HARPSWELL

It may come as no surprise to the town’s 4,470 residents that active living options are never far away in Harpswell.

A work group, comprised of members from several municipal committees, has now gauged exactly how friendly Harpswell is to active lifestyles using an assessment system developed by a University of Southern Maine professor.

Town Planner Carol Eyerman and Recreation Director Gina Perow formed a working group together with some of “the most knowledgeable folks about town programs and characteristics,” said Eyerman, “including people from the Planning Board, Conservation Commission, Recreation Committee,” and others.

Developed by Dr. David Hartley, director of the Maine Rural Health Research Center of USM’s Muskie School of Public Service, and colleagues, the Rural Active Living Assessment tool, is completed in three parts. These parts pose a series of questions that evaluate a rural town’s policies and amenities, which are scored in terms of how they foster or permit active lifestyles.

“Currently, every Healthy Maine Partnership in Maine is doing assessments using these tools,” said Hartley in an email to The Times Record.

The RALA as also been used in 14 other states and four Canadian provinces.

“It was designed to help rural communities of less than 10,000 (in) population assess how activity friendly their town is, with an emphasis on school-age kids,” said Hartley.

The RALA is designed “to empower members of the community by putting evidence in their hands that they have gathered themselves,” said Hartley, which can be used to sway town officials to make “low-cost improvements” to the town.

One part of the evaluation involves a town-wide assessment, which is an “inventory of amenities,” said Hartley, for example, trails, parks and skating rinks.

“It can be completed by anyone,” said Hartley, “but generally requires a few people to put their heads together to pool their knowledge.”

The second part of the assessment evaluates policies and programs, said Hartley, to determine, for example, if a school gym is accessible on the weekends, if the town regularly clears snow from sidewalks, or if there is a walk-to-school program.

The final part is an onstreet assessment of the condition of existing sidewalks, crosswalks and buildings, of traffic levels and land use.

The Harpswell work group “went out and physically documented road networks,” said Eyerman, “what kind of shoulders the roads have, whether there is room for biking or walking.

“Programming questions we answered at the town office,” she said.

In total, the town scored 78 out of 100 on the town-wide assessment and 66 out of 100 on the policy and program assessment.

Harpswell scored especially high in the categories of parks and playgrounds, water activities and school policies, and fared well in the categories of trails, recreational facilities and town programs.

School location was one stumbling block for Harpswell, with no middle or high school located in the town, as was town infrastructure, owing in part to the fact that the town has no sidewalks from which to clear snow.

The results of the RALA were presented to the Harpswell Board of Selectmen, said Eyerman.

“We’ll hang on to this information, to what the town learned about itself,” said Eyerman, “and see if there might be improvements we can roll into the comprehensive plan based on what the assessment found.”

Despite certain pitfalls, Harpswell scored high enough that it will be featured in a report by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said Eyerman.

“It was very encouraging to hear that,” said Eyerman. “We’re doing something right.”

Harpswell’s RALA results are available online on the town website, www.harpswell. maine.gov.

rgargiulo@timesrecord.com