Buckfield hopes to engage the public in preparing comprehensive plan

BUCKFIELD – At a special workshop held to initiate the comprehensive planning process, the question was not if a new plan should be prepared for the town of Buckfield.  Planning board members were unanimous in their resolve that the town’s current plan, written in 1984, was all but useless to help guide municipal officers in preparing for the town’s continued growth.  The only real question that arose was how best to engage the public in the process.

Planning board member Richard Piper, in particular, was critical of the public’s unwillingness to approve a previous update that had been written in 1993.   

“A very complete draft was presented to the public during a very well attended public meeting,” recalled Planning Board Chairman Judy Berg.  “It was not well received.”

As a consequence of negative reaction, that plan revision was never taken to the town for a public vote.  The update has languished away in limbo ever since. 

Noting that a comprehensive plan is a prerequisite for many grants that the town might otherwise apply for, Piper pressed Town Manager Glen Holmes on what the town has lost in potential revenue as result of having abandoned it’s 1993 attempt to update the plan.

“From talking to other town managers in the last week, most have said that between $5,000 and $50,000 per year is what most towns get [in grants], that we don’t even apply for at this point” said Holmes.  “So using a low estimate of $10,000 [per year] over the last 11 years.”

Holmes noted that comprehensive plans, to be considered valid, are required to be updated every 10 years.  With the 1993 proposed update not having made it’s way past the public hearing stage, the town was left with only the 1984 plan as it’s only official growth planning document.

“The problem, the 1984 plan is completely out of date and is no longer accepted,” said Holmes.  “That plan is absolutely worthless.”

“Right now, we’re costing – taking a long time, since 1993 – we’re costing the citizen’s of Buckfield a lot of money!  Period!” exclaimed Piper.

Most board members felt that citizen antipathy to zoning had scuttled the previous attempt to update the comprehensive plan.

“It’s about this map which alienated enough people for whatever reason,” noted board member Wes Ackley referring to a map included in the 1993 proposed update which had divided the town into rural and growth areas.

Berg noted that a minimum of these two regions were required for state acceptance of any plan that might be created.  Strategies would need to be developed, she said, to direct a minimum of 70 percent of new growth into the designated area.

“But you don’t have to have zoning to have a comprehensive plan,” said Piper.

“I don’t want to get people all wound up about zoning, when that’s not really what this is about,” agreed Holmes.  “It’s just a planning document.

Board members noted that the lack of an official planning document had done nothing to slow the pace of growth.  Berg noted that new building permits were being issued as the pace of “12 to 15 a year” at the time the board had last attempted to introduce a new comprehensive plan.  In recent years, between 20 to 23 permits were being granted annually.

Berg also noted that the trend was to a greater number of subdivisions.  Although subdivision requests in the early nineties had generally been for larger developments, many of those never came to fruition.  In recent years, the trend has been to smaller, and ever more frequent, subdivisions.

Board member Margot Siekman made note of the fact that Buckfield population figures has not kept pace with State projections compiled for the 1993 proposed update.  The town currently has some 300 fewer residents than has been anticipated.  School enrollment has also gone down, rather than up as had been charted at the time.

However, board member Roberta Hill postulated that much of the growth in town since 1993 may have occurred in those areas that were to have been designated as rural growth zones.  Sprawl, always a dirty word for growth planners, may have been the result.  In preparation for future meetings.

Board members agreed that the document should reflect the needs and desires of Buckfield’s citizens.  For this reason, they will now look to rewrite the town’s comprehensive plan, with hopes of bringing a new draft to voters in time for the next annual town meeting in June 2005.

The planning board hopes to save money by doing much of the work themselves.  Berg advised the board that the town would not be eligible for any state funding, as a grant had been used to complete the revision done in 1993.

Berg recently attended a selectmen’s meeting in hopes of soliciting approval for the project, along with a commitment to secure necessary funding.  Berg informed selectmen that the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments has provided an estimate of $7,000 for them to undertake work on the plan.

“We thought that was a bit much,” said Berg.  “We were thinking probably closer to $5,000.  We think that we can make a real push.  We can do most of the work ourselves.  The only thing that we cannot do is the maps.

“We would just like sense from you [selectmen] that we would be able to go to voters,” said Berg.