Digital Commons Network^™

The Blue Economy : What Is It? What Is The Importance To Maine? How Is Umaine Involved?, Umaine Marine Initiative, University Of Maine

General University of Maine Publications

Promotional flyer for a presentation about The Blue Economy: What is it, What is the importance to Maine, & How is UMaine Involved? The event, sponsored by the UMaine MARINE Initiative, a unique Maine-based initiative that brings together university, industry, government, and community collaborators who through integrated and innovative transdisciplinary marine research, education, and outreach are dedicated to the enhancement of social and economic wellbeing in Maine and beyond.

Workforce Housing Design Charrette In York, Maine, Workforce Housing Coalition Of The Greater Seacoast, Maine Community Foundation

Maine Sea Grant Publications

The Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast organized a workforce housing design charrette in the community of York, Maine. The event was held over a two-day period, October 15 and 17, 2014. The process included a site walk, community dialogue session, and design workshop, culminating in a design reveal on October 17, 2014. This, the Coalition’s fifth annual design charrette, produced conceptual designs for the development of workforce housing opportunities on the subject sites located in the U.S. Route 1 and Vacation Drive vicinity of York, Maine.

Workforce Housing Design Charrette In Berwick, Maine, Workforce Housing Coalition Of The Greater Seacoast, Envision Berwick

Maine Sea Grant Publications

The Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast organized a workforce housing design charrette in the community of Berwick, Maine. The event was held over the two-day period of October 14 and 16, 2015. The process included a site walk, community dialogue session, and design workshop, culminating in a design reveal on October 16. This, the Coalition’s sixth annual design charrette. This produced conceptual designs for a mixed-use development that includes workforce housing for the charrette focus areas at the Prime Tanning and Estabrook School sites in Berwick, Maine.

Economic Impacts Of The New England Aqua Ventus (Phases I And Ii) Offshore Wind Power Program In Maine, Todd M. Gabe

School of Economics Faculty Scholarship

The purpose of this study is to examine the statewide economic impacts of the New England Aqua Ventus offshore wind power program in Maine. Phase I of this program involves the planning and construction, and ongoing operations of a 12 MW pilot project; and Phase II of Aqua Ventus involves a 500 MW offshore wind power installation along with the production of VolturnUS floating platforms & towers that could be used in other offshore wind projects.

Financial Tools For Working Waterfronts, Coastal Enterprises, Inc.

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Across the nation there are financing tools in play that have a proven track record in addressing working waterfront and waterway issues, and some that could be used for that purpose, but haven’t been to date. The Financing section is meant to be a central inventory of summarized information about these tools, with links to learn more about each program or benefit.

The Tiff Over Tif: Extending Tax Increment Financing To Municipal Maritime Infrastructure, Samantha Culp, Thomas T. Ankersen, Marissa Faerber

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Harbors, inner harbors and their navigational connection to the streams of maritime commerce are the economic and cultural lifeblood of most waterfront communities. Oddly, this connection has often been disregarded in the development and financing of municipal plans. Working waterfront communities need to find new and creative means to finance or co-finance improvements to their maritime infrastructure. One such means is through redevelopment planning and the financial vehicle known as Tax Increment Financing (TIF). Typically associated with dry land, TIF allows the incremental increase in property taxes from a base year to be captured from a defined geographic area and …

The Sustainable Working Waterfronts Toolkit: Executive Summary, Coastal Enterprises, Inc., Florida Sea Grant, Island Institute, Maine Sea Grant, National Sea Grant Law Center At The University Of Mississippi School Of Law, Urban Harbors Institute At The University Of Massachusetts Boston, Virginia Sea Grant

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Working waterfronts and the waterways that connect them define the culture and character of many of our nation’s coastal communities, large and small. Working waterfronts provide a space for water-dependent businesses to exist and support important jobs in our nation’s coastal zones, and as such represent an important component of the U.S. economy.

The Sustainable Working Waterfronts Toolkit was developed by a subcommittee of the National Working Waterfront Network with the generous financial support of the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Project Team involved staff from seven partner institutions: Coastal Enterprises, Inc., Florida Sea Grant, …

Working Waterfronts And The Czma: Defining Water-Dependent Use, Terra Bowling

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Water-dependent businesses, including marine transportation companies, seafood processing plants, commercial fishing, and charter boats, require infrastructure located on or adjacent to water to maintain their operations. The working waterfronts necessary to support these industries, such as slips, dry-docks, ramps, loading and unloading facilities, and warehouses, are often at risk of displacement by non-water-dependent uses like restaurants, hotels, retail, or residential housing. Traditional working waterfronts and the businesses that rely on them can be preserved, in part, through the incorporation of water-dependency definitions and requirements into state and local laws, regulations, and policies.

History, Status And Future Trends Of Working Waterfronts, Urban Harbors Institute, University Of Massachusetts, Boston

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Working waterfronts have been important to the U.S. economy and culture from the earliest days of this country’s founding. The origin of many coastal communities is strongly linked to the advantages afforded by their shoreside locations. This report provides a brief history of working waterfronts, describes their major industries, and identifies significant drivers of past changes and future trends.

Despite their long histories, many working waterfronts have been, and continue to be in various states of transition. Changes in technologies, national interests, economies, and environmental conditions impact the way people use and value these places. While the exact future of …

Best Practices For Working Waterfront Preservation: Lessons Learned From The Field, Maine Sea Grant

Maine Sea Grant Publications

The Sustainable Working Waterfronts Toolkit seeks to engage and educate working waterfront stakeholders by helping to draw connections between abstract tools and concrete on-the-ground examples of successful implementation. The Tools in Action Work Group compiled a collection of 19 case studies of communities and states from around the country that demonstrate the implementation of a variety of tools for sustaining working waterfronts. Providing models of how tools have been used previously can be extremely helpful, especially as successful initiatives often utilize multiple tools.

The following is a brief synthesis of common themes that emerged during development of the case studies. …

The Sustainable Working Waterfronts Toolkit: Final Report, Island Institute, Maine Sea Grant, National Sea Grant Law Center, Coastal Enterprises, Inc., Florida Sea Grant, Virginia Sea Grant, Urban Harbors Institute At University Of Massachusetts Boston

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Working waterfronts and the waterways that connect them are an important component of the U.S. economy. Working waterfronts provide critical access for water-dependent activities. They also create dedicated space for those engaged in tasks like cleaning and storing gear, loading and unloading materials or the day’s catch, and conducting related land-based operations.

Frequently, efforts to preserve a particular working waterfront from the threat of conversion to non-working waterfront use occur in a piecemeal fashion and on a parcel-by-parcel basis. In many cases, the rate of loss and conversion to non-working waterfront uses has outpaced community action to address the issue. …

State Funding For Ports: Selected State Summaries And Links To Resources, Alexander Boswell-Ebersole, Thomas T. Ankersen

Maine Sea Grant Publications

The maritime industry in the United States, which plays a significant role in the economies of coastal states and the nation as a whole, involves a diverse variety of working waterfronts, ranging from large commercial ports that facilitate heavy industry to small-scale, traditional working waterfronts. Moreover, in many areas of the country, the economic and cultural identities of local communities depend almost exclusively on traditional working waterfronts. Unfortunately, land use and economic policy shocks, such as escalating coastal property values and taxes, increasing demands for non-water-dependent land uses, and complex and time-consuming permitting processes, currently threaten many working waterfronts. Since …

Economic Analysis Of Working Waterfronts In The United States, Alan W. Hodges, Thomas J. Stevens, Mohammad Rahmani, Robert Swett

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Waterfront communities in the United States, whether rural or urban, recreational or industrialized, have been subject to economic, technological, ecological, and demographic changes that challenge their continued existence or development. The purpose of this study is to document the current status, contribution to regional economies, and future prospects of U.S. coastal communities in order help promote their long‐term economic prosperity. A review of the relevant literature on economic valuation of waterfront and ocean‐related economic activities found that previous studies usually evaluated only one particular economic sector or specific region. The present study attempts to provide a comprehensive evaluation of all …

Resource Use, Dependence And Vulnerability: Community-Resource Linkages On Alaska’S Tongass National Forest, Mekbeb E. Tessema, Robert J. Lilieholm, L. E. Kruger

Publications

Understanding how rural communities use and depend upon local natural resources is a critical factor in developing policies to sustain the long-term viability of human and natural systems. Such “community-resource” linkages are particularly important in Alaska, where rural communities – many of them comprised of indigenous Alaskan Natives – are highly dependent upon local resources found on public lands. Alaskan communities utilize forests in many ways. To better understand these coupled “social-ecological” systems, we combined socio-economic data from the 2000 U.S. Census with timber permit data from the USDA Forest Service to describe communities and their use of forest resources. …

The Agent Institute: Develop An Infrastructure For Agent-Based Research And Development For The State Of Maine, George Markowsky, James L. Fastook, Elise Turner, Roy M. Turner, Laurence Latour

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

This award provides support to establish The Agent Institute (AI), an organization anticipated to become self-sustaining and generally enhance research and development for the State of Maine. The AI will promote interactions between industry and foster computer-technology research, specifically in software development and software-hardware relationships in the area of robotics. Industrial applications in extreme or hazardous environments will be emphasized because agent-based systems are designed to read/sense environmental information, make decisions, and take actions based on the information sensed and processed.

The award provides an initial two years of salary support to hire an executive director and an administrative assistant. …

Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project Environmental Impact Statement: Appendix G: Recreation Resources (Revised June 1978), U.S. Army, Corps Of Engineers, New England Division, Northern Maine Regional Planning Commission, Land Use Consultants, Inc.

Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project

The purpose of this report is to evaluate and describe the existing recreational use and resources of the project area and the encompassing study area and to project the future use of those resources both with and without the Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project. The primary impact area of the proposed project (project area) includes the St. John River watershed upstream of the proposed damsites to the confluence of Nine-mile Brook. The area is bounded by the watershed divide with the Allagash River on the east and the Canadian Border on the west. Major tributaries of the St. John affected by …