands that support rural economies and enterprises and that provide public access to recreational opportunities and scenic vistas;
4. To put service centers on an equitable fiscal footing and promote the preservation and revitalization of downtowns;
5. To identify the part of the housing market that prefers the traditional, compact New England town setting, get that information to developers, and reduce the obstacles that unnecessarily inhibit this form of development;
6. To take tax pressure off current residents of fast-growing suburbs as their towns try to absorb new residential development; and
7. To recognize the overriding impact of transportation policy on development patterns and design transportation systems that balance the needs of mobility, safety, economic development and quality of life.

1. We need to meet the demand of municipalities for establishing new or updating existing comprehensive plans.

Possible recommendations:

1-1) Support the adoption and implementation of local growth management programs throughout the state through increased funding of the Community Planning and Investment Program at the State Planning Office to support additional financial and technical assistance to municipalities and regional councils.
1-2) Provide services at the statewide level to coordinate the relationship among the state, municipalities, regional agencies, quasi-public companies and private companies to encourage more efficient use of geographic information systems in the development of local growth management programs.
1-3) Support municipalities that implement consistent local growth management programs by providing financial incentives.
1-4) Enact statutory changes to the Growth Management Act.
1-5) Initiate a comprehensive review of the Growth Management Act by directing the State Planning Office to work with the Maine Municipal Association and other interested parties to evaluate the Growth Management Act and make recommendations on funding, staffing and statutory changes, including appropriate municipal, regional and state roles.
1-6) Support pilot projects that demonstrate promising smart growth techniques.


2. We need to maintain the freedom to choose to live where one wishes, understanding that the costs of developing rural lands outside of service centers will be born by individuals based on their decisions.

Possible recommendations:



3. We need to preserve lands that support rural economies and enterprises and that provide public access to recreational opportunities and scenic vistas.

Possible recommendations:

3-1) Encourage the preservation of farmland.

a) Reduce the current penalty under the Farmland Tax Law to the minimum penalty required by the State Constitution (a penalty equal to the tax that would have been imposed over the preceding 5 years, less the taxes paid, plus interest).
b) Provide state reimbursement to municipalities for land enrolled in the farmland tax program, modeled after the Tree Growth Tax Law.
c) Require the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Revenue Services to update the valuation guidelines for the valuation of farmland on a regional basis and to update them every 2 years.
d) Repeal the sales tax on electricity used by farms.

3-2) Establish a Blue Ribbon Commission to Study Comprehensive Tax Reform to Affect Land Use Decisions with a goal of promoting smart growth land use patterns.
3-3) Require the State’s Land and Water Resources Council to submit a report to the Legislature by January 15, 2001 with an evaluation of and recommendations on the use of incentives to keep land undeveloped.
3-4) Revise the farmland adjacency law and the Right to Farm Law to reduce conflicts in rural areas that are becoming urbanized.
3-5) Revise the Subdivision Law to discourage the sale of rural land for subdivision development.

4. We need to put service centers on an equitable fiscal footing and promote the preservation and revitalization of downtowns.

Possible recommendations:

4-1) Direct state capital investments to service centers and locally designated growth areas.
4-2) Enact a second-tier community revenue sharing formula targeted for service centers.
4-3) Fund the Municipal Infrastructure Trust Fund to support local services to designated growth areas and coordinate existing state and federal economic development assistance programs for downtown revitalization.
4-4) Enact statutory changes to give preference to the location of state facilities in downtown areas and designated growth areas.
4-5) Support and expand efforts to direct that new schools be located in downtown areas and designated growth areas when possible and increase funding to support the renovation of existing school facilities.
4-6) Establish a process to review and revise state codes that restrict the reuse of existing structures, develop a model building code and review federal regulations.
4-7) Establish a Maine Downtown Center to advocate for downtown revitalization and provide technical assistance for state facility development and other downtown business opportunities.
4-8) Encourage the redevelopment of brownfields and promote the Maine Municipal Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund, administered by the State Planning Office.
4-9) Expand the Maine State Housing Authority’s “New Neighbors Program” and “Down Home Program” to additional service center communities.
4-10) Develop innovative strategies to address parking issues that create barriers to the development of downtowns.
4-11) Promote urban parks and green spaces and fund the Elm Tree Restoration Fund.

5. We need to identify the part of the housing market that prefers the traditional, compact New England town setting, get that information to developers, and reduce the obstacles that unnecessarily inhibit this form of development.

Possible recommendations:

5-1) Fund the Municipal Infrastructure Trust Fund to support local services to designated growth areas.
5-2) Work with municipalities to develop model ordinances that accommodate smart growth design standards and provide for flexibility in zoning regulations to allow for traditional, compact development in designated growth areas.
5-3) Support pilot projects that demonstrate smart growth techniques, promote the “Great American Neighborhood” and restore vitality to endangered neighborhoods.


6. We need to take tax pressure off current residents of fast-growing suburbs as their towns try to absorb new residential development.

Possible recommendations:

6-1) Strengthen the state’s enabling legislation for impact fees to provide municipalities with the tools and guidance they need to enact ordinances that require the payment of impact fees for new development.
6-2) Review the Subdivision Law.


7. We need to recognize the overriding impact of transportation policy on development patterns and to design transportation systems that balance the needs of mobility, safety, economic development and quality of life.

Possible recommendations:

7-1) Pass a legislative resolve directing the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) to provide guidance to municipalities on road planning, road maintenance, sidewalks and neighborhood involvement to assist them in preserving traditional downtowns and compact neighborhoods.
7-2) Pass a legislative resolve directing MDOT to convene a strategic planning process to address challenges such as administrative streamlining of transit funding, marketing, and redesign of transit to appeal to a wider range of customers, innovative financing of transit projects, connectivity to airports and rail, and other issues; and report findings to the Legislature.
7-3) Continue emphasizing urban multimodal transportation projects to revitalize Maine's urban areas using the transportation methods available in each area.
7-4) Expand MDOT's corridor planning process and develop an Integrated Transportation Decision-making (ITD) process to bring together all interagency stakeholders.
7-5) Give MDOT more authority to review new driveway applications on rural arterial highways.
7-6) Create statutory incentives for municipalities to manage access to highways, especially on urban arterial highways.
7-7) Provide state funding for the purchase of development rights adjacent to priority highways.
7-8) Provide funding necessary to upgrade roads in order to eliminate posted roads from affecting rural resource economy areas.

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If you are unable to attend the public hearing, written comments may be submitted to
the Task Force by December 15, 1999 at the following address:

Amy Holland
Office of Policy and Legal Analysis
13 State House Station
Augusta, Maine 04333

e-mail: amy.holland@state.me.us


This Working Paper is available on the Internet at:
http://www.maine.gov/legis/opla/ld304pro.htm