Greenville comprehensive plan now ‘complete and consistent’
By Mike Lange
Staff Writer
GREENVILLE — The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry has found Greenville’s 2013 comprehensive plan to be complete and “consistent with Maine’s Growth Management Act.”
The town’s Comprehensive Plan Committee will now meet Thursday, July 11 at 6 p.m. in the town hall to discuss the state’s recommendation and decide whether to make any last-minute changes to the plan.
Town Manager Gary Lamb said he was delighted with the results. “All the hard work done by the Comprehensive Plan Committee, consultant Gwen Hilton and committee staffer Jack Hart has paid off handsomely,” Lamb wrote in an e-mail message. “In a nutshell, Augusta likes the comp plan revision.”
Lamb added that he knows “from first-hand experience that the findings of completeness and consistency do not usually happen without revisions back and forth from Augusta that can take months. We had to do none of that because Gwen and the committee did a first-rate job.”
The comprehensive plan summary emphasizes that “improving the economy is a top priority. More jobs, more economic activity and growth in the population are needed.”
The study also notes that Greenville should not “shoulder an unfair portion of the financial burden, but that it actively seek and promote partnerships where there is mutual benefit, support and equitable sharing of responsibilities. Many of the plan’s recommendations rely on the collaborative efforts of the area’s many public and private entities to promote prosperity for Greenville and the Moosehead Lake region.”
While Greenville has only 1,700 year-round residents, the population swells in the summer and winter months due to the numerous recreational opportunities in and around Moosehead Lake.
But the study urges the town to “promote year-round and seasonal population growth to maintain balanced demographics, including younger and working-age people and retirees, to foster a strong and stable community.”
The school-age population has dropped significantly in recent years, prompting the closure of Nickerson Elementary School and consolidating all grades in the former junior-senior high school.
The study also recommends that town officials “promote a variety of housing options for year-round and seasonal residents of all ages, including decent, affordable housing to local people, especially those with modest or fixed incomes.”
The village district or downtown area should be promoted “as the primary growth area with the goal of creating a more vibrant place, bustling with social, civic, cultural and commercial activity. Allow higher-density development and increased flexibility. Seek grant funding to improve the infrastructure.”