[yrhcworking] Comp Plan and Year Round Housing.

Sat Jan 12 09:17:58 EST 2008

Hi there Chris,   Amazing job as always!   The only  thing I see is in the 
participation survey is to underline  townoflongisland.us.     

    Additionally, we still need to address with the  Comp Plan committee 
their decision on how the new Comp Plan will address the  differing results of the 
Year Round Housing Corp., and Year Round Housing  Committees work and survey 
results.
    As I noted earlier in the process at a Comp Plan  meeting,  the Comp Plan 
Survey and proposed Comp Plan  revisions poses serious challenges to our 
future Grant writing abilities  and continued success of our Year Round Housing 
work.     We  have moved forward, with voter support and 100% grant money to 
implement our  first "Affordable Housing" initiative and wish for the Comp Plan 
to reflect the  voter and all residents survey support for these important  
efforts.    Thank you.
Mark

In a message dated 1/11/2008 12:00:53 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
cmcduffie at earthlink.net writes:

Please  look over the following participation summary and make any 
corrections or  additions.
Public Participation Summary
for the Updated Town of Long  Island Comprehensive Plan

Existing Comprehensive Plan Approved in  1995
In July of 2006 the Town of Long Island Planning Board made the  
decision to revise the Town of Long Island Comprehensive Plan which is  
a planning document used to guide land use policies. The original Town  

of Long Island Comprehensive Plan was completed in 1995, was approved  
(found “consistent” with the state Growth Management Act (30-A  
M.R.S.A., CHAPTER 187) and the SPO “Rule”.) and highly complemented, by  
the State Planning Office and adopted by the Town of Long Island Town  
Meeting in May of 1995.

Establishment of Comprehensive Plan  Committee to Revise Existing Plan
A new Comprehensive Planning Committee of  11 volunteers was set up in 
the summer of 2006 by the Long Island Planning  Board to review and 
revise the Comprehensive Plan. The Committee included  one of our 
Selectmen, two Planning Board members, long time and new year  round 
residents and two summer residents. The Committee has met regularly,  
usually twice a month, since July 2006. Meetings have been held on  
Wednesday nights at 7 p.m., but were moved to 6 p.m. for a time in the  
spring of 2006 when there was a concern that folks from off-island  
would not be able to get a ferry back to the mainland after the later  
meeting. That concern has gone away with a change in the ferry schedule  
which now gives us a late boat off the island.

The committee was  given no budget for their work; there is no "staff" 
of town employees to  help;  but the Selectmen agreed to pay $300 to the 
Greater Portland  Council of Governments for services relating to the 
production and  analysis of a survey and have paid printing and mailing 
costs for that  survey and some recurring printing expenses related to 
the committee’s  work. This is very typical of the way many very 
important activities are  carried out in the Town of Long Island. In 
many ways these frugal habits  and extensive volunteer activity help to 
create the wonderful sense of  community which defines the Town of Long 
Island.

Notices of  Meetings and Agendas
Notices of all meetings and agendas have been posted  both at the town 
hall and at the bulletin board in the ferry waiting shed.  These are the 
public notice locations for the town and are well read by  all who are 
using the ferry landing to come and go from the island.   Progress has 
been regularly reported in articles in the LongIslander, a  bi-monthly 
island newsletter published by the Long Island Civic  Association. This 
newsletter is received by most, but not all, island  residents and 
property owners and is widely read.

Public is  Welcome
Anyone interested in the future of the Town of Long Island has been  
encouraged to attend the meetings of the Comprehensive Planning  
Committee.  Guests were allowed to speak at meetings and present  their 
views on any items being discussed. Copies of meeting agendas were  
posted on the town and library web sites.  Anyone unable to attend a  
scheduled meeting and wishing to comment on any meeting agenda item has  
been encouraged to send comments via U.S. mail to

Planning Board Secretary
Comprehensive Planning Committee
Town of Long Island
PO Box  263
Long Island ME  04050

or via e-mail to       planningboard.secretary at townoflongisland.us     
Attendance at  meetings has not been high, but early on there were 
members of the public  who came to ask questions to find out what the 
committee was doing and  share their concerns. This has “petered out” as 
the committee’s work has  continued, and particularly as we have 
proceeded with the drafting process  we have not had non-committee 
members attending. However, during the  drafting process committee 
members have approached community members who  have known interests in 
specific areas being worked on for their opinions  and input. We are 
such a small community with so many who volunteer their  time for 
community efforts that their areas of interest are quite well  known, 
and we take advantage of their talents and  expertise.
.
Minutes and Drafts Posted on the Town Website
The  Comprehensive Planning Committee minutes and notes are available on 
the  Town web site: townoflongisland.us where drafts of sections of the 
new  plan have been posted as they were developed. The committee has 
welcomed  comments from the public.

Survey Sent to All Residents and Property  Owners
The committee produced a survey based on the original 1995  
comprehensive plan survey but with additions to reflect the attitudes  
and needs relating to some current issues. New questions addressed  
multi-family housing and affordable housing and whether and where such  
development might be located on Long Island. Caroline Paras, the  
Economic and Community Planner with the Greater Portland Council of  
Governments offered consultation of the development of the survey.  
After being reviewed and approved by both the Selectmen and the  
Planning Board, the survey was mailed to all residents and property  
owners of the Town of Long Island, one survey per household. The packet  
included a cover letter, the survey, a stamped return envelope and the  
mailing envelope. The cover letter made a note to the effect that if  
there are separate opinions within a household about a given question  
these opinions were to be noted on the original survey. We did not  
accept photo copies of surveys, only originals. The surveys were  
returned to Town Hall.

As expected, the rate of response to the  Comprehensive Plan 2006 Survey 
was outstanding. Of the 420 surveys sent to  Long Island households, 247 
were returned. - that’s 59% of the total, very  impressive when 20% is 
considered by the the Council of Governments to be  an excellent return 
rate. Caroline Paras of COG did the statistical  analysis of the survey 
responses. Those survey responses were reported to  the Long Island 
community in detail in the October 2006 issue of the  LongIslander. The 
results of the survey were compared with the 1994-95  responses to 
determine how the community’s opinions may have changed.  These survey 
comparisons were printed in the LongIslander December 2006  issue.

Public Meeting with Representative from the State Planning  Office
Ruta Dzenis, AICP, Senior Planner with the State Planning Office  Land 
Use Team, met with community members at a public meeting on Saturday,  
March 24, 2007. This meeting had been publicized with posters on the  
island, and 20 people attended. Ms Dzenis gave a power point  
presentation and explained the State Planning Office’s role in the  
Comprehensive Planning process and answered questions from the  
audience.

Public Meeting with Steve Walker from Beginning with  Habitat Program
There was a public meeting featuring a Beginning with  Habitat 
presentation by Steve Walker of the Maine Department of Inland  
Fisheries and Wildlife on Saturday, June 16, 2007 at the Community  
Center. Walker gave a power point presentation describing the Beginning  
with Habitat Program and reviewed his materials specific to the  
critical natural areas on Long Island. This meeting was publicized by  
posters on the island and an announcement in the LongIslander  
newsletter. There were 23 people in attendance.

Notice of Public  Hearing - to be described
Public Hearing - to be described

Curt,  this is the draft in a form you can use for the  website.
Thanks,
Chris