MAINE: Going Smart.

• Author: Shelley, Peter
• Position: Brief Article

Summer in Maine unleashes two remarkable forces. The first, of course, is the summer. After the long, cold, dark winter, it explodes upon the scene like fireworks. Instantly, the seemingly interminable winter is forgotten. The second, hell-bent on getting a piece of that summer, is the onslaught of Maine's eight million tourists on a state with a resident population of 1.2 million. Where did all these folks come from? How many more t-shirts can they possibly buy?

However, the flow of tourists is made tolerable by its seasonal nature and, more important, because of its $3.2 billion tourist dollars (1996). The money is important for many Maine business people who stock up like a bear going into hibernation. Come November, the roads will clear up; strangers will no longer be wandering about your town; and life will return to, well, the way life should be.

Or will it? In more and more cities and towns, the year-round congestion is becoming the way life is. Maine is struggling with growth, both seasonal,

tourist-related growth and permanent residential growth. Although the state is physically larger than all the other New England states, growth in Maine--where most of the land is privately owned commercial forest--is concentrated in narrow bands, particularly along the coast. Coastal communities represent 12% of the land area, which is occupied by more than 43% of the state's population. An estimated 75% of the seasonal tourist dollars are spent on the coast.

The combination of seasonal tourism pressures and permanent population increases has created a severe quality of life problem that hasn't gone unnoticed. At the level of state policy, the Maine State Planning Office (SPO) and Governor's Office are spearheading efforts to develop smart growth legislation as well as working partnerships with a broad range of Maine organizations and individuals to reduce the environmental, economic, and social costs of sprawling development.

Focused on targeting state investments toward the traditional municipal service centers, maintaining the ecological and economic vitality of the state's rural lands, improving municipal planning and land use rules in ways that will encourage the redevelopment of traditional neighborhoods, and eliminating state actions that subsidize or encourage sprawling growth, Maine has exhibited strong leadership on a variety of fronts.

Since the coastal highway system has been identified as one of the main factors in re-directing...