Sears Island forum planned Panel invites public to participate in ‘open-space process’

The people charged with coming up with a vision for use of state-owned Sears Island in Waldo County will be hosts Saturday of a daylong meeting designed to glean public comment.

Unlike traditional public forums, in which people file to a podium to register their opinions, the process at Saturday’s Belfast meeting will go much deeper and require more commitment on the part of participants.

The meeting is a key step in determining which vision will prevail for the 941-acre island, which is connected to the mainland in Searsport by a causeway. For decades there has been debate between those advocating industrial and transportation-related uses and those arguing it should be preserved as one of the largest uninhabited islands on the East Coast.

Late last year, the state Department of Transportation, which administers ownership of the island, handed off responsibility for the planning process to the state Department of Conservation. That move came to create some distance between DOT, which has favored retaining a portion of the island for future, unknown transportation uses, and the independent planning process.

In recent weeks, the Conservation Department has kicked off the process in earnest. At a meeting last month, led by independent facilitator Jonathan Reitman, a steering committee of people representing some 30 groups was formed. The committee, which includes those from both sides of the debate, met again last Friday and added more members.

Saturday’s session, which will be held from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center on Route 3 in Belfast, will be hosted by the steering committee.

Deputy Conservation Commissioner Karin Tilberg said the so-called open-space process will begin with “a total brainstorming, free-flowing opportunity to participate – just getting ideas out.”

That process probably will be open at the outset to everyone except steering committee members, said Sue Inches, deputy director of the State Planning Office. Inches and Reitman will act as facilitators for the meeting.

Steering committee members probably will be able to articulate their ideas later in the day.

“We generally start with a clean slate, a clean flip chart, if you will,” Tilberg said.

From the ideas, or interests, thrown out by participants, an agenda for the day is created, Inches said. Interests can range from the broad, such as land conservation issues, to the very narrow, such as how trails might be improved.

“It’s not for us to control it,” Inches said.

Participants then narrow the list to a number that usually equals one topic for each 10 participants. Breakout sessions are then planned for each topic.

Participants then attend the breakout sessions of their choice, which begins to suggest a focus. If just two or three people attend one breakout session and two dozen attend another, the theme of the better-attended session is seen as significant, Inches said.

At the end of each breakout session, the participants create a list of three to four bullet points. Then, participants walk around the room to “vote” on the points they feel are most significant.

At a similar open-space process led by the State Planning Office last summer on another issue, some six key themes emerged, Inches said. Then in the voting, two-thirds of the participants chose one of the themes as the most important. That issue became a major focus for the group hosting the planning session, she said.

The results of Saturday’s session will not be a consensus view, Tilberg said, but rather important information to be used by the steering committee. Another such open-space meeting probably will be scheduled for later in the year, she said.

To register for the Saturday session, which includes breaks for lunch ($5 donation for lunch) and an early evening break, call Francesca Romanoski at 287-5266, or e-mail her at Francesca.Romanoski@maine.gov.