By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — A town’s comprehensive plan is by nature a large document that is designed to express the wishes and wants of the townspeople. Once completed, it is often not updated or redone for more than a decade. The process of putting together a comp plan can often take anywhere from 18 months to two-plus years.

The Town of Casco is in the process of doing its comp plan. That kicked off with Casco Planning Days in late March and early April of 2022. Since then, there have been numerous workshops and open houses for residents to give input. Feedback has been accepted online also, through the town’s website. Most recently, in April 2023, there was an unveiling which invited public feedback. Then, the comp plan draft was revised and posted online.

This spring, the timeline was to hold a special town meeting in July so residents could vote on whether or not to adopt the proposed comp plan.

That timeline has changed. Everyone is in agreement: Let’s get it right. Then, let’s move to the next chapter of the comp plan story.

Last week, the Casco Board of Selectmen held a workshop with the Casco Comp Plan Steering Committee. 

This summer, the steering committee has been meeting weekly, according to Chair Rae-Anne Nguyen. The group has been going over the public comments and trying to tie those into the document. Editing is being done page by page, she said.

Apparently, there is still some editing to be done.

“A lot of it comes down to wording: ‘You will, you shall, you must.’ I think that kind of scared people. If we let that [wording] down a little bit,” Selectman Scott Avery said. 

“We sit here and tell everyone this is a living, breathing document, which is basically a road map for the town. And if the town chooses to take that road, it can. But there are other roads as well. . .  The wording has to match that sentiment. We are saying it is a living, breathing, open document, but will/shall is making people uncomfortable. Once we get rid of some that, I think that will settle a lot of things.”

Committee member Pam Edwards asked the board if it would prefer limited editing?

“We don’t want it to go on forever,” she said.   

Chair Rob MacDonald responded. 

“We are asking you to take into consideration the comments you’ve also received. As a board, we stand behind the work you’ve done. We just want the whole town to feel like they are part of it. I know we’ve had opportunities, but let’s make sure we address the questions and concerns,” he said.

Nguyen asked the board: “What was your takeaway from reading the public comments? Are there any hot-button issues that you feel need to be addressed?”

Avery answered “one hiccup point” is that people want the land along Route 302 in Casco to remain zoned agriculture. That’s the area where Raymond Frozen Custard and farm stand is located.

“Anyone who is paying attention is going to have problem with some part of that document. It is references every part of this town,” Selectman Grant Plummer said.  

“I am not sure the work of every line being changed to make one person happy” is a productive direction to go, he said. 

“It’s fantastic that people are interested. We are not going to satisfy every single person. Right now, trying to do that with 20 or 30 —  I don’t know how many people — who are doing that,” Plummer said.

“That being said, this is step one in a multi-step process. This is really the easy part. Let’s get this thing settled and moved on so we can start doing the work,” he said.

This prompted dialogue about forming an implementation committee.

Later in the discussion, Edwards said the committee “would like to have this done by the end of year.”

Chairman MacDonald agreed.

“I would love to bring it to a special town meeting in January,” he said.

Nguyen, who was already standing at the podium, spoke.

“We want to see the end point. We want to see our goal posts,” she said.

Selectman Avery said, “You have put in so much time already. You have gone above and beyond what is expected. The last thing I would want to do is rush you into something. If you need to take until the end of year, and you are comfortable with that, then by all means.”

There will be final draft presented to the board, followed by a 30-day review process. There will be a public hearing at least 30 days prior to town meeting to have it on the warrant.

To access an online copy of comp plan. The address is cascomaine.org. On the homepage, scroll down to NEWS & EVENTS and click on “view all news” which will bring the user to a copy of the most recent draft as well as copies of public comments.