Brewer seeks public’s view on planning efforts

BREWER – Eight years after the community finished updating its comprehensive plan, Brewer is seeking public input on efforts to update it again.

A lot of development has occurred in the city since the original comprehensive plan was completed in 1995, and questions of further commercial and residential development need to be addressed, according to city officials. Plans for the city’s waterfront have evolved from a dream to reality, and issues relating to the extent of development of that area are on the discussion table.

A public meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 1, at the Brewer Auditorium. A consultant hired a few months ago to study the city’s past, present and possible future direction will give a report on his research and provide some suggestions.

An ad hoc committee appointed last year to oversee the comprehensive plan update will preside. It is hoped a sufficient number of Brewer residents will attend to provide ideas and reaction to ideas for Brewer’s development future, according to city officials.

The comprehensive plan addresses a lot of different areas from land use to housing, according to City Planner Linda Johns.

Land use – a topic that tends to draw public interest – probably will be a key topic. Zoning and zoning restrictions, often outgrowths of land-use matters, may need to be discussed and reviewed

Key issues at hand:

. With the rapid pace of development under way and coming, Brewer residents may need to look at other appropriate areas for commercial development to expand outside the Wilson Street area. “We’re within a decade” of filling up the Wilson Street corridor,” said Drew Sachs, Brewer’s economic development director. Another issue is whether to develop a proposed professional business district to accommodate an increasing number of white-collar professionals expressing interest in moving to Brewer.

. Regarding the waterfront, residents, an advisory committee and consultants developed an extensive plan which is beginning to come to fruition this summer with the planned shoring up of the river bank to prevent further erosion. Though the 1995 comprehensive plan called for waterfront development, further development plans and their impact need to be discussed and incorporated into the revised comprehensive plan.

. Brewer has large areas of medium-density residential growth, including Parkway South, the Pendleton Street area and the Oak Grove area off North Main Street. Such areas have city services but discussions need to take place on whether to expand these services so areas will develop more extensively. “There’s a desire to look at housing growth – residential growth – in the community so we can provide more opportunity for [such] growth and, at the same time, encourage it to occur where we want it to occur as a community,” said Sachs. The city wants to avoid, “major extensions of infrastructure, and we don’t want to destroy the rural character of some of the outlying areas,” Sachs said.

The city employed a consultant from the Yarmouth firm of MRLD, LLC at a fee of $18,000 to help develop the comprehensive plan update. The firm deals with urban development and landscape architecture matters. Consultant Mitchell Rasor will be at the July 1 meeting.