Maine sprawl

Because the American dream more often consists of a large home on a couple acres in the countryside (but not too far from town) rather than a smaller place on a smaller lot right in town, Maine’s taxpayers must pay an additonal $50 million and $75 million a year in added costs for schools, roads and other services.

The suburban phenomenom has been going on for 40 years in Maine and seems to be increasing. Consider that in 1960, more than two-thirds of Maine residents lived in the state’s 69 service centers — from Portland to Madawaska. Now, fewer than half do, with the most dramatic increaes in population in the towns that surround the centers. This trend is hardly unique to Maine. Americans are spending more and more time living in their cars, as they commute to work, school and to centralized shopping malls. Almost no one would suggest prohibiting the pursuit of this lifestyle, but some people in Maine are questioning whether the state should continue to subsidize it.

You are invited to hear details of how Maine does this at forums called “Smart Growth for Our Communities,” to be held from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Dec. 3 at the Bangor Civic Center and Dec. 10 at Machias Savings Bank. (Call 800-597-9500 for more information.) Put on by ECO/ECO, the forums will feature local developers and community leaders as well as Evan Richert, director of the State Planning Office. Mr. Richert has been pointing out the unintended costs of sprawl for the last couple of years and his comments are eye-opening.

For instance, state and local governments pay $54 million a year to get students to and from school. “If you do the math,” he said recently, “school buses are now traveling an average of about one miles per student per school day. … It’s as if the bus driver left the garage, drove half a mile picked up a kid, drove another half a mile picked up another kid, drove another half a mile, picked up a kid, and did that until the round was complete, then, at 3:00 in the afternoon, did it in reverse.”

Some Maine residents can afford this because the cost is borne by everyone, not only for busing but through the state’s community revenue-sharing formula, its school construction policies and, for that matter, its utility regulation. The result has been devastating to Maine cities, the centers that everyone relies on for employment, medical services, entertainment, etc.

Sprawl seems like a problem the only a place like Boston should have, but Maine has it own version and it costs plenty. Taxpayers who want to better understand the problem would do well to attend the forums in December.