New report says train station would be benefit to Freeport

FREEPORT – Culture, natural areas and a train station would make Freeport more enticing to tourists and allow the town to keep up with competition from other outlet centers, according to a new report.

The town long has been known for its retail district, which includes L.L. Bean. But tourists want music, movies, theater, restaurants and the great outdoors in addition to shopping, said the report, released earlier this week by several town business leaders.

The plan, called Village 2000, suggests current development plans will turn Freeport’s quaint village into a sea of parking lots.

“People like shopping, but they love the village,” said Genie Beaulieu, a town councilor and president of the Freeport Economic Development Corp. “The place is real. People actually live here.”

The 46-page plan was compiled after some local businesses reported a slight decline in revenue. They attributed the decline to fierce competition from nearby outlets, including those in Kittery as well as Tilton, N.H., and North Conway, N.H.

“What this town really needs is a night life,” said Matt Williams, general manager of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream in the retail district.

The plan calls for locating a train station in the village, which would bring tourists directly into the town. A station also could become a hub for shuttle bus and van service to area hotels and inns, and the Depot Road area, now a back parking lot, could become a new entrance to the town, it said.

The plan also calls for marketing the town as a gateway to Maine’s outdoors.

“Freeport is smart to recognize that it can’t sit on its laurels,” said Greg Boulos, a local businessman. “You don’t see a lot of communities doing that.”

Richard Donaldson, a spokesman for L.L. Bean, stressed the plan offers suggestions, not a blueprint, for change.

“The issue is the decline of consumer traffic and what can be done to reverse that trend and stabilize it,” he said.