A CLOSER LOOK

Read the full Cape Elizabeth Comprehensive Plan on the Web, at www.capeelizabeth.com/news/comp_plan

Send questions and comments about the plan to ceplan@maine.rr.com

The Cape Elizabeth Comprehensive Plan Committee has completed a 160-page draft of the plan, and is now looking for feedback from the public.

“This is a vision for how the town is going to grow and how we’re going to bring together the needs and wants of the citizens and still have room to grow and develop,” said Barbara Shenkel, a member of the committee as well as the town’s planning board.

Shenkel and Town Planner Maureen O’Meara led about 30 members of the public through the plan’s highlights at a forum held in council chambers last Thursday. The plan includes 85 implementation steps that will be recommended to the town council. The implementation steps fall into 12 different categories, such as housing, transportation and land use. Within each category, the committee spelled out the overarching goals for the town for the next 13 years.

In considering Cape Elizabeth’s housing issues, Shenkel pointed out that the town is “aging rapidly,” and called for more affordable housing to be built, especially for seniors. This was one of the suggestions that committee thought would help its larger plan to increase density in the town as a whole.

There was concern from the public, both at the forum and through a survey done by the committee, that an increase in density could change the character of the town – something that is cherished by residents of Cape Elizabeth. The committee addressed this concern when discussing land use, the category with the most implementation steps. Commitee members stressed that, while the plan calls for increased density, it also calls for increased open space. The committee emphasized its desire to keep the town’s high ratio of open space to residents, 118 acres per every 1,000 citizens.

Another concern of the panel was preserving farmland. One step recommended was to create a committee of farmers and town officials to develop an agricultural profile in order to better determine and understand the needs of farmers.

Another more complicated strategy discussed for helping farmers was the transfer of development rights, where farmers can sell their land development rights. This provides farmers with money and preserves their land. The public had a lot of questions about the inner workings of this strategy. However, the topic was dropped when it became clear that the opportunity for the transfer of development rights to occur is rare.

Though the council briefly explained the highlights of the plan and answered questions from the public, they encouraged the residents of Cape Elizabeth to go online and read through parts of the 160 page draft to better understand it and to come to the committee with questions and concerns.

The Comprehensive Plan Committee will meet tonight, Feb. 1, at 7 p.m. in the William H. Jordan conference room at Town Hall to review the draft for the fourth time. All meetings are open to the public.