Task force calls for anti-sprawl laws

AUGUSTA – Maine communities would have to manage their growth better, or risk losing state funding under recommendations made by a legislatively appointed task force in a report released recently.

The group, which is proposing legislation, suggests that 70 percent of new houses should be built in areas designated for growth, and commercial development should be located in areas where new businesses will not jam existing roadways with traffic.

The group, which is made up of lawmakers, business representatives and municipal officials, will hear public comment on its recommendations today beginning at 9:30 a.m. in State House Room 427.

Also today, the Maine Municipal Association will be meeting to see if its members want to endorse the task force’s recommendations.

Task force members say they do not want to tell people where to live, but they aim to find ways of ensuring that those who choose to build in outlying areas fully bear the cost of such decisions. The costs include new or improved roads, additional demand for police and fire service and increased capacity at local schools.

People move to rural areas because taxes are lower. But as more and more people follow suit, they put a larger burden on municipal services, and costs – in the form of taxes – increase for everyone, said Sen. Neria Douglass, D-Auburn, co-chair of the task force.

“The cost of sprawl should be borne by the people who move into the outlying areas,” she said Tuesday in an interview.

To address the issue of growth management, the task force is asking the state to enforce a 1991 law requiring all towns to develop comprehensive plans by 2003. Nearly 10 years after this requirement was passed, fewer than half the state’s more than 400 towns have developed such plans, and only 23 have taken the next step of developing land use ordinances, according to John Simko, Greenville town manager and a member of the growth management task force.

The plans should meet several standards, the committee is recommending. The standards are that 70 percent of new residential growth be in areas designated for growth, that 10 percent of new homes be affordable to poor people and that commercial development be in areas that would not necessitate the lowering of speed limits on existing major roads.

If the standards are not met, communities should be denied access to growth-related financial assistance from the state and money from the Land for Maine’s Future Board, the task force recommended.

The standards, which would not apply to communities that have less than 5 percent annual growth, would go into effect in 2005 if adopted by the Legislature.

In addition, priority growth areas – places where growth should be focused – and critical rural areas, where farming and forestry should be maintained, must be identified in the comprehensive plans.

The city of Bangor has benefited from past state efforts to manage growth, said City Manager Ed Barrett. Efforts to locate government offices in downtown areas and to more equitably distribute transportation funds for urban projects have been helpful, Barrett said.

He also applauded the current effort to help service centers like Bangor, but worried it might fall short.

“We believe Maine’s service center communities are asked to carry an unfair burden,” he said.

And he said the suggested penalties for not managing growth are “not a real big stick.” In some areas, community leaders have developed comprehensive plans only to have them rejected by voters. The loss of growth management funds would not remedy this situation, he said.

Bangor has long had a comprehensive plan that includes designated growth areas, such as around the Bangor Mall, which Barrett called “contained development” with clear boundaries. It is better to have all the big box stores, such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot, in one area rather than spread out over every exit off the Interstate, he said.

Translating these concepts to areas with much less development won’t be easy.

Simko of Greenville said he was astounded to learn that his hometown of Sebec is the fastest growing community in Piscataquis County.

The little lakeside town is popular because it is within commuting distance of Dover, Milo and, even Bangor. The town’s students attend Dover-Foxcroft schools but residents don’t pay Dover-Foxcroft tax rates. However, Sebec has no comprehensive plan, hence no way to control the explosive growth it is now experiencing.

Efforts to help service center towns are needed, Simko said, because even small communities like Greenville are feeling the pinch. Many new houses are being built along Route 15 in neighboring Shirley, where property taxes are lower. However, the residents of these houses drive to Greenville to shop or to see a doctor, their children attend schools in Greenville and, if their house were to catch on fire, firefighters from Greenville would be called.

The Legislature established a municipal investment trust fund that was to offer grants to service center communities for projects such as roads and parks. However, no money was put into the fund. Simko thinks money should be put into it to see if it will work.