Freeport is taking the next step to implement the community’s vision for diverse transportation options, new housing development and downtown vitality with support from the Maine Department of Transportation.

According to a Freeport news release, a collaborative Planning Partnership Initiative through the town and MaineDOT has retained the engineering firm Stantec and city planning and design firm Speck Dempsey to analyze the U.S. Route 1 corridor and design a Main Street for the future with input from the community.

On Tuesday, June 3, the Freeport Town Council reviewed the work plan for the next eight months to update zoning and ordinances to implement the goals of the Comprehensive Plan. Those plans align with the Planning Partnership Initiative and the transit-oriented development Tax Increment Financing (TIF) work, endorsed by the Town Council on May 20. The town’s Planning Board unanimously approved the plan on Wednesday, June 4.

Freeport Development Director Brett Richardson said the goal is for the land use and infrastructure funding package for the Village Corridor project to be approved by the state by March 1, 2026, along with renewal of the transit-oriented development TIF district. The transit-oriented development TIF is exploring options to establish dedicated, long-term funding to build the community’s vision for Freeport. The TIF is being fine-tuned, focusing on pursuing a dedicated funding source.

Richardson presented the Community Vision Implementation Work Plan and updated the Freeport Town Council on the work that has been done so far with MaineDOT and Stantec, along with the timeline for getting the infrastructure planning, funding and updates to land use ordinances and zoning. Richardson said the work will culminate with a newly updated Comprehensive Plan over the summer, with potential adoption on track for early fall.

MaineDOT’s Planning Partnership Initiative funds are matched one-to-one with municipal dollars to advance locally led transportation initiatives supporting economic development and other high-priority proposals. The Village Corridor Initiative is going the extra mile to analyze transportation upgrades along U.S. Route 1 through the heart of Freeport’s Village Center and housing development opportunities on adjacent land served by infrastructure and utilities, according to Richardson.

“The Village Corridor Initiative will translate our residents’ goals into an investment road map for Freeport’s future,” said Eric Smith, vice chairperson of the Town Council. “We appreciate our collaboration with MaineDOT, Stantec and Speck Dempsey to design a Main Street corridor that supports walking, biking, economic opportunity and new housing in and around our Village Center along U.S. Route 1.”

Stantec and Speck Dempsey will create a coordinated development design for land with 1,000 feet of U.S. Route 1, identifying appropriate locations for housing projects, public ways, utilities, environmental services, wildlife corridors, and bike and pedestrian connections. The design was a central recommendation of the Dog Bone transit-oriented development implementation initiative, unanimously endorsed by the Town Council earlier this year.

“New housing is key to Freeport’s future,” said Councilor John Egan, who is the chairperson of Freeport’s Housing Task Force. “We want to be top-of-mind for Maine’s development community as an inviting place.”

The transit-oriented development report recently endorsed by the Town Council calls for expanding this flexibility throughout the Village Corridor Initiative’s study area, which extends from Main Street to approximately the park-and-ride near Maine Beer Company and the intersection with Upper Mast Landing Road at the north end.

A free community engagement talk for the Village Corridor Initiative will be at the Freeport Performing Arts Center at 6 p.m. on June 17 with speaker Jeff Speck, the author of “Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time.”

“We are thrilled to assist Freeport residents to bring their vision to life with practical, buildable designs for this iconic Maine village corridor,” said Jason Schrieber, senior principal of Stantec. “We look forward to meeting community members on June 17 and getting to work on this innovative project.”