C HARTING M AINE’ S F UTURE An Action Plan for Promoting Sustainable Prosperity and Quality Places Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program C HARTING M AINE’ S F UTURE An Action Plan for Promoting Sustainable Prosperity and Quality Places THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION METROPOLITAN POLICY PROGRAM © 2006 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS any, many people and organizations contributed to • Northern Maine (Caribou, Houlton, Ft. Kent). Patricia this project, so the Metropolitan Policy Program at Boucher, Workforce Investment Board of Aroostook and MBrookings has incurred many debts over the last Washington Counties; Jim Brown, City of Presque Isle; 18 months. Enlarging our sense of obligation is the uncom- Robert Clark, Northern Maine Development mon generosity and community-mindedness of Maine people. Corporation; Allen Deeves, Presque Isle Chamber of We owe our first debt to GrowSmart Maine, which invited Commerce; John Edgecomb, Aroostook Municipal this report, raised the money to enable it, and has begun to Association; Mike Eisensmith, Northern Maine mobilize an unprecedented array of Maine citizens and con- Development Corporation; Ryan Pelletier, Town of stituencies to support this report’s recommendations. St. Agatha; Rod Thompson, Maine Small Business In particular, we want to thank Alan Caron, GrowSmart’s Development Centers / NMDC president and CEO, who in ways large and small has tire- lessly advocated for the importance of this work. All along • Down East (Eastport). Nancy Asante, Town of Perry; Alan has seen the potential for Maine people to rally around Bud Finch, City of Eastport; Marged Higginson, Eastport a bold and appealing agenda that responds to Mainers’ desire for Pride; Joyce Weber, Eastport Arts Center; Lora for both prosperity and a superlative quality of place, and we Whelan, Eastport for Pride hope we have provided that. It has been our good fortune as well as Alan’s, moreover, to benefit from the labors of • Northern Central Maine (Dover-Foxcroft). Michael GrowSmart’s energetic staff, including Lisa Fahay, Maggie Bush, Eastern Maine Development Corporation; Mary Drummond, Alison Rehnberg, and Irma Bauer-Levesque. Ann Hayes, Maine Rural Partners; Tom Lizotte, Thanks also go to GrowSmart for organizing the dozens of Piscataquis County; Mark Scarano, Piscataquis County highly informative stakeholder dialogues around the state that Economic Development Council in a very real sense “set” the research agenda over the last 18 months. These “listening” sessions culminated with an • Western Mountains (Farmington). Richard Davis, Town extraordinary series of nine town meetings held during three of Farmington; Alison Hagerstrom, Greater Franklin days in late April, 2006 in every corner of Maine, from Development Corporation; Fred Hardy, Franklin County Caribou in the North, to Eastport, to Waterville and Camden Commission; Bruce Hazard, Mountain Counties on the Mid-Coast, to fast-growing Scarborough and Alfred in Heritage, Inc.; Tanya Swain, Western Mountains the South. These meetings gave the research team invaluable Alliance; Mary Sylvester, University of Maine Farmington insight into state and regional issues; they also took us off the beaten path and left us with vivid impressions: standing room • Central Maine (Waterville). John Butera, Central only in most sites; an overflow crowd picking up chairs and Maine Growth Council; Alice Elliott, Goldfarb Center, streaming into the larger gym in Dover-Foxcroft; hearing the Colby College; Shannon Haines, Waterville Maine Street; observations and concerns of 100 mostly rural and small- Mike Roy, City of Waterville town residents crowded into the local church in Alfred—a reminder that York County is more than the increasingly • Mid-Coast (Camden). Lynda Clancy, The Village Press; upscale coast. In these meetings, the entire research team Scott Dickerson, Coastal Mountains Land Trust, Inc.; was struck by the special passion of Maine people for their Tom Ford, Rockport Planning and Community place and their readiness to participate in an effort to work Development; Bob Hastings, Rockland-Thomaston out answers to key problems. We owe our profuse thanks to Chamber of Commerce; Michael Hurley, City of Belfast; the hosts of these memorable events, including these local Noah Keteyian, Midcoast Magnet; Jane Lafleur, Friends leaders: of Midcoast Maine; Rodney Lynch, Town of Rockland; Sanna McKim, Maine Businesses for Social Responsibility; Roger Moody, Camden National Bank; THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION METROPOLITAN POLICY PROGRAM 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Robert Peabody, Town of Rockport; Roberta Smith, Town advice freely, enthusiastically, and patiently during a long and of Camden painstaking research process. Maine is fortunate that six of these experts live in their state and add to its resource base • Greater Portland (Scarborough). John Andrews, Saco with their skill and deep knowledge. Bay Trails; Dan Bacon, Town of Scarborough; Ron In addition to these core research partners, though, Owens, Town of Scarborough; Harvey Rosenfeld, Brookings has profited immensely from a large number of Scarborough Economic Development Corporation; other colleagues who provided invaluable perspectives, spe- Laurene Swaney, Scarborough Land Conservation Trust; cific information, or data. These sources included: Richard Joe Ziepniewski, Town of Scarborough Barringer, University of Southern Maine; Kathleen Bell, University of Maine at Orono; Betsy Biemann, Maine • Southern Mid-Coast (Brunswick). Donald Gerrish, Technology Institute; Yellow Light Breen, Bangor Savings Town of Brunswick; Theo Holtwijk, Town of Brunswick; Bank; Deborah Burd, National Campaign for Sustainable William F. King, Jr., Maine Downtown Center and Main Agriculture; James Carignan; Maine State Board of Street Bath; Steve Levesque, Brunswick Local Education; Judy Colby-George, Spatial Alternatives, Inc.; Jay Redevelopment Authority; Jayne Palmer, Maine Downtown Espy, Maine Coast Heritage Trust; Robert Faunce, City of Center and Main Street Bath; Tom Rumpf, The Nature Lewiston; Kevin Gildart, Bath Iron Works; Bruce Hazard, Conservancy; Burr Taylor, Harpswell Comprehensive Plan Mountain Counties Heritage, Inc.; Chuck Hewett, The Committee; Steve Walker, Town of Brunswick Jackson Laboratory; Rob Kenerson, Eastern Maine Development Corp.; former-Gov. Angus King; Eric Kingsley, • Western York County (Alfred). Joey Donnelly, York Innovative Natural Resources Solutions, LLC; Cheryl Kollin, Harbor; Cathy Goodwin, Greater York Region Chamber American Forests; Charles Lawton, Planning Decisions, Inc.; of Commerce; James Gulnac, Town of Sanford; J.T. Russell Libby, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Lockman, Southern Maine Regional Planning Association; John Melrose, Maine Tomorrow; Sean Mahoney, Commission; Paul Schumacher, Southern Maine Verrill Dana LLP; P.D. Merrill, Merrill Marine Terminal Regional Planning Commission; John Sylvester, Services; Karen Mills, Solera Capital; Frank O’Hara, Town of Alfred Planning Decisions, Inc.; John Oliver, L.L. Bean, Inc.; Kenneth Palmer, University of Maine at Orono; Ron Phillips, But many other debts were accrued during the actual Coastal Enterprises, Inc.; Darcy Rollins, Federal Reserve development of the report—one of the most intensely collab- Bank of Boston; Jonathan Rubin, Margaret Chase Smith orative inquiries the metropolitan program has ever engaged Center for Public Policy; Tom Rumpf, The Nature in. To start with, the Brookings team wishes particularly to Conservancy; Harry Schwartz; Paul Schumacher, Southern thank Evan Richert of the University of Southern Maine who Maine Regional Planning Commission; David Silvernail, was a constantly generous and incisive guide to virtually every University of Southern Maine; Rhonda Sincavage, National aspect of Maine’s public policy landscape throughout the Trust for Historic Preservation; Benjamin Smith, HNTB research process. Evan’s wise counsel at numerous critical Corp.; Christopher St. John, Maine Center for Economic points was simply indispensable. Policy; Richard Sutton, Reference Standard, LLC; Robert In like fashion, Brookings wants also to express its appreci- Tannenwald, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; Matthew ation and admiration for its core research partners in this Teare, Sea Coast Management Co.; Emily Templeton, New endeavor, including: Lori Allen of the Maine Downtown Jersey Department of Community Affairs; Mike Tetreault, Center; Charlie Colgan of the University of Southern Maine; The Nature Conservancy; David Theobald, Colorado State Laurie Lachance of the Maine Development Foundation; University; Peter Thompson, Kennebec Valley Chamber of Matt Murray of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville; Commerce; Tilbury House Publishers; David Vail, Bowdoin Michael Moore of the Maine Public Spending Research College; Ken Young, Kennebec Valley Council of Group; Bob Thompson of the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments; and Sam Zaitlin. Governments; and Philip Trostel of the University of Maine And Brookings has other debts. In the public sector, at Orono. Each of these individuals produced important new numerous officials and staff people in state and local govern- research for this report. Each shared their expertise and ment provided important information and guidance to this CHARTING MAINE’S FUTURE: AN ACTION PLAN FOR PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE PROSPERITY AND QUALITY PLACES 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS project. Here, a first word of thanks must go to Maine’s state for the careful reading and thoughtful comments that more government, which from top to bottom,