Municipal Planning Assistance Program

Publications

Planning Guides

How To Prepare a Land Use Ordinance; A Manual for Local Officials (Microsoft Word 1.2MB) or (PDF 1MB) This manual is for local officials, planning committees and others in small to mid-size communities who are interested in preparing a local ordinance. It contains the basic information needed to draft a land use ordinance, which legally regulates how people can use their land. This manual also contains practical suggestions for encouraging future growth in growth areas, and discouraging incompatible development in rural areas.
Scenic Assessment Handbook A ‘how-to’ guide for using the Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry’s scenic inventory methodology. Use it to identify, evaluate, and document scenic resources and to identify scenic viewpoints of state or national significance for purposes of the state Wind Power Law (Title 35-A, Ch. 34-A). It is designed to supplement the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development’s initial handbook How to Conduct an Inventory of Scenic Areas.
Creating Traditional, Walkable Neighborhoods: A Handbook for Maine Communities This handbook will help municipal officials craft land use regulations that foster traditional neighborhood development.
Comprehensive Planning: A Manual for Maine Communities 2005 Edition (PDF low resolution) or (PDF high resolution) This manual is written for citizen planners - the members of comprehensive planning committees, select boards and planning boards charged with preparing a comprehensive plan - and the many parties of interest who may be participating or advising in the planning process. It is part “how-to,” part suggestions for policy, and part tool box. While the manual presents a complete picture of a comprehensive plan, each of its 19 chapters addresses a different requirement of the Growth Management Act so that different members or subcommittees of a planning or advisory committee can concentrate on one chapter at a time.
Low Impact Development Guidance Manual for Maine Communities This guidance document is intended to help communities bring local ordinances into sync with the stormwater and phosphorus control review requirements, and address existing gaps in development review and permitting requirements for water quality impacts.
Density - A Visualization Tool The Municipal Planning Assistance Program has created a brief PowerPoint presentation using Maine-based examples of different housing densities to help town planners, planning boards, and others understand what different densities look like on the ground.
The Great American Neighborhood - A Guide to Livable Design This guide provides residential developers, homebuilders, and town officials with a set of principles and design ideas that can be used to create the livable, quality neighborhoods that homebuyers are looking for. When adapted to fit specific sites and projects, these principles can help developers respond to these market preferences, stem sprawl, and direct growth to selected ‘growth areas’ within the community.

Across the nation developers are tapping these markets and building new neighborhoods based on the time tested design concepts illustrated in this Guide. The results have been referred to as ‘traditional neighborhood design’ (TND), ‘ new urbanism,’ ‘neo traditional design,’ or ‘the Great American Neighborhood.’
Community Visioning Handbook: How to Imagine - and Create - A Better Future Before there can be a meaningful comprehensive plan, the residents must agree on a mental picture of what they want the community to look like, feel like, and be like. They must imagine what people walking along Main Street should experience; imagine the businesses, sidewalks, roads and bike trails; picture the fields, forests, parks and nature preserves; and identify the best places for new houses and what those houses might look like. This mental picture is a "vision." Part I of this handbook describes what a community vision is, Part II provides a step-by-step guide to creating a community vision, and Part III gives an example of a vision from one Maine community.
Financing Infrastructure Improvements through Impact Fees: A Manual forMaine Municipalities on the Design and Calculation of Development Impact Fees This handbook is designed to provide Maine communities with the information and tools necessary when considering implementation of an impact fee ordinance. The manual includes information on how an impact fee works, issues a town should consider before implementing an impact fee ordinance, examples of Maine towns using impact fees, and spreadsheets for calculating impact fees. (PDF 329KB)
- Parks and Open Space Spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel 26KB)
- School Infrastructure Spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel 64KB)
- Transportation Infrastructure Spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel 33KB)
Land Stewardship Resource Guide
- Appendix A, Land Stewardship Resource Guide
Updating Your Comprehensive Plan: A Guide for Making Plan Updates Bolder and Smarter
Protecting Local Scenic Resources: Community-Based Performance Standards
Gateway 1: Performance Standards for Large Scale Developments