FREEPORT

Combining advanced math with the youthful skills of social networking, a high school math class and an ad hoc committee are hoping to make Freeport a safer place in which to play.

One of the town’s problems, according to the Active Living Task Force, is that it’s not laid out for recreation.

Anne-Marie Davee, the task force’s chairwoman, said the effort is intended to make Freeport safer and more conducive to outdoor play, with the intention of encouraging more physical activity and a healthier population.

“The most important thing in this whole effort is totally engaging the community,” Davee said. “It’s very exciting, really. It’s a town of 8,000 people, and we’re focusing on what the residents want, not what tourists want.”

Sidewalks along Main Street’s shopping district are wide and spacious. Crosswalks are well-marked and patrolled to allow safe passage for wallet-wielding tourists. Elsewhere, however, it’s a different story.

Roads are too narrow to permit safe bicycling, walking or jogging, and there exist few pedestrian-friendly routes connecting parks, libraries or school areas.

Likewise, even though the elementary and high schools are located a block west of downtown, the pathways to and from ballfields and other play areas take kids along busy streets or through park- ing lots.

“For example, getting students from the schools to the Hunter Road athletic fields is tough,” said Kristina Egan, a town councilor and task force member. “As the crow flies, it’s not very far, but there isn’t a good, safe way to get there without a car.”

Worse yet, once driven there, no designated parking area yet exists.

To help find direction, the task force has sought public input through surveys via a questionnaire distributed to voters on Nov. 6 and the online FreeportTalks message board.

The website features a running commentary of idea submissions. Some are simple and direct, such as “bike lanes and/or wide shoulders on all Freeport roads” and “improved waterfront access.”

Others are sensible, if elaborate, but also border on the financially unrealistic.

The paper survey asked residents to identify their preferred physical activity, where in town they would like to see traffic or facility improvements, and which roads they believe to be unsafe.

The 160 surveys returned thus far were handed to the Advanced Placement statistics class at Freeport High School, where teacher Brian Berkemeyer’s nine students compiled the results into a spreadsheet for analysis.

“(The task force) needed some help and my students are cheap labor,” Berkemeyer said. “We took all that data and totaled up their responses, based upon where the respondents lived in Freeport, and will create some graphs based on their answers.”

Then the students decided to go a step further and create their own survey, tailored toward school-aged peers, to provide a deeper field of data and represent a demographic that otherwise could be overlooked.

“The kids also are creating their own version of the survey online, and they’ll send it out to all the kids in the high school and Regional School Unit 5,” Berkemeyer added. “It’ll be a little bit different from the town’s survey.”

Councilor Egan said the students’ initiative and interest impressed her — but it didn’t surprise her.

After all, it was a group of students that, about a year ago, walked into a Town Council meeting to ask for help.

“We had about 10 high school students come to town hall during a meeting, carrying a big poster they made and gave it to the council, and asked the town to make safe recreation a priority,” Egan said.

A group of residents had met informally beforehand, but the Active Living Task Force was created four months ago and charged with developing a plan to make it easier to walk, bike and hike in town.

The town appropriated $25,000 to pay for a consultant and fund the effort. The group plans to hire a consultant and recently distributed a request for proposals, which is posted on the municipal website at freeportmaine.org.

Additionally, a public forum is planned for spring 2013 to discuss the data collected and to give residents another chance to voice their ideas and opinions.

jtleonard@timesrecord.com