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Community Visioning for Gray Village

A thorough, community-led design process will inform the Village's development.
Posted on: June 16, 2022 - 4:50pm
Gray Village Intersection
Sketch of Potential Gray Village Design | The Principle Group

UPDATE: December 2022

The Principle Group has delivered their final report to the Town Council. You can view the report here. This report details what a future for the Gray Village could look like. It serves as a roadmap for Town leadership as they consider next steps in this multi-year project. This report could not have been possible without residents' input. 

UPDATE: October 2022

The Bangor Daily News recently featured the Gray Village project with a story that explains the current dilemmas facing residents, and how Town leadership is working to address the Village's issues.

WGME also highlighted the Town's hopes to slow traffic in the Village area. 

UPDATE: September 2022 

The Principle Group has issued their report to the Town Council, and you can view these materials below: 

You can watch The Principle Group's presentation to the Town Council on September 20, 2022, here. 

The Town Council also discussed the Village Visioning work at their workshop with the Maine Department of Transportation on September 15, 2022. You can view that meeting here. 

July 2022

Change is coming to Gray's Village streets and spaces, and you are invited to be a part of it! 

The Town of Gray is excited to kick off implementation of its Comprehensive Plan, which was approved by voters in 2020. We’ll be doing visioning for Gray Village, with a focus on streets and public spaces. With coming improvements to some of our village streets, Gray has an opportunity to create design plans to make downtown walkable, beautiful, traffic-calmed, safe for people of all ages and abilities, and local-business friendly.  

The Principle Group and Greater Portland Council of Governments have partnered to provide planning and urban design services, lead a public design process, and create an action-oriented vision plan that the Town can use to guide decision-making.

Gray's leadership has committed to an open and dynamic public process that will be facilitated by a team of planners and designers - but it will be led by your voices and the ideas you bring.  At every step, information will be shared via the project's interactive website. In addition to the in-person engagement, you can use this website to share your ideas and provide feedback throughout the process.  

Following the visioning kick-off meeting on June 27 from 6 - 8 p.m., the visioning schedule is as follows: 

  • Day 1 - July 27, 2022
    • Mobility: Walking and Biking Roundtable | 10AM-11:30AM
      • We will explore how residents move about Gray Village today, and ideas people may have for enhancing mobility.
    • Landowners and Business Community Roundtable | 12:30PM-1:30PM

      • We encourage all Village-area landowners and businessfolk to tell us what it is currently like to own land, live, or operate a business within Gray Village. We want you to tell us how you imagine your business or land’s participation in future change.

    • Design for Multigenerational Living | 4PM-5PM

      • Come talk with the team and the Maine Council on Aging about age-friendly community design.

    • Walking Tour & Survey | 6PM-8PM
      • We will lead participants on a short walking tour of the Village and discuss things like right-of-way and building setbacks, and what that means for the overall design of the Village.
  • Day 2 - July 28, 2022
    • Street Design Technical Meeting | 1PM-2PM

      • This meeting provides the team, traffic engineers, planners and leadership with the opportunity for a technical-focused conversation where we’ll be micro-focused on design, dimensions, data, potential street cross-sections, and phasing of improvements given upcoming scheduled Maine Department of Transportation work and funding options.

    • Town Council and Planning Board | 5-6PM
  • Day 3 - July 29, 2022
    • Community Check-in & Block Party | 4PM-7PM
      • At the check-in, the team will report back with what we’ve heard over the past three days. The subsequent block party will be a fun time to connect with neighbors and provide final design week feedback complete with live music, ice cream, games and more!
  • Day 4 - July 30, 2022
    • Open Studio & Family-Friendly Activities | 9AM-6PM

UPDATE: All events will be held at the Henry Pennell Municipal Complex at 24 Main Street in Gray, and not the Church Parish Hall at 5 Brown Street, as previously stated. For more information, please contact the Town of Gray Planning Department at 207-657-3339.