By Ward Peck
Editor
    After 20 months of meetings, hearings, and reviewing correspondence, the Cape Elizabeth Comprehensive Plan Committee is nearing the end of what Town Planner Maureen O’Meara described as the “first step” in bringing the plan to fruition.
    On Thursday, the Committee will hold a final public forum to hear citizens’ comments and concerns about the 145-page draft plan before submitting it to the Town Council. O’Meara said the Thursday meeting is billed as a “forum” rather than a “hearing” to emphasize it’s less formal nature. Participants will be able to remain in their seats to ask questions or make points, rather than addressing the committee from a podium.
    The last Comprehensive Plan was adopted in 1993. O’Meara said she interpreted the new draft as largely a reaffirmation of the recommendations made in the 1993 plan. It contains 14 chapters on specific areas of the town’s composition, character and population including chapters on: demographics, the economy, housing, public facilities, fiscal capacity, recreation and open space and land use along with recommendations for public policy in each area.
    O’Meara identified a few areas where the draft plan departs from its predecessor, including an emphasis on preserving agricultural land by allowing agricultural land owners to transfer development rights to other land parcels, allowing the receiving parcel to increase the building unit density allowance by one-third.
    The draft recommendations would also increase the town’s emphasis on open space or cluster development in the town’s designated growth areas, know as “RB districts” by increasing the density of development and increasing the amount of open space in such developments in areas served by public sewer.
    The plan also recommends that the town’s sewer service areas be extended to apply to all RD districts. Currently, according to O’Meara, developers with land outside the sewer service area have a disincentive to connect to the public sewer system, which in turn, restricts the ability for developers to cluster housing.
    The plan makes no recommendations regarding business districts outside the town center, although there have been appeals to update those zoning regulations to conform with the Town Center zoning regulations such as increased density and implementing design standards as well as requests to expand the boundaries of those districts.
    The new draft also deemphasizes the town’s goals of historic and scenic preservation. O’Meara said efforts in the 1990’s to establish preservation schemes revealed there is little public support for restricting private property rights in favor of preservation.
    Following the public forum the Comprehensive Plan Committee will meet again on Feb. 1 to discuss the public comments and again on Feb. 8 to prioritize the 83 recommendations contained in the plan. The committee will then submit the draft plan to the Town Council either in March and April. O’Meara said she does not expect the Town Council to discuss the plan until it finalizes the next budget in late spring.
    The council will then hold its own hearings before adopting a final comprehensive plan.
    The entire draft plan can be found on the town’s website, www.capeelizabeth.com.