News

New Gloucester--A Special Town Meeting has been set for New Gloucester residents to vote on the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR).

The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, December 14 at 7 p.m. Residents will be asked to decide if they would like to add the proposed "Article 9: Transfer of Development Rights to the Town of New Gloucester Land Ordinance and Subdivision Ordinance."

TDR is a land use tool that uses incentive to help rural landowners preserve their land by allowing them to sell their development rights to persons who wish to use them on land zoned for growth. This would enable the land in the growth areas to have double the development while those in a rural area would receive fair market value or more for those development rights.

"Development is going to happen, there's no way of stopping it," said Brian Thompson, of the family owned and operated Thompson's Orchard... "But, if they [the town] can control where the growth goes, that's a good thing."
Thompson said he understands why the Town has decided to bring forth the TDR, but he could not take advantage of it. The farm has been in his family since 1906 and has been run by members of the family since that time.
"I personally don't want anyone else having control of my land," he said... "I'd hate to give away any rights to it for future generations."

There are only two towns in Maine that have implemented a TDR program, Brunswick and Cape Elizabeth. Townspeople of Brunswick recently voted to take out the TDR. In Cape Elizabeth, the TDR is still in effect, but no one has enrolled in the program yet.

The Town's intentions are to preserve open space, but Cape Elizabeth Tax Assessor Mathew Sturgis said the reason behind no one taking advantage of the program in Cape Elizabeth is the value of the land. Sturgis is also a Gray resident, Gray Councilor and former New Gloucester Selectmen Chair. Sturgis said that people don't want to give up the opportunity for development in the future. "Every piece of land down there is valuable," he said, "and it will be here someday too."

The TDR is just a tool, Sturgis continued. "It's available for those who wish to use it, but landowners don't have to if they don't want to. This is a way to preserve open space," he said, "while making a trade off so that people may receive some compensation."

Also slated for vote at the Special Town Meeting are: expending $16,375 on the transfer station; expending $16,200 of budgeted money on the fairgrounds grass and soil improvement program; and adding a budgeted line item to the current year's budget that could include a donation designated for the fairgrounds.