ELLSWORTH – Lately, there isn’t a much hotter topic in Hancock County than development, particularly when it comes to subdivisions.

Many community groups are responding by banding together to educate themselves and the public to make sure new growth is in their best interests.

Striking a Balance, a partnership among a handful of local agencies, held a public forum Thursday at the VFW Hall in Ellsworth, the group’s fifth in the last year and a half.

The series has been well-attended so far, and this week was no exception, with about 60 people turning out to listen and weigh in on a housing trend that appears to be rampant.

“There has been a lot of tension developing between municipal officials and [subdivision] developers,” said Sherry Churchill of the Hancock County Planning Commission. “We wanted to bring together people from different sectors and try to implement tools into the community.”

HCPC started Striking a Balance in 2004 as a way to address land-use issues and personal property rights. Since then, the Union River Watershed Coalition, the Down East Resource, Conservation and Development Council, and the Gouldsboro planning board have joined the effort.

“Local planning boards especially are really struggling with a lot of issues related to development, and they are asking for help,” said Gary Edwards, who represents the Down East RC&D.

Striking a Balance’s public forums have helped by bringing together a broad cross-section of people, including developers, architects, municipal officers, real estate agents and more. In many communities, Churchill said, that many different opinions don’t ever come together in the same place.

Each Striking a Balance presentation has focused on a slightly different set of topics; this week it was nonpoint source pollution and neighborhood associations.

“I think we had some really engaging discussion [Thursday],” Churchill said.

While some areas, such as Bar Harbor, don’t have an abundance of developable land, other communities such as Ellsworth have seemingly endless possibilities.

It shows, too. On the city’s planning board agenda for its April 5 meeting, six items are related to new subdivisions.

“We’re not saying subdivisions are bad,” Churchill said. “We just want to make sure developers are responsible.”

She added that many developers are from out of state and don’t necessarily reflect the ideals of coastal Maine.

Collaborative efforts like Striking a Balance have helped show the public can have a say in community development.

“We’re involved with a whole bunch of issues; it’s not any one thing,” Edwards said. “We just want to make sure we keep the well-being of our natural resources in mind.”

The next Striking a Balance forum is scheduled for May 31.