AUGUSTA – Hundreds of communities across the country have been inspired to restore their foundering downtowns using a tried-and-true formula that emphasizes design, organization, promotion and economic restructuring.

Now this state can catch the wave with help from the Maine Downtown Center, the newest program of the Maine Development Foundation.

Each year beginning this fall, the center will choose three downtowns – designated Main Street Maine communities – and help them implement revitalization programs based on the nationally proven four-point approach.

Any municipality or nonprofit organization dedicated to downtown revitalization may apply for Main Street Maine designation as long as it has raised enough money to hire a downtown manager for three years.

Meanwhile, the center will provide training and technical assistance worth $30,000.

“We’ll run workshops, teach them how to attract businesses and investments for capital improvements, bring in experts like architects, parking consultants, engineers – whatever’s needed to help the town,” Craig Freshley, coordinator of the center, said this week.

It pays off, according to Freshley. For every dollar spent on running the program, an average of $38 is invested from other sources.

“That’s the magic of the program,” he said.

But communities shouldn’t expect stellar results right off the bat.

“Those will start to show up in three years, but five to 10 years is where [you’ll see] the vacancy rate go down and property valuation go up,” Freshley said.

The four-point method of downtown revitalization was developed by the National Main Street Center, part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, according to Freshley.

Trying 20 years ago to figure out a solid plan for downtown development, experts recognized that the way to save historic buildings was to save downtowns.

Expanding on the four parts of the approach, Freshley said a successful downtown design would include an overall uniformity.

“This has to do with the look and feel of downtown – is it a nice place to walk around, is it well lit, does it have adequate parking?”

Having a formalized group or organization also is critical. “A mall has a manager and a management regime. Downtowns need a management system too – somebody to coordinate retail promotion and help business owners [rehabilitate] buildings, somebody to advocate for the downtown.”

Promoting a uniform image also contributes to a thriving hub. “A lot of downtown businesses are going off in 14 different ways, with everyone promoting themselves instead of downtown as a whole,” Freshley said.

“Ideally, all merchants would be promoting the same image and are collaborating on the message. If one store is having a sale, wouldn’t it make sense for others, too?”

Lastly, economic restructuring goes a long way toward strengthening downtown development. Freshley recommended “making sure that every square foot is used to its highest and best use and that second floors are filled in, and always looking for new opportunities for buildings and new kinds of businesses.”

The center offers information, contacts, advice, training and support for communities that want to fight sprawl by making the downtown area more attractive for living, working and shopping.

Participating in the center are a number of state agencies including the Department of Economic and Community Development, the State Planning Office, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Finance Authority of Maine and the Department of Transportation.

Many downtowns have taken a beating over the past 20 years as communities spread development farther and farther away from their centers. But the tide is turning.

“We have learned a lot in our state about the economic, social and environmental costs of sprawl,” Freshley said. “It costs more money to serve a wider area [in terms of] fire and police protection and water and sewer services. And people living far apart don’t have the same amount of community interaction as those living in the downtown area.”

“Also, [sprawl] takes land out of farm production and from wildlife habitats. So while it may seem cheaper for a developer to go out of town and dig up a new piece of land instead of rehabbing a downtown building, there are many hidden costs we don’t see right away.”

But downtowns are making a comeback. “We’re starting to realize that we want to invest in our downtowns. A lot of people are choosing to shop downtown for a sense of community, for the chance to run into someone they know, for the fun of it,” Freshley said.

At least one representative of the group applying to become a Main Street Maine community must attend an application workshop either Thursday, April 19, at the Caribou Inn and Convention Center, or Thursday, April 26, during the Downtown 2001 Conference at the Bangor Civic Center. For more information, call 626-3123 or 622-6346 or e-mail cfreshley@mdf.org. The center’s Web site is www.mdf.org/downtown.