Town of Gray
Community Economic Development Committee
Stimson Hall
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Notes
Members present: Don Hutchings, Lew Mancini, Jeanne Carpentier, Dick Barter, Jack Goosetrey and Council Liaison Peter Gellerson.
Absent: Lance Tlumac, Tom Delaney, Tracy Scheckel, Ed Libby
Guest: George Thebarge, Gray Economic Development Director
Jeanne brought the meeting to order at 6:35 pm and she offered to take notes.
Dick Barter opened the meeting with a reminder to all members to remain engaged in the budget process by attending workshops and speaking up when the opportunities arise in support of the budget as you see fit. There is another workshop on Monday, March 23 and a formal public hearing at the Council meeting on Tuesday, April 6.
Jeanne provided the update regarding the requested meeting with the NG CEDC and Pineland. Unfortunately, a date has not been arranged as of yet but Jeanne will continue to pursue it. She is optimistic that a date will be agreed upon in the near future.
Jeanne also provided an update to the group that the GNGBA is not dissolved as previously reported. Tracy will provide more updates in this regard at next month’s meeting.
Lew presented more information regarding the advertising opportunities in the Portland Press/Maine Sunday Telegram. Lew offered to invite his contact to the next meeting to present information about the advertising opportunities but also to make contact with them to begin the process of creating the ad for our town. It was suggested we may want to highlight the rededication ceremony of Pennell as the “attraction” in the advertisement. Lew will report at the next meeting or keep us updated via e-mail if decisions need to be made prior to the next meeting.
George reported on the CDBG review process. We applied for $50,000 for façade improvements and $20,000 for the planning process regarding the Monument Square Master Plan. Unfortunately, it does not look like we will receive the grant for the façade improvements, however, we are almost certain to receive approval for the $20K for the planning process as our application received the highest score of the grading committee. It was suggested that as the planning process moves forward, we present the public with an information sharing meeting to encourage their participation. The CEDC can oversee this event. George will let us know when would be the best time to hold the meeting.
George Thebarge presented information regarding Area 3, near the bypass. At this meeting he focused on the comprehensive plan and the concepts presented in it at the time it was developed, who owns the area involved, zoning soils, and the availability of public utilities.
Comprehensive Plan 2003 does not have precise boundaries for Area 3 and some decision will be needed how far up toward Libby Hill it should go. Should it stop at the end of the farm fields or go farther back into the woods? George presented his interpretation of the boundaries indicated in the Comprehensive Plan’s Future Land Use map based on the recognizable reference points on it.
The Plan presents a vision for this area based on the overarching goal of making more land available for commercial and industrial development, which itself is derived from the concern for expanding the Town’s tax base. The Comprehensive Plan suggests that such areas should be suitable and appropriate for development, meaning it can accommodate major development with access to transportation facilities and public utilities and will not cause significant problems for natural resources or existing residential neighborhoods. Area 3 was specifically identified as a location meeting those parameters.
Issues identified in 2003 included the traffic conditions on Route 202 near the Turnpike interchange that have improved since construction of the Bypass but are still important to any master plan for the area. Converting from rural residential and agricultural will have the trade off of losing agricultural land, but the future of farming indicates this may not be sustainable anyway. The Town’s landfill was also identified as a concern, but it has been capped and groundwater testing results indicate that the closure was very successful. The northwest corner of Area 3 is located in the public water supply recharge area, which will limit development in that portion.
Opportunities identified in the Comprehensive Plan include the existing Northbrook Business Park which establishes a nucleus to build on. There is little residential development in the area, which is positive in terms of potential land use conflicts. The Plan concluded that there were few development constraints, but George’s research indicates that may not be true for some portions of Area 3. Finally, the Plan anticipated that construction of the Bypass would greatly enhance opportunities for development of the Area, which is very accurate.
Comprehensive Plan 2003 called for office, industrial, and hospitality uses as the vision for future development and specifically excluded retail uses. This was likely due to the concerns for traffic and the comparatively lower real estate values for assessment purposes. The Plan called for high quality development for that same goal of getting high taxable values. George explained that notwithstanding these stated goals, markets will largely
determine what happens in the future, and the decisions of the landowners on whether to put their land into play will have the second greatest effect. But the Town can take positive steps such as the master planning and rezoning that will catalyze and facilitate markets and owner decisions.
Ownership of the undeveloped land that is not currently zoned for commercial and industrial development is currently held in twelve parcels owned or controlled by eight to ten owners. The total valuation of land and buildings on those parcels is about $1 million, and at the Town’s mil rate of .01477, the current tax generation is about $15,000 annually for just under one square mile of land that is sitting on the new Bypass across from Maine Turnpike Exit 63. The current low valuation may stem from the way vacant land is assessed, the farm being in current use designation, and the Town’s low assessment rate (82% of market value). It may also be affected by the recent recession’s effects. These land owners are major stakeholders in the study area and should be involved in the
planning process along with other property owners and businesses.
Current use of the land can be broken into a half dozen categories. There is some limited residential development (yellow color in figure to right) on either side of Route 202 that sits next to some strip commercial development (red color). The Northbrook Business Park (purple) extends from the southern end of the Bypass into the surrounding farm (green color). Gravel pits and extractive industries (gray color) are in the northwest corner of Area 3, and the remaining undeveloped land is forested.
In general, the land offers good soils at the higher elevations coming down from Libby Hill, and has wetland restrictions due to poorly drained soils at lower elevations closer to Route 202 and the Bypass. These development constraints will greatly affect the pattern and type of development that will occur. The Northbrook subdivision plan confirms that the lower elevation sections of the study area will require smaller development sites located among the wetlands as opposed
to large sites that could accommodate big box or major industrial buildings. The agricultural fields along Thayer Brook may provide good opportunities for on-site compensation for wetland impacts, as DEP favors such wetland restoration. This could help the permitting process greatly.
The final area covered by George Thebarge at the meeting was the availability of public sewer and water. There is no public sewer in Gray and this will limit industrial uses to those that do not involve a lot of chemical processes or ones that need to dispose of high volumes of waste water. It is possible to do community septic systems, but this makes project financing far more difficult. The most likely development future is for smaller scattered septic systems serving uses with limited wastewater disposal needs.
A major water line extension across the Turnpike from Gray Village done for the Northbrook Business Park has opened up greater possibilities for public water service, which helps address drinking water quality concerns and allows larger commercial and industrial buildings to be protected by sprinklers systems.
At the next meeting George will focus on presenting information regarding traffic issues and tax increment financing.
Jeanne informed the group about the activities of the sub-committee of Ed, Jeanne and Tracy. Ed had provided notes to the committee which Jeanne read. Ed continues to make constant corrections to the site. Jeanne submitted a letter to the Council requesting the proposed 30 hour tv/web person’s time be devoted more to the web than the tv. Once the Town has one person dedicated to the site and being compensated for it, many of the website issues will be resolved. It was reported that we can use the existing “public notices” e-mail subscription set up to send out mass e-mails. The group wants to know how many have signed up for this subscription. Ed should be able to tell us or Virtual Town Hall representatives. Ed does not believe people will complete an
online survey citing the example of the one posted when the site was unveiled and only about 20 people have taken the survey in 4 months. Ed launched a new Home page wording and links for the Pennell Celebration and the Buy a Brick Program.
We were unable to discuss the Town Signage portion of the meeting. It was requested that we keep this on the agenda for the next meeting when we can commit more time to the discussion. Jeanne reported that the Town Manager informed her there is $705.00 in the dedicated sign fund which may be used to make repairs and/or maintain the signs. We can discuss this at the next meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m. Next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 21 at 6:30 pm at Stimson Hall.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jeanne Carpentier
Exhibits:
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