Thomaston Comprehensive Plan Thomaston (Me.)
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The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Maine Town Documents Maine Government Documents 1997 Thomaston Comprehensive Plan Thomaston (Me.). Comprehensive Plan Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/towndocs Repository Citation Thomaston (Me.). Comprehensive Plan, "Thomaston Comprehensive Plan" (1997). Maine Town Documents. 799. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/towndocs/799 This Plan is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Maine Town Documents by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TOWN OF THOMASTON P.O. BOX 299 THOMASTON, MAINE 04861 TEL, (207) 354-6272 To the Citizens of Thomaston: In April of 1988 the State legislature passed the Comprehensive Planning and Land Use Regulation Act establishing a local comprehensive planning process with State goals and guidelines and State and local financial assistance. The purpose of this process is to anticipate and guide the development of land. A committee was appointed by the Selectmen to update the 1974 Comprehensive Plan. This new plan includes detailed information with respect to Thomaston's history, population, housing, economy, transportation, community facilities and services, natural resources, marine resources, recreation, fiscal capacity and land use. Nine maps and the results of a community survey are also included. The committee was very pleased that 50% of the adult citizens responded to the survey. These responses were particularly useful in guiding the committee's decisions. The survey responses, along with the data collected by the committee, formed the basis for the committee's goals, policies and recommendations. This plan is an expression of the community's vision of its future and a guide for making public decisions determining the future. It also provides legal support for the Town's land use ordinances. However, the Town's Comprehensive Plan is only a starting point. The Plan's usefulness will depend on the Town's implementing the recommendations for updating the existing land use ordinances and other suggested strategies. It is the hope of the Comprehensive Planning Committee that the Plan will be reviewed every five years and that the goals, policies and recommendations be modified as the need arises. As the Plan is modified, the land use ordinances may require amendment to keep them consistent. Sincerely, Thomaston Comprehensive Planning Committee David Bowman J.S. Creighton Jonathan Eaton Russell Grimm Sally Hill Barbara Lee, Ch. Beverly Lilienthal John A. Martin Lucy A. Mayo Darrilyn Peters Chris Rector Betty Robinson Lee-Ann M. Upham, Sec. Tim Van Campen Assisted by: Fourtin Powell Land Use Planning Consultant Cover Design by: Tim Van Campen TABLE OF CONTENTS HISTORY POPULATION 9 HOUSING 19 ECONOMY 31 TRANSPORTATION 45 COMMUNITY FACILITIES AND SERVICES 55 NATURAL RESOURCES 7l MARINE RESOURCES 99 RECREATION 109 FISCAL CAPACITY 125 CAPITAL INVESTMENT PLAN 133 LAND USE INVENTORY 143 FUTURE LAND USE 149 REGIONAL COORDINATION 161 SUMMARY 169 COMMUNITY SURVEY 199 MAPS PLANIMETRIC 1 TOPOGRAPHIC 2 COMPOSITE PARCEL 3 COMPOSITE PARCEL INSET 3b SOILS 4 WATER RESOURCES S SEWER AND WATER LINES 6 CURRENT ZONING 7 SUMMARY OF CONSTRAINTS 8 PROPOSED DISTRICTS 9 GLOSSARY The following terms are used in the Comprehensive Plan. Resource Protection District A district in which land use activities are severely limited due to natural conditions of the land and the need to preserve the natural resources located on the land and/or nearby water or wetlands. Shoreland Districts Districts intended to protect water resources, generally within 250 feet of the shoreline of water bodies and wetlands, including wetlands, in which land uses are limited due to their location near water. Includes land along the St. George River, Mill River, Oyster River, West Meadow Brook, Branch Brook and the Weskeag River and Marshes and some inland (fresh water) wetlands. Includes Resource Protection Districts. Rural Residential and Farmland District (R-l) Includes Beechwood Street, Old County Road, West Meadow Road, and Thomaston Street areas. Rural Residential District (R-2) Includes Route One west of the village, Route 131 (north) and Cushing Road areas. Urban Residential District (R-3) Includes residential area in the center of town. Commercial District Includes businesses in the center of town, highway commercial areas on Route One east of the cement plant, at the Route One bridge over the St. George River and the Shoreland Commercial District along the harbor. Industrial District Includes areas east of High Street and Old County Road. Open Space/Cluster Subdivision Subdivision in which detached, single-family homes are located on lots no smaller than 30,000 square feet. Open Space Land in a subdivision which preserves fields, woodlands and scenic views. Open space may include wetlands, fields, woods, pasture or active recreational facilities for the use of residents of the subdivision. GOALS, POLICIES AND IMPLEMENTATION Introduction The Guidelines for Maine's Growth Management Program require that each municipality establish goals, policies and implementation strategies that will promote the State's goals. The 1991 Thomaston Comprehensive Plan contains State Goals, Local Goals, and Policies, arranged by sections, recommended to be followed by the Town and Implementation Strategies to carry out those goals and policies. Following each Implementation Strategy, the elected officers, officials or groups likely to be involved are listed in parentheses. The priority and timing of the implementation strategies or actions are indicated by the following: A. = Within 1 Year B. = Within 3 Years C. = Within 4 Years D. = Over 4 Years Ongoing = Activity could be commenced immediately and continued as needed. HISTORY Thomaston is fourteen miles up the St. George River from Muscongus Bay and the original 1605 landing place of the English explorer, George Weymouth, on Allens Island. The St. George River, with Allens Island near its mouth, has been an important natural feature in the history of the town. Exploration of coastal rivers and streams led to the discovery of the area. A cross near the present Public Landing commemorates Weymouth's landing. Ships carried settlers into the area and carried timber, fur and mineral resources to world markets. The rivers and streams yielded fish and water power to run grist and sawmills. The wooded land provided timber for home construction and early shipbuilding. Much of the gently sloping land was eventually cleared and farmed. Lime deposits led to the development of the lime industry and included quarries, kilns, cooperage and the building and equipping of ships to carry the lime to markets. By 1630, a trading post was established here on the east bank of the river at what is now the foot of Wadsworth Street for the purpose of trading furs. The town is situated in the heart of the Muscongus or Waldo Patent, deeded to Samuel Waldo by Sir William Phipps of Pemaquid, based on a 1694 purchase from Chief Madockawado. Unfortunately, local tribes did not recognize this purchase and continually harassed the first settlers. In 1719, two blockhouses were built and the old trading post remodeled into a fort. Thirty houses were erected nearby, following the establishment of two sawmills on Mill River. In 1735, Samuel Waldo engaged 27 people to settle here. A grist mill was erected in 1740. Despite the efforts of the French and Indians to oust these first English settlers, Mason Wheaton established a settlement on the Mill River in 1763. From that point until the incorporation of the town in 1777, and the separation in 1848 of South Thomaston, from which Owls Head was divided, and East Thomaston, later to become Rockland, the area became very significant in the maritime history of Maine. The first families enjoyed the fresh influx of new settlers who followed the enterprise of Major General Henry Knox. He retired from his post as the first Secretary of War in 1795 and built his great estate, called "Montpelier", facing southward on the river. These expectant entrepreneurs joined Knox in building larger vessels that carried the finished lime to cities and towns along America's east coast as far as New orleans. Knox was extensively involved in many ventures in the region, including the canalization of the St. George River for navigation by flatboats and gundalows. Unfortunately, following his untimely accidental death in 1806, his estate fell on hard times. Owing to the forests that yielded masts and ship's timbers and the discovery of extensive deposits of lime rock, a brisk export trade developed in newly built ships and the lime by-product used in plaster and mortar obtained from burning lime in kilns which were erected along the banks of the St. George River as early as 1734. The kilns' voracious appetite for wood soon depleted local forests and led to an extensive trade in kiln wood from Maine's coast and islands and as far away as New Brunswick's St. John River Valley. Shipyards were first established near the mouth of the Mill River, but eventually occupied the entire shore from Fort Point to Brooklyn Heights, near the Wadsworth Street bridge. Beginning in the 1780's, the first vessels to be launched into the St. George River were sloops and schooners. The first full-rigged ship to be built was the Holoferenes (1807), to be followed by the Bristol Trader and by 1815, it was not unusual for the Thomaston builders to launch four or five large vessels each year. The earliest shipbuilders were James Stackpole, H. Rogers, J. Ulmer, Joseph Gilchrest, Joshua Morton, George Thomas, Cephas and Sanford Starrett, C. C. Morton, William J. Singer and John Robinson. By the early 1850's, the number of shipyards had grown and vessels of increased tonnage (700 tons not being unusual) emerged as the best built in Maine.