Why plan for growth and change, when it seems so much easier to simply react? When there is a distinct and shared vision for your community - when residents, businesses and local government anticipate a sustainable town with cohesive and thriving neighborhoods - you have the power to conserve your beautiful natural spaces, enhance your existing downtown or Main Street, enable rural areas to be productive and prosperous, and save money through efficient use of existing infrastructure. This is the dollars and sense of smart growth. Success is clearly visible in Maine, from the creation of a community-built senior housing complex and health center in Fort Fairfield to conservation easements creating Forever Farms to Rockland's revitalized downtown. Communities have options. We have the power to manage our own responses to growth and change. After all, “Planning is a process of choosing among those many options. If we do not choose to plan, then we choose to have others plan for us.” - Richard I. Winwood And in the end, this means that our children and their children will choose to make Maine home and our economy will provide the opportunities to do so. The Summit offers you a wonderful opportunity to be a part of the transformative change in Maine that we’ve seen these gatherings produce. We encourage you to consider the value of being actively involved in growing Maine’s economy and protecting the reasons we choose to live here.

1. Presentation to
GrowSmart Maine Summit
October 21, 2014
Sustain Southern Maine
Partnering to strengthen our economy,
environment and community
Rebeccah Schaffner, AICP
Director of Sustain Southern Maine
Greater Portland Council of Governments
◊GPCOG
www.sustainsouthernmaine.org • Find us on FaceBook • Follow us on Twitter

2. Sustain Southern Maine
➢3 year
➢$1.6 million grant
➢42 municipalities

3. Partnership
Pilot
Projects
Strategies
& Actions
Knowledge
Sharing
Investment
Alignment
Process

4. Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission
Muskie School of Public Service/
University of Southern Maine
A Consortium of Committed Partners
45 Municipal and County
Governments, Educational
Institutions,
and Special Interest Non-Profits
City of Portland
Town of Brunswick
Cumberland District of Public Health
Maine Department of Transportation
Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority
Portland Housing Authority
Sanford Housing Authority
City of South Portland
Avesta Housing
Trust For Public Land
City of Saco
York County Community Action Corp
Town of Gray
Wells Reserve
Westbrook Housing Authority
Town of Standish
Casco Bay Estuary Partnership
Bicycle Coalition of Maine
City of Biddeford
Town of Kittery
GrowSmart Maine
Biddeford Housing Authority
Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation System
Mobilize Maine
Cumberland County
Brunswick Housing Authority
Eat Local Foods Coalition of Maine
Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority
Opportunity Alliance
Town of Kennebunk
Portland Society of Architects
Southern Maine Agency on Aging
Town of Scarborough
Town of Wells
City of Westbrook
Southern Maine Regional Water Council
York County
City of Sanford
Kittery Area Comprehensive Transportation System
Town of Freeport
Maine Clean Communities
Partnership

5. 11 Centers of Opportunity
Pilot Projects
From north to south:
❑Gray Village, Gray
❑Porters Landing
Neighborhood, Freeport
❑Steep Falls, Standish
❑Prides Corner, Westbrook
❑India St Neighborhood,
Portland
❑Mill Creek, South Portland
❑Dunstan Corner, Scarborough
❑Main St, Saco
❑West Kennebunk Village,
Kennebunk
❑Wells Center, Wells
❑Kittery Foreside, Kittery
Pilot
Projects

6. Knowledge
Sharing
➢ Building capacity in our Partners and stakeholders
➢ 10 Sessions:
1. Placemaking to Sustain a Region
2. Regional Population and Housing Trends
3. The Local Food Movement and How It Affects the Southern Maine
Economy
4. Affordable Housing for Regional Prosperity: By Choice, Not Chance
5. Maine’s Energy Choices: A Critical Factor in Our Future Prosperity
6. New Mainers and Economic Vitality
7. Regional Transit for Southern Maine – What’s Next?
8. Adapting to Climate Change in Maine
9. Trails and a Livable Southern Maine
10. Creating a Regional Model of Southern Maine

7. Regional Capital
Improvement Plan
Investment
Alignment
➢Identify capital improvements necessary to
implement COOPs
➢Identify capital improvements
➢Sustainable
➢Greatest impact
➢Identify needed funding
➢Identify funding sources

8. Strategies
& Actions Keeping It
1. The recommendation is a proven practice, or
compliments, expands, or strengthens a program or policy
already in place;
2. Is economically feasible to implement;
3. Investment in the recommendation will result in long
term savings;
4. It benefits other desired outcomes such as economic,
public safety, health, and environment;
5. Steps to implementation can be defined and measured;
and
6. It can be implemented primarily through Local or County
government.
Relevant

9. Strategies
& Actions
Multi-Modal Transportation
➢ PACTS & KACTS
➢ Multimodal Transportation Plan + 6 reports
➢ → 22 Priorities
➢ 2 Knowledge Sharing Sessions:
Housing
➢ Regional Housing Council
➢ Regional AI
➢ + Market Analysis & Housing Efficiency
Reports
➢ → 19 Priorities
➢ 1 Knowledge Sharing Session

10. Infrastructure
➢ Drinking Water, Waste Water & Broadband
➢ Southern Maine Regional Water Council
➢ Mapping
➢ 3 sets of priorities:
➢ → 12 Drinking Water
➢ → 11 Wastewater
➢ → 11 Broadband
Strategies
& Actions
Mobilize Maine
➢ Statewide initiative thru the EDDs
➢ 2 Comprehensive Economic
Development Strategies
➢ Priority Areas
➢ GPCOG → 6
➢ SMPDC → 7
➢ 1 Knowledge Sharing Session

11. New Mainers
➢ Outreach to Underserved Populations
➢ Inventory of vocational services
➢ Service providers & other advocates
➢ 1 Knowledge Sharing Session
➢ Report on Supporting Vocational
Improvement
➢ → 22 Priorities
Strategies
& Actions
Energy
➢ Use & Emissions Inventory
➢ County Climate & Energy Plan
➢ Reconvened experts
➢ 1 Knowledge Sharing Session
➢ → 23 Priorities

12. Climate Change
➢ Convened expert stakeholders
➢ The People and Nature:
Adapting to a Changing Climate
➢ Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment
➢ 1 Knowledge Sharing session
➢ → 11 Priorities
Strategies
& Actions
Community Conservation
➢ Conserved lands map
➢ Convened Land Trusts
➢ 1 Knowledge Sharing session
➢ → 9 Priorities

13. Public Engagement
 Partnership
 Pilot Projects
 Knowledge Sharing
 Outreach to Underserved Population
 Open House
 Website & Social Media

14. Lessons Learned
Data and Information vs Process
Data & Information
Housing Affordability
Transit Needs
Embrace Diversity
High Energy Costs
Resiliency Challenges

15. Lessons Learned
Process
Density
Partnership
Leadership
Leveraging