Greetings Isle au Haut folks,
I would like to provide you all with another update on the Comprehensive Plan Review
process. Where we are. and what the next steps are.
We are continuing to move through the required plan chapters with the assistance of the
Hancock County Planning Commission. They are operating under a grant that was
secured to help us complete this process.
As previously posted, we have broken the plan up into the required chapters and are
using the 2011 and 2016 plans as templates and then updating the components with
new data from the state, committee members and town documents. The HCPC with
guidance from the committee, has included the results from our original visioning
session last October, the survey sent to all community members, as well as the results
of the strategy development session from late this summer. To date, we have reviewed
completed drafts for Recreation, Historical & Archeology, Economy, Public Facilities &
Resources, Housing, Population, Climate Change/Vulnerability, Marine Resources,
Transportation, Natural Resources Chapters. The final chapters to be worked on include
Agriculture & Forestry, Water Resources, Capital Investment Planning, and Existing &
Future Land Use.
There will be the final large community gathering in November at the Town Hall to
discuss the Existing and Future Land Use chapter. This is a discussion on ordinances
and zoning. We will discuss what we currently have, what is required by the state, and
how we can use these ordinances to maintain the character of the island in a
sustainable fashion.
We are in the home stretch; the final calendar looks something like this:
September 30th : Committee review of Ag & Forestry and Water Resources
October 28th : Committee review of Existing & Future Land Use
November 15th or 16th : Potluck Public Engagement – Future Land Use planning
November 18th : Committee to review Goals/Objectives, Regional Coordination, & Plan
Implementation and Evaluation
November 25th : Review Future Land Use feedback from potluck as well as final edits to
Goals and Objectives
December 16ish: Future Land Use and Capital Investment Plan review
January 20th : Draft Plan to Committee for review
January 27th : Incorporate Committee recommendations on Draft Plan
January 30th to February 6th : Post Proposed Plan to Town website for final public
feedback
February 10th : Committee discussion on any public feedback, edits as needed
February 11th : SUBMIT PLAN TO STATE (State can take 1-4 months to review)
April sometime: 30 day notice of public hearing on the plan
May sometime: Public Hearing on the Plan
June sometime: 30 days from public hearing, Special Town Meeting to vote on
accepting the plan.
Remember that the final product is a vision and general planning document, and not a
work-order or mandate. It just gives us an idea of where Isle au Haut wants to go, where
we’ve been, and where we are.
I will continue to post updates here on the Town website for information on our progress
as well as links to the HCPC site where they will have all of our draft work available for
your review as we develop them. You can also reach out to me at
dwallstrom@gmail.com with questions or concerns at any time.
Here is the link to the HCPC Isle au Haut site
: https://sites.google.com/hcpcme.org/town-of-isle-au-haut/committee
Thank you again,
The Comprehensive Plan Review Committee