New
Gloucester Development Study Entering Next Phase
By David Versel
The Town of New Gloucester has completed the first
portion of its town-wide Business & Economic Development
Study and will need further public input as the planning
team prepares to enter the plan development phase.
Two public visioning sessions will be held in February
to help guide the planning process.
To date the Town and its consultant, RKG Associates,
have completed an Existing Conditions report, held
one public visioning session and completed a survey
of businesses located in New Gloucester. The Existing
Conditions Report summarized a variety of demographic,
economic and real estate market trends and identified
infrastructure, natural resources and regulatory issues
that need to be considered.
The first public visioning session was held on December
8, 2005. About 40 town residents and business owners
attended the session. The majority of people agreed
on several key vision points, including: the desire
to balance business and tax-base growth with the protection
of rural character and village charm; the need to
encourage and support home-based business; the desire
to build around the activity at Pineland; and the
possibility of getting more residents working closer
to home.
The business survey was sent to more than 200 commercial
and home-based enterprises in New Gloucester. More
than 20 percent of businesses responded, and key findings
included: most businesses in town are small (average
size is eight employees); about one-third of businesses
are home-based; many businesses would like to see
additional business support services, restaurants
and retail opportunities in town; and business owners
are more interested in working closer to home and
quality of life than in "traditional" business
issues, like labor force.
The next step in the process will be two visioning
sessions, both of which will be held at the Pineland
Conference Center. At the first session, which will
be held on Thursday, February 2 at 7 p.m. the public
will be asked to develop specific visions for specific
locations in New Gloucester (Upper Village, Lower
Village, Route 26, Route 100). At the second session
on Thursday, February 16 at 7:00 PM, topic-based visions
will be discussed (Building on Pineland, Tourism/Agritourism/Arts,
Housing, Rural Area Issues).
For those who are unable to attend the Visioning Sessions
in person, they will be aired on cable Channel 3.
Also, the public is welcome to provide input at any
point throughout the process by contacting Town Planner,
James Isaacson, at 926-4126, extension 4 or jisaacson@newgloucester.com.
For More Information:
Rosemary Kulow, Town Manager, Town of New Gloucester,
Tel (207) 926-4126, rkulow@newgloucester.com
Darren Mochrie, Project Manager, RKG Associates, Tel
(603) 868-5513, djam@rkg1.com
