Comprehensive Plan, Town of Litchfield, Maine January 13, 2003 Minutes

COMPREHENSIVE PLAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE

MINUTES

Jan 13, 2003

The Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee (CPAC) met with the Board of Selectmen at their request to discuss the issues related to many residents asking about the Land Use Ordinance (LUO) at the time of voting and indicating they had no knowledge and didn’t know how to vote. The Selectmen felt the 36 vote margin was close enough to warrant a public education effort before bringing this to the voters again. They asked if a plan for education could be developed and brought back to the Planning Board meeting on Feb. 3, 2003.

The CPAC and interested residents them moved downstairs to develop strategies to reach as many residents as possible to educate them about the need for the Land Use Ordinance, and to urge them to attend the Town Meeting in June to vote for the ordinance.

The timeline developed was:

Feb. 3 - Organizational meeting with the Selectmen, Planning Board and the CPAC. CPAC will present a summary of the information it has been able to gather by this time.

Feb. 26 - CPAC Meeting (and others interested in education people about the need for the Ordinance)

Feb - March - Outreach to groups in Litchfield

March 19 - CPAC Meeting

April 16 - CPAC Meeting

May 7(?) - Educational Workshop

Before May 9 - prepare item for Town Report, organize telephone effort and publicity effort concerning the Ordinance

June 7 - Town meeting

Information to be gathered and Assignments made (volunteers)

The Committee discussed the need to collect the following information for the Educational Workshop to be held this spring. The Committee decided to gather as much information as possible for the Feb 3^rd meeting with the Selectmen and Planning Board.

Population Growth, by decade, over the past 50 years (Judy B. to update)

Mil Rate change by decade

Budget impact of additional adults and children on the Town Budget (Steve Musica)

Map documenting the location of structures and activities including subdivisions, houses, mobile homes, multifamily homes, businesses (Steve Musica to do with the Code Enforcement Officer, Doris to speak to Steve)

Concern why changing the ordinance further would require changing the Comprehensive Plan (Bill Najpauer, Brian to contact)

Analysis of which surrounding towns have ordinances, comparison of Litchfield’s proposed ordinance provisions to ordinances in other towns (Bill n., Sarah F., Brian to contact)

The Committee agreed that it will be important to reach out to groups within Litchfield to educate them about the Ordinance. The Committee agreed to identify interested people within the following organizations and to write a letter requesting the opportunity to make a presentation at a membership meeting, and to urge the group’s members to support the ordinance at the Town Meeting (Liz Budd to coordinate)

Other - Town committees: Recreation, Historical Preservation, Conservation, Economic Development

The Committee agreed to develop a strategy to reach out to people where they gather, such as at the Transfer Station and the Food Bank, and to write letters to the Editor.

The next scheduled meeting of the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee is scheduled for Feb 26, 7:00 at the Town Office.

Note: At the meeting on Feb. 3 it was learned that at least one Public Hearing is required if this is to go to a vote of the townspeople. If only one Public Hearing is planned and there are changes to the proposed Ordinance, at the conclusion of the Hearing, they must be read to the attendees as they are expected to appear in the final document the voters will be voting for. This Hearing must leave time for a final version to be printed and made available to voters for review before the Town Meeting. At this meeting, Eric Seamon distributed the list of problems/concerns he had identified with the Proposed Land Use Ordinance.