Charting Maine's Future

From Grassroots to Blade Tips: Growing Wind Energy in Maine

2009-09-28T19:42:34Z

We recently received a press release for an event that may be of interest to many of our readers…

AUGUSTA, September 22, 2009– Maine’s first comprehensive wind conference has been scheduled for Tuesday, October 6th from 7:30 a.m. – 6:15 p.m. Sponsored by the Wind Powering America Program, Maine Public Utilities Commission, USDA Rural Development, and others, the conference features Opening Remarks from Governor Baldacci, who will have just returned from a trade mission tour of European wind companies and will offer his views on growing wind energy in Maine. This will be followed by morning plenary presentations and an afternoon set of five breakout sessions with topics of interest to municipalities, schools and science teachers, developers, entrepreneurs, farmers, small businesses, manufacturers, vendors, innovators, and others. The conference will feature a full day of updates, information and previews of forthcoming programs and events, as well as exhibitors – something for everyone who is interested in growing wind energy in Maine.

Read about the program and register online at www.mainewindenergyconference.com.

Survey says…

2009-09-23T18:43:25Z

The Census Bureau’s latest American Community Survey has released its findings for 2008, and there are some interesting findings about how Americans are getting to work. USA Today reports on some of the big national trends.

Nationwide, there are more households that own only one car, or no cars at all. And the percentage of workers who are driving themselves to work alone, with no other riders, dropped half a percentage point in the last two years.

That means that the number of cars on America’s roads during rush hours has dropped by more than ten million vehicles.

I just looked into the Maine data, which shows even bigger changes.

The percentage of Mainers driving to work alone dropped from 79.2% in 2007 to 77.3% in 2008.
The percentage of carpooling workers in Maine spiked from 9.7% in 2007 to 10.9% in 2008.

Also noteworthy: the percentage of “Occupied Housing Units With Fuel Oil, Kerosene, Etc. as Principal Heating Fuel” in Maine dropped substantially, from 77.7% in 2007 to 75.1% in 2008. It looks like we’re finally making a dent in our state’s reliance on oil.

More statistics are available here, from the Census Bureau’s web site.

Portland’s new “Creative Economy TIF District” snags its first proposal

2009-09-15T17:34:04Z

The City of Portland recently established a new “Creative Economy TIF district” along Congress Street’s Arts District, the home to dozens of studios, galleries, sole-proprietorship businesses, and entertainment venues. In the past two decades, these businesses have grown into a major cluster and a driving force in the regional economy. The new TIF (or Tax Increment Financing) district seeks to support this cluster by directing a portion of property tax revenues from new projects in the area towards a new “Creative Portland Corporation,” which would invest in economic development projects focused on fostering and growing the city’s creative economy.

Now, the Creative Economy District has received its first major development proposal: a plan to rehabilitate the old Baxter Library (pictured above - until recently, the building was used as classroom and studio space for the Maine College of Art) as offices for the VIA Group, a thriving creative-economy business with offices in Portland and New York City.

Here’s how the TIF would work: when complete, the project would generate an additional $46,000 in new property tax revenue in the city (the building was previously owned by a nonprofit). Under the proposed TIF arrangement, for the next nine years, about $30,000 of that new revenue would be returned to the developer, to help finance the project and its historic preservation elements, and the remaining $16,000 would be invested in the Creative Portland Corporation. In the tenth year, the TIF would expire and all of the building’s property taxes would go into the City’s general fund.

Presumably, the developers will also be taking advantage of state-level historic preservation tax credits, the passage of which was a major focus of GrowSmart Maine’s work in the Legislature two winters ago.

VIA already employs 64 people in Portland, and the new space would give it room to expand, along with the less tangible benefits of collaborating and interacting with other tenants and businesses in the neighborhood.

Critics of TIF districts sometimes complain that they rob tax revenue from other city obligations, like schools or fire departments. But without the TIF investment, it’s hard to imagine a complex historic rehabilitation project like this one happening - the only alternative is to let a beautiful historic building sit empty, which wouldn’t benefit anyone. With the TIF arrangement, City Hall will have to wait ten years to receive the new property tax revenue - but in the meantime, the rest of the city will receive new creative vitality on Congress Street, a beautifully renovated building, new commerce, and new creative economy investments.

This is a public investment that will not only benefit Portland’s economy, but will also enhance its “quality of place” by preserving a historic landmark and by bringing more creative workers downtown. Kudos to the developers for taking on this project, to the VIA Group for supporting it, and to the City of Portland’s highly-creative “Creative Economy TIF” policies for letting it happen.

More good news about walkable neighborhoods

2009-09-09T18:26:59Z

Our latest column in Mainebiz, which follows up on this blog post about walkable neighborhoods having higher real-estate values, was published yesterday and is already generating a bit of buzz - thanks for reading!

The topic has also recently been discussed on the environmental blog Grist, where former GrowSmart Maine board member Stacy Mitchell wrote an essay last month about the environmental benefits of walkable neighborhood shops. In addition to the benefits of increased property values, there are also substantial environmental benefits:

“So far, the public debate about cars and climate change has been dominated by fuel economy. But driving has been growing at such a rapid pace—total miles driven in the U.S. rose 60 percent between 1987 and 2007—that even a big advance in fuel economy is likely to be wiped out by ever more miles on the road…

This is where local stores come in. Academics who study travel behavior say that the presence of neighborhood businesses is a major factor in how much we drive. Dozens of studies have found that people who live near small stores walk more for errands and, when they do drive, their trips are shorter.

Smart Growth Goes to the Theater

2009-09-09T18:10:23Z

Last year, we had a discussion over lunch with David Greenham of the Theater at Monmouth to talk about some of the issues raised in our 2006 “Charting Maine’s Future” report. Greenham had helped produce the 2006 play Taxing Maine, a short play about taxes that became especially relevant on the eve of the first TABOR referendum, and was working on a new project that would put a theatrical spin on growth and development in our state.

The new play, titled As Maine Grows, had its first performances this summer, and is gearing up for a statewide tour this fall. Here’s a description from the Maine Humanities Council, which is helping produce the play:

Maine is changing so rapidly and in so many ways, it’s almost impossible to keep up with it all. There is population growth in some areas and decline in others, new business clusters springing up in some places, dying in others. Maine’s governor wants us to become a leader in wind technology; the proposed school consolidation is intended to provide better education for less money. Meanwhile, there is always lots of conversation around land use: do we want to turn traditional timberlands into resorts, houses and golf courses or leave them as open space? What about public access? How well do we actually do this planning business? How well has Maine ever done it? As Maine Grows brings you some of the stories of past efforts at planning and growth. Silly? Outrageous? Depressing? Insane? It depends on your perspective.

As Maine Grows doesn’t touch on every issue of development, but we think it will help to start a conversation in your community about the important issues we’re facing and how we might want to address them.

So if the GrowSmart-Brookings report was too wonky for you to read without falling asleep - we won’t take it personally - this sounds like an entertaining way to think about the same issues. Here’s where you can see As Maine Grows this fall:

Scheduled Venues

Date & Time	Town	Location
September 12 (Saturday), 11am	Bangor	Bangor Public Library
September 12 (Saturday), 3pm	Dover-Foxcroft	Center Theatre
September 14 (Monday), 6:30pm	Scarborough	Scarborough Public Library
September 18 (Friday), 7pm	Gorham	White Rock Grange, 33 Wilson Road
September 19 (Saturday), 7pm	Freeport	Freeport Community Library
September 29 (Tuesday), 7pm	Brunswick	Morrell Room at Curtis Memorial Library
September 30 (Wednesday), 7pm	Gardiner	Johnson Hall Performing Arts Center
October 6 (Tuesday), 4pm	Augusta	University of Maine at Augusta
October 7 (Wednesday), 7pm	Waterville	Thomas College Library
October 8 (Thursday), 7pm	Portland	Maine Historical Society
October 9 (Friday), 7pm	York	York Public Library
October 10 (Saturday), 7pm	Vinalhaven	Smith Hokanson Memorial Hall
October 13 (Tuesday), 4:30pm	York	York County Community College
October 16 (Friday), 7pm	Springvale	Nasson College Alumni Association
October 18 (Sunday), 2pm	Lille	Centre Culturel
October 24 (Saturday), 7pm	Belfast	Belfast Maskers Theater

Thanks to Belinda Stewart at the Freeport Library for putting these performances on our radar - you can watch “As Maine Grows” at her library in downtown Freeport on Saturday September 19th at 7 PM.

Hathaway: the history, and future, of downtown Waterville

2009-09-02T15:59:33Z

The renovations of the former Hathaway shirt factory are nearly complete, and the building’s rebirth has brought lots of new jobs and households into downtown Waterville.

Last winter, students at Colby College interviewed the project’s developer, Paul Boghossian (who is also a GrowSmart Maine board member), as well as several longtime employees of the former shirt factory. Here’s the documentary they produced - it’s very much worth watching.

This film is one of a series produced by students in English professor Phyllis Mannocchi’s “American Dreams” documentary film course. You can find more documentaries like this one at Colby’s multimedia website.

Learn more about the new office space and apartments at the Hathaway Creative Center here:
www.hathawaycreativecenter.com

“Right sizing” and cost-saving innovations in government

2009-09-01T20:34:56Z

In case you missed them, here are two recent news stories about making government services more streamlined and efficient…

Yesterday’s Kennebec Journal featured an interview with retiring state controller Ed Karass, who had accumulated 28 years’ worth of service to Maine’s state government. He brings a lot of perspective to the issue of Maine’s state spending. Just before retiring, Karass testified to the state’s Appropriations Committee and told them that, “rather than continue to try to rely on consolidation of operations, the merging of operations, which may save a marginal amount of money in the short term, they really needed to determine what government should look like over the next several years.”

Although Karass is enthusiastic about the new school district consolidation law: “I think instead of [cutting down to] 80 school districts, [Baldacci] should have been braver and gone for 16.”

He also offered these sobering thoughts on the next four years:

I think the next governor really has his or her work cut out for him or her.

I would like to see a governor that, and a Legislature, more than balance the budget. They need to address the liabilities that are building up … in the retirement system, retiree health. We need to look at replenishing our cash and come up with a plan to repair the state’s General Fund balance sheet.

It’s going to be a difficult position to be in because the (federal stimulus funds) will be sunsetting, the economy hopefully will be at a turnaround.

But in all reality, the governor coming in will not be able to cut taxes, will not be able to expand programs and will have to concentrate on putting the state’s fiscal house back in order…

This is not something we will grow our way out of.

Notwithstanding Karass’s skepticism of consolidation, today’s Portland Press Herald has an interesting story about the school districts of Portland, South Portland, and Westbrook sharing bus maintenance facilities, coordinating vocational courses, and partnering on staff development in order to blunt the impacts of anticipated budget costs.

Portland’s new superintendent, Jim Morse, had this to say about the initiative: “We tried to pick things that were natural areas of collaboration… A lot of this isn’t rocket science. It’s just getting past tradition.”

Empirical studies find that walkable neighborhoods are stronger real estate markets

2009-08-24T16:51:43Z

Two recent empirical studies have analyzed the relationships between neighborhood’s “walkability” and local real estate values, and the evidence suggests that real estate locations within walking distance of important shops and services is more likely to increase in value.

Both studies used Walk Score to measure a particular location’s walkability. Walk Score is a Google Maps-based application that calculates the number of shops and services that are located within a mile (walking distance) of a particular location. If an address has a lot of supermarkets, drug stores, movie theaters, libraries, and other services close by, it gets a higher walk score; if there aren’t any services located within a mile, the Walk Score is zero.

It’s not perfect, but its scores do confirm most peoples’ perceptions of whether or not an area is “walkable.” My childhood home in rural Steep Falls, where my family never, ever walked to run daily errands, scored a zero; but Main Street in Waterville and downtown Rockland both score a 98 out of 100, while small-town Main Streets in Houlton, Caribou, Bethel, and Norway all score as “very walkable” in Walk Score’s calculations.

In some neighborhoods, real estate agents have begun promoting high “walk scores” as a selling point. Which leads to the central question of these studies: do higher “walk scores” really translate into higher real estate values?

The answer seems to be “yes.” In the “Walking the Walk” report, released by CEOs for Cities, researcher Joe Cortwright analyzed 15 housing markets and found a statistically significant relationship between home values and neighborhood walk scores. Here’s a summary from the CEOs for Cities blog:

An example of the effect of walkability on housing values cited in the study is found in Charlotte, NC. In a neighborhood with a typical Walk Score of 54 called Ashley Park, the median home price was $280,000. In a neighborhood with an above average Walk Score – 71 – called Wilmore, an otherwise similar home would be valued at $314,000. Controlling for all other factors including size, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, age, neighborhood income levels, distance from the Central Business District and access to jobs, “if you were to pick up that house in Ashley Park, and place it in more walkable Wilmore, it would increase in value by $34,000 or 12 percent,” Cortright said.

A similar study by researchers at the University of Arizona used slightly different methods to arrive at a similar conclusion.

Gary Pivo and Jeffrey Fisher studied all types of properties, including retail, office, and industrial properties, and concluded that “a 10 point increase in walkability [on the Walk Score scale] increases property values by 5 to 8 percent, depending on property type.” You can read their working paper here.

Of course, these findings have big implications for municipal leaders, economic development professionals, and transportation planners. By investing in sidewalks and revising zoning codes to encourage pedestrian-friendly development, officials can boost property tax revenues and generate new wealth for homeowners and commercial landlords in their communities.

Download the full “Walking the Walk” report here.

GrowSmart Maine receives major grant from the Environmental Funders Network

2009-08-19T20:20:53Z

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 19, 2009

Contact: Christian McNeil, Communications Director: 699-4330 ext. 305
Maggie Drummond, Interim President: 699-4330 ext. 304

PORTLAND: GrowSmart Maine, the statewide smart growth advocacy group, has been awarded a $50,000 matching grant from Maine’s Environmental Funders Network to advance its advocacy efforts on behalf of Maine’s quality places – the wild landscapes and vibrant communities that contribute to the state’s valuable brand.

“With this grant, we aim to connect environmental interests with advocates for community revitalization, affordable housing, historic preservation, and economic growth, and build a stronger coalition focused on enhancing Maine’s special character – both in the built environment and the natural environment,” explains GrowSmart Maine president Maggie Drummond.

The grant is a part of the Environmental Funders Network’s Quality of Place initiative, inspired by GrowSmart Maine’s own 2006 “Charting Maine’s Future” report. In that publication, researchers from the Brookings Institution concluded that preserving and enhancing Maine’s special character is critical to the state’s prospects for economic growth.

GrowSmart Maine has made “quality of place” a focus of its advocacy efforts in recent years, with a particular focus on revitalizing Maine’s historic downtowns and Main Streets. Recent accomplishments include the passage of a statewide historic preservation tax credit and a joint project with the Town of Standish to revitalize and plan for new growth in the village of Standish Corner.

Bonita Pothier, a former mayor of the City of Biddeford who also chairs GrowSmart Maine’s Board of Directors, has a first-hand understanding of how Main Street and downtown revitalization efforts can benefit Maine’s economy and its environment. “By focusing growth in our existing towns and cities, we can make better use of our infrastructure, attract new residents and businesses to Maine, and reduce development pressure on our working farms, forests, and waterfronts,” says Pothier.

GrowSmart Maine’s mission is to promote sustainable prosperity for all Mainers by integrating working and natural landscape conservation, economic growth, and community revitalization.

The Environmental Funders Network, a project of the Maine Community Foundation and the Maine Philanthropy Center, helps to identify and create ways to improve and sustain Maine’s natural environment. For more information, visit the foundation’s website at www.environmentalfundersnetwork.org, or call the Maine Community Foundation toll-free at 1-877-700-6800.

New blog from the Conservation Law Foundation

2009-08-12T19:45:15Z

The folks at the Conservation Law Foundation, an ally of ours in supporting smart growth policies throughout New England, has started a new blog, the CLF Scoop. I’ve added it to our blogroll and to my own RSS reader - check it out!