Land Use Planning Program
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Land Use Planning
Publications
Planning Guides
 Creating Traditional, Walkable Neighborhoods: A Handbook for Maine Communities (PDF 2.4MB) Released July 2009: This handbook will help municipal officials craft land use
regulations that foster traditional
neighborhood development.-
Scenic Assessment Inventory (PDF 18.3MB): A ‘how-to’ guide for using the State Planning Office’s scenic inventory methodology to identify, evaluate, and document scenic resources and to identify scenic viewpoints of state or national significance for purposes of Title 35-A MRSA* Ch. 34-A (Wind Power Law). It is designed to supplement the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development’s initial handbook How to Conduct an Inventory of Scenic Areas (Dominie, 1990) that was part of the Maine Shore Access Public Access Series.
* Note: The Handbook may be used for this wind power law-related purpose upon the State Planning Office's final adoption of rules pursuant to Title 35-A, MRS Section 3457.
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Comprehensive Planning: A Manual for Maine for Maine Communities 2005 Edition (PDF low resolution, 2.2MB) (PDF medium resolution for Acrobat Reader 6.0 and higher, 2.9MB) (PDF high resolution, 9.8MB): This manual is written for citizen planners: the members of a comprehensive planning committee, boards of selectmen, or planning boards charged with preparing a comprehensive plan, and the many parties of interest who may be participating or advising in the process. It is part “how-to,” part suggestions for policy, and part tool box. Each of its 19 chapters addresses a requirement of the Growth Management Program. The 19 chapters are connected to each other and, together, present a complete picture of a comprehensive land use plan. But the manual is designed so that different members of a planning or advisory committee can concentrate on one chapter at a time; the chapters can even be split out among the members of a committee for individual review.
Protecting Local Scenic Resources: Community-Based Performance Standards (PDF 8MB) -
GATEWAY 1; Performance Standards for Large Scale Developments (PDF 1.8MB)
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Low Impact Development Manual (PDF 2.1MB). The final draft of the Low Impact Development Guidance Manual for Maine Communities has been completed. The new guidance document is intended to help communities bring local ordinances in sync with the new stormwater and phosphorus control review requirements, and to help communities address existing gaps in development permitting reviews for water quality impacts.
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The Great American Neighborhood - A Guide to Livable Design (PDF 6.0MB): 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.’
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"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 sidewalks and bike trails and roads for cars and trucks; picture the 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." This handbook describes what a community vision is (Part 1), provides a step-by-step guide to creating a community vision (Part II), and gives an example of a vision from one Maine community (Part III). (PDF, 968 KB)
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"Financing Infrastructure Improvements through Impact Fees: A Manual for Maine 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 to calculate impact fees.
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Land Stewardship Resource Guide (PDF 142KB)
Model Ordinances
Technical Assistance Bulletins
Laws, Rules and Policies Relevant to Land Use Planning
Reports to the Legislature and Governor
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Four-year Growth Management Program Evaluation (PDF 1.6MB)
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Third Annual Report of the Community Preservation Advisory Committee, June 2006 (PDF 679KB)
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An Evaluation of the Growth Management Act and its Implementation, March 2006 (PDF 631KB)
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Revitalizing Maine's Downtowns: A report resulting from Executive Order 16 FY 04/05: An Order to Strengthen and Restore Maine’s Downtowns (PDF 1.7MB)
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Second Annual Report of the Community Preservation Advisory Committee (PDF 891KB; Microsoft Word 896KB)
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First Annual Report of the Community Preservation Advisory Committee, February 2003 (PDF 215KB)
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Making Schools Important to Neighborhoods Again: A Joint Report by the State Board of Education and the State Planning Office to the Joint Committee on Natural Resources, May 2001 (PDF 1.0MB)
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Report on an Education Strategy for Public Water Supply Protection Aimed at Municipalities and the General Public. Report to the Joint Standing Committee on Natural Resources, March 2001. (PDF 255KB)
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Report on the Use of Incentives to Keep Land in Productive Farming, Fishing and Forestry Use. Report to the Joint Standing Committees on Natural Resources, Taxation, and Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, February 2001 (PDF 203KB)
Sprawl, Land Use, Smart Growth, and Great American Neighborhoods: Additional SPO Publications and Reports
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Markets for Traditional Neighborhoods in Midcoast Maine - Summary Report, April 2003 (PDF, 198KB)
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Introduction to Transfer of Development Rights Programs, November 2002 (PDF 74KB)
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Great American Neighborhood (PDF 5.91MB) More info on the Great American Neighborhood
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Indicators of Livable Communities, January 2002 (PDF, 7.67MB)
- Expansion of Development in Maine
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Markets for Traditional Neighborhoods, August 1999 (PDF, 88KB).
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Why Households Move: Two Maine Surveys, June 1999 (PDF, 921KB).
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The Cost of Sprawl, May 1997 (PDF, 75KB)
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Reviving Service Centers (PDF 309KB) More info on Service Centers
Land Use Team Forms
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