Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons^™

Policy Tools For Smart Growth In New England, New England Environmental Finance Center

Smart Growth

Across New England communities have been experiencing a rapid outward surge of development away from our community and downtown centers. Effects of sprawl include a loss of wildlife habitat, farm and timber lands; increased costs of community services and higher taxes; auto-dependency, longer commutes, and increased congestion; increases in air and water pollution; a sedentary lifestyle and increased obesity; and losses to one’s sense of place and social ties.

State-level responses to sprawl have surfaced throughout New England in recent years. This report describes 11 examples of these responses, representing all six New England states and a diversity of recent …

The Growing Together Guide: A Companion Resource To The New England Environmental Finance Center/Melissa Paly Film, New England Environmental Finance Center

Smart Growth

What local leader or public official wants to be faced with an SOS the “same old story” of public discord and confrontation over growth and development in one’s community? That situation has become a problem for efforts to promote smart growth. Investments are needed in the walkable, compact, traditional‐streetscape and mixed use neighborhoods and developments that are more sustainable and healthy than sprawl, for both people and the landscape. Yet attempts at such change all too often end up mired in costly public controversy and stalemate.

Mansfield Ct: Planning A New Village Center, Maggie Jones, Richard Barringer

Planning

The case follows the development of a plan for a new village center in Storrs, the central village of Mansfield, Connecticut. A process that was transparent and inclusive of the community members yielded a plan that gained the approval of the Town, the landowner (the University of Connecticut), and the citizenry. The process relied on the mending of fences, the leadership of key participants, and an innovative strategy that included development of a nonprofit corporation and creative use of grant money. While zoning changes are still in the works, the first stage of building goes forward.

Augusta Me: The New Bridge Begets A New Planned Neighborhood, Molly Pulsifer, Richard Barringer

Planning

Construction of a new Third Bridge over the Kennebec River in Augusta offered the prospect of a new and handsome gateway to the city. Further, the resulting change in traffic patterns offered the City the chance to plan for a pattern of development quite different from what the city had experienced for the past half-century. The case study describes the planning and construction of the new bridge and corridors that re-routed traffic out of Augusta’s downtown and older neighborhoods, and created the opportunity for planned development adjacent to the corridor created by the new bridge. It goes on to describe …

Amherst Ma: A New Village Plan For Atkins Corner, Maggie Jones, Richard Barringer

Planning

The case study describes a successful smart growth initiative in the town of Amherst, Massachusetts, at an intersection known as Atkins Corner. The initiative grew from two motivating factors: the necessity of realigning Route 116, a major north-to-south artery through the town, to decrease traffic accidents at the intersection and improve pedestrian safety; and a desire on the part of Hampshire College and the Town to create a village center at the intersection. Through a consensus-building process involving key town officials, Hampshire College, neighbors, and the design firm of Dodson Associates, agreement on the project was reached with local stakeholders …

Promoting Low Impact Development In Your Community, New England Environmental Finance Center

Planning

Low Impact Development (LID) is an approach to stormwater management and site development that is gaining popularity throughout the country. Its attractiveness lies in its potential to lessen off-site stormwater impacts, reduce costs to municipalities and developers, and promote development that is “softer on the land” compared with typical traditional development. The approach, which is applicable to residential, commercial and industrial projects, and in urban, suburban and rural settings, often is linked with efforts by governments and citizens to foster more sustainable communities.

Analysis Of Per Capita Expenditures Of Suburbanizing Communities In Maine, New England Environmental Finance Center

Economics and Finance

This study analyzes per capita expenditure trends among selected fast-growing Maine towns from 1970-2004. The ten communities studied are termed as “suburbanizing” towns. This term is used to describe towns that over the past 30-40 years have been in the process of transition from rural to suburban – in terms of their population and housing densities, their forms of government, and the services they provide, as well as other characteristics.1 Such towns are of particular interest because they have been absorbing a healthy percentage of the state’s population growth during this time period, often at the expense of Maine’s service …

Land For Maine's Future Program: Increasing The Return On A Sound Public Investment, Richard Barringer, Hugh Coxe, Jack Kartez, Catherine Reilly, Jonathan Rubin

Economics and Finance

Maine is nowhere a more special place than in the quality of its landscape and the traditions of its land use. Among the mo st privately-owned of all the states, Maine’s natural diversity and beauty combine with its traditions of resource stewardship, open access, and appreciation of nature to distinguish it in the public mind and national imagination. In recent decades, however, these traditions have come under assault from the forces of economic and social change; and the people of Maine have responded. In 1986, Governor Joseph Brennan’s Special Commission on Outdoor Recreation recognized the growing threats to Maine’s natur …

Model State Land Use Legislation For New England, New England Environmental Finance Center, Muskie School Of Public Service

Legislation

Sprawl is neither the ordained nor the inevitable outcome upon the New England landscape. A coordinated response to sprawl by the public and private sectors is possible, and could dramatically improve land use patterns and reduce the cost of local government. For the New England states, such a response would include, among other elements, legislation to eliminate existing gaps in the land use laws of each state – gaps that presently encourage or sanction sprawling development. It would also include incentives for municipalities to think beyond their borders and to act with greater efficiency and effect. It is the purpose …

Guiding Growth: A Survey Of Tax Incentives, New England Environmental Finance Center, Muskie School Of Public Service

Legislation

Current development patterns and increased tax pressures in local municipalities combine to harm both Maine’s natural resources and its quality of life. Previous initiatives such as the implementation of zoning laws did not fully result in the desired outcomes. Zoning laws were often too flexible and often did not resist market and political pressures to change zoning regulations to allow development with possible economic growth. A sound taxation system or fee structure may be the solution to slow down development in natural areas and direct it towards areas appropriate for growth.

To protect Maine’s natural resources more successfully from future …

Roundtable Series On Innovative Approaches To Land Conservation And Smart Growth, New England Environmental Finance Center

Smart Growth

A series of six roundtable discussions was conducted by the New England Environmental Finance Center (NE/EFC) from January through May 2002, one in each New England state. The objectives of the series were to consolidate expertise in financing and coordinating projects that combine conservation and development on the landscape, and to identify key areas of unmet need that could be addressed by the NE/EFC. Each discussion entailed several case study presentations and facilitated discussion about what works, what doesn’t work, and what might work in financing and coordinating efforts that combine conservation and development. Key areas of opportunity that emerged …

Smart Growth And Land Acquisition Priorities, New England Environmental Finance Center

Land Conservation

It is well-known and generally accepted that all undeveloped land in New England cannot forever be protected from development; nor would this be a desirable goal, as continued economic development and population growth are near certainties. For these and other reasons, private land trusts and government agencies generally use explicit criteria to prioritize their land acquisition activities and prospects.

Much land protection in New England and elsewhere, however, has occurred without substantial attention to such land use needs as fostering the best locations for where people will live, businesses will locate, and infrastructure will be built to avoid degrading resources. …

Casco Bay Watershed Wetlands Characterization, State Planning Office

Maine Collection

Casco Bay Watershed Wetlands Characterization

State of Maine Executive Department - State Planning Office

Augusta, Maine, May 2001

Contents: Abstract / Background / Getting Started / Designing the System / The Characterization / The Prioritization / Results / Cautions / Significance of the Approach / Literature Cited / Figure 1 - Biophysical Regions of Maine / Appendix A: Steering Committee Members / Appendix B: Field Verification Form / Appendix C: Contacts

Preliminary Assessment Of Client Interest In And Needs Of The New England Environmental Finance Center, New England Environmental Finance Center, University Of Southern Maine

Planning

The New England Environmental Finance Center (NE/EFC) has been conceived as a knowledge-based clearinghouse, training, and change-agent program aimed at helping EPA's constituencies find financially successful approaches to environmental improvements. The NE/EFC will develop approaches to needs of particular priority in New England and potentially useful throughout the nation; share such approaches through the EFC national network; and help make tools from that network accessible throughout New England. In 1999 we began exploring with potential users how this ninth of the nation's EFCs might best address the region's needs. The assessment continued through the Muskie School's EFC proposal to EPA …

Environmental Finance Charette, Hyannis Park On Lewis Bay: A Case Study, New England Environmental Finance Center, Environmental Finance Center Of University Of Maryland

Water

The town of Yarmouth currently has a $30 million septic sludge treatment plant and transport lines in place. The vast majority of the dwellings and businesses in the Hyannis Park area are on septic systems that are viable and Title 5 compliant, regardless of age. Conventional, "non-failing" septic systems, however, were never intended to remove form their effluent nutrients such as nitrogen. These have become recognized as an environmental threat only as our understanding of the impacts of excess nutrients on ecosystems has increased in recent decades.

Maine Nonpoint Source Pollution Assessment Report, Bureau Of Water Quality Control

Maine Collection

Maine Nonpoint Source Pollution Assessment Report

Prepared by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Water Quality Control, Augusta, Maine 1989.

Contents: Executive Summary / Introduction / Methodology / Statewide Water Quality Summary / State And Local Agency Programs for Control of Nonpoint Source Pollution / Process for Identification of Best Management Practices and Associated Standards / List of References / List of Figures / List of Tables

A Field Perspective On Groundwater Contamination, John A. Cherry

Maine Collection

A Field Perspective on Groundwater Contamination

Geological Society of Maine Distinguished Lecturer John Cherry, University of Waterloo, Ontario, sponsored by the Department of Geosciences, University of Southern Maine, 19th May 1988.

Contents: Lecture 1 : Contaminant Migration Processes Illustrated by Field Experiments / Lecture 2 : Behavior of Dense Non-Aqueous Phase Liquids, Illustrated by Lab Experiments and Conceptual Examples / Lecture 3 : Field Case Histories on Groundwater Contamination / Lecture 4 : Hydrogeological Concepts and Criteria for Waste Disposal / Waterloo Center for Groundwater Research Publications List

Maine Acid Rain Study : Reports, Maine Department Of Environmental Protection

Maine Collection

Maine Acid Rain Study : Reports

Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Augusta, Maine (February, 1987).

Contents: Acid Rain Precursor Inventory and Evaluation / Modeled Sulfur Deposition in Maine / High Elevation Lake Monitoring in Maine

Fundy Tidal Power Development : Preliminary Evaluation Of Its Environmental Consequences To The Resources Of The State Of Maine, Bigelow Laboratory For Ocean Sciences

Maine Collection

Fundy Tidal Power Development : Preliminary Evaluation of Its Environmental Consequences to the Resources of the State of Maine

A Report to the Maine State Planning Office by the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, April, 1984.

"Technical Report No. 35 - Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, West Boothbay Harbor, Maine - A Division of Northeastern Research Foundation, Inc."

Contents: Executive Summary / Introduction / Methods / Physical and Biological Consequences / Socio-Economic Consequences / Research Needs / Bibliography / Appendix I. Written Comments on Greenberg Model

The Voluntary Water Quality Monitoring Program : 1982 Project Report, Barbara Welch, Judy Potvin, Mary Ellen Dennis

Maine Collection

The Voluntary Water Quality Monitoring Program : 1982 Project Report

by Barbara Welch, Judy Potvin & Mary Ellen Dennis

Division of Environmental Evaluation and Lake Studies, Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Augusta, Maine 1982.

Contents: Understanding Maine's Lakes and Ponds / Acknowledgement / Temperature / Dissolved Oxygen / Other Measures of Lake Water Quality / Nutrients / Algae and Chlorophyll a / Transparency / Morphometry / Sampling / Protection / Classification / Answers to Most Frequently Asked Questions / Glossary of Terms / Appendix A : Maximum, Minimum, and Mean Values / Appendix B : Phosphate Content of Common Cleansers …

Maine's Whitewater Rapids And Their Relevance To The Critical Areas Program, Janet Mcmahon

Maine Collection

Maine's Whitewater Rapids and Their Relevance to the Critical Areas Program

by Janet McMahon

Planning Report No. 74, Critical Areas Program, 184 State St., Augusta, Maine,

April, 1981 (additions made in October, 1981). Reprinted July, 1983.

Contents: Introduction / Natural History of Whitewater Rapids / Methods / Criteria / Results / Conclusions / General Evaluation of Whitewater Rapids for Inclusion on the Register of Critical Areas / Bibliography / Action Plan

How To Make A Natural Resources Inventory, Community Natural Resources Inventory Project

Maine Collection

A Handbook How to Make a Natural Resources Inventory for Your Community

Prepared by: James F. Connors, Sterling Dow III & Dean B. Bennett

Community Natural Resources Inventory Project (Title I, Higher Education Act), The University of Maine at Portland - Gorham (Project Sponsor) and The Maine Association of Conservation Commissions (Project Co-Sponsor), 1975.

"This handbook is published as a result of a grant from the U.S. Office of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare under the Higher Education Act, Title I. No official endorsement by the U.S. Office of Education should be inferred."

Contents: Preface / Introduction / …

Inventory Of Lake Studies In Maine, Charles F. Wallace Jr., James M. Strunk

Maine Collection

Inventory of Lake Studies in Maine

By Charles F. Wallace, Jr. and James M. Strunk

State Planning Office, Water Resources Planning Division, July 1973.

"Printed under Appropriation Number 4248.5 and financially assisted by planning grants from the United States Water Resources Council Title III funds."

Contents: Introduction / Investigating Agencies / Federal Agencies / State Agencies / Regional Planning Commissions and Economic Development Districts / Maine Colleges and Universities / Private / Other Private / Other / Appendices