Comprehensive Plan Meets Design Review Board
Comprehensive Plan Meets Design Review Board
Workshop begins a series of sessions delving into 2007 plan
BAR HARBOR—The first of many workshops between the planning department staff and Comprehensive Planning Committee took place Thursday afternoon as members of the Design Review Board met with Planning Director Michele Gagnon, Staff Planner Cali Martinez, and Comprehensive Planning Committee Chair Greg Cox in the Council Chambers at the Bar Harbor Municipal Building.
“What we have for you today is a pile of information,” Gagnon said as she passed out documents upon documents. The comprehensive plan is meant to steer the town’s future; it assesses existing conditions and then creates a sort of guide for the town officials, boards, and committees to follow.
The planning staff pulled out the goals, policies, and strategies from the 2007 Comprehensive Plan, which was the town’s last.
The members then each item related to the board’s purview (range of authority) and whether or not those goals had been reached or were ongoing. They also tried to determine if the policies from that last plan were obsolete or needed to be updated.
“We need to still build on what is out there,” Gagnon said of looking back at the last comprehensive plan.
The group discussed scenic byways, historic properties, procedure, and other aspects that pertain to the Design Review Board and the 2007 plan. That 2007 plan is 498 pages and provides snapshots of the tax base, building constraints, and other aspects of town as well as the goals and strategies and objectives.
The Comprehensive Planning Committee intends to meet with the Planning Board on September 13 and October 11 for joint workshops so that it can present to the board the future land use map and the vision and how it’s been fleshed out. Much of the regulatory policies that come from the plan are really the Planning Board’s purview.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
https://www.barharbormaine.gov/501/Comprehensive-Plan
https://resilience.mysocialpinpoint.com/bar-harbor-comprehensive-plan/home