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Friday, August 16, 2024
Windham Economic Development Corporation formulates plan for sustainable growth
Windham’s Economic Development Corporation, or WEDC, presented an updated strategic economic development plan crafted by Crane Associates at the July Windham Town Council meeting. The plan, presented by WEDC Executive Director Thomas Bartell, identifies four objectives and strategies to pave the way for sustainable growth and community enhancement in Windham.
Strategies for developing Windham’s niche focus on bringing in small scale manufacturing, such as biomedical manufacturing, and possibly recreation equipment manufacturers. Another strategy is developing business incubator facilities for manufacturing, entrepreneur innovation co-working space and shared commercial kitchens. It’s the next step in taking one’s personal business out of the home garage.
According to Bartell, during a meeting with Crane Associates, they discussed creating the region’s best trail network as a strategy for pursuing amusement and recreation opportunities.
“We want to figure out how do we make Windham known for that,” he said. “The idea is that we promote the trail so people can use it and when their done, they can head up to North Windham and enjoy dinner or shopping, these sorts of things.”
Bartell said they also discussed the idea of attracting indoor recreation facilities to boost the year-round economy in town.
Objective three focuses at attracting professional and business service to North Windham by implementing the North Windham 21st Century Downtown Master Plan that aims to create a live, work, and play environment and building additional housing.
This also involves a new transportation plan called North Windham Moves, that aims to improve traffic flow through North Windham by providing local access routes. This way people, mostly residents, don’t have to rely on Route 302 to get around Windham.
One access route will come off Route 115 and connect to Franklin Drive. Another extends Manchester Drive to Whites Bridge Road. Route 302 will remain the main route to Raymond and Casco. The new routes will hopefully attract local shoppers and tourists to North Windham but reduce traffic for residents getting around. On both lateral access roads there will be pedestrian bike paths.
“Overall, we are hoping that will allow us as residents to be able to find our way around North Windham and not be afraid to go to North Windham during certain times of year,” said Bartell. “All of this will provide opportunities for businesses to come in and grow and hopefully employ residents of Windham.”
This is a state-led project that Windham received a $25 million grant in federal funding. The state is granting an additional $3 million and another $3 million came from the town, making it a roughly $30-million project.
Lastly, objective four aims to maintain the collaborative efforts of town officials, departments and WEDC, while working with regional agencies and local business groups on attraction initiatives and to expand outreach efforts to state and national business organizations. It also includes initiating appropriate development policy and identifying new and continuing funding opportunities for programming and infrastructure.
Bartell says the town is finally fulfilling objectives from the previous plan, such as the sewer road network improvements in Northern Windham that has also started. The goal is to have the sewer project operating by 2026 and have almost everyone in town who wished to be connected by the end of that year.
“I think it will benefit the community and the residents in a number of ways,” says Bartell. “There’s an environmental consequence of not having a sewer system. That will eliminate the septic system dispersal directly into the aquifer below North Windham and we've noticed over the years that the nitrate and phosphorus levels change. Those are numbers we want to see down, and this will allow that to happen.”
Bartell says the updated plan maintains the vision, mission and core values of the strategic plan when it was created 10 years ago. The vision is to create a business-friendly environment, and a welcoming atmosphere, while preserving rural characteristics and natural resources. The WEDC’s mission is to encourage economic growth and development to increase prosperity in Windham and improve the quality of life for its residents.
“We have to keep going getting the infrastructure in place and then we want to move forward with the economic development strategic plan and work toward these goals,” says Bartell. “I think patience and persistence are the key to economic development.”
The updated plan is expected to undergo more changes and improvements and could be integrated as soon as the end of August. <
Friday, February 12, 2021
Windham Town Council adopts open space master plan with eye on future
The Open Space Plan will serve as a guide for the town to identify high priority properties to protect or acquire, provide land stewardship guidance for existing open space lands, identify opportunities to expand connectivity between open space assets, neighborhoods, and trails and to outline programs, ordinances, and partners that could be instrumental in securing the future of the identified high priority properties, said Windham Planning Director Amanda Lessard. The plan recognizes that rural character is crucial to Windham’s identity as a community. It takes a proactive stance regarding preserving community character and ensures that Windham’s most cherished open spaces will remain available going forward despite strong residential growth pressures.
Lessard said that the Windham Open Space Master Plan is the culmination of nine months of work and is the town’s first comprehensive look at Windham’s open space network of conservation and recreational assets.
“The consulting team of North Star Planning and Aceto Landscape Architects worked with town staff to gather input from the community, including town committees and various stakeholder groups, to develop conservation and recreational goals to preserve Windham’s rural character and function, protect the environment, and provide diverse and equitable access to recreational opportunities,” Lessard said. “The plan will have long term implications on the Town of Windham as it will guide future decision making as it relates to managing and improving existing properties and locating and acquiring new properties for conservation, playgrounds, sports fields, and trail systems.”
Specific new open space policies contained in the plan create a framework to guide town leadership well into the future.
Some of those policies include acquiring new properties and developing new facilities, evaluation and improvement of existing properties and open-space assets and creation of opportunities to enhance and expand uses and programming at existing open space and recreational facilities in Windham, and to update existing town policies and practices focusing on recreation and open space in Windham.
The plan recognizes that the Windham community supports acquisition and conservation of properties that provide recreation opportunities, public access to the water, protect significant habitats and water quality, and maintains the rural character of the town. It notes that the town should be prepared and ready to act when opportunities arise to grow the network of open space and recreation properties. It establishes goals of increasing access to water for residents, including lakes, ponds, and rivers; create new points of access for boating and swimming on Windham’s lakes and ponds; develop linked, long-distance trail system; complete the Mountain Division Trail to Westbrook and lead to creation of formal access to the water and along the Presumpscot and Pleasant Rivers for hand-carry boating access and additional trails for fishing and recreation; places an emphasis on large-scale conservation efforts for East Windham and Southern Windham lands; and to develop neighborhood-scale playgrounds and public spaces in underserved areas.
Under the new plan, other goals for Windham include evaluating all existing town properties for potential to contribute to open space and recreational priorities; maximizes the diversity and mix of activities and uses available in each town activity center; formalizes and protects existing open space and recreational assets; create management plans for town properties; and initiate a signage program for Windham park properties and trailheads.
The new Open Space Master Plan does not identify specific properties for acquisition, but rather provides the criteria needed for the town to make smart and strategic decisions when identifying properties that would fulfill the needs of the community. To that end, new goals also include enhanced protections for surface waters and wetlands, especially in the watersheds most at risk of development and for streams and rivers; developing and maintaining open-space partnerships and relationships; educating and incentivizing private property owners to keep lands as undeveloped open space; and reorganizing some town committees and volunteers to clarify their roles and ensure proper support from town staff. Another goal is the purchase of development rights to keep properties in private ownership, most applicable in situations where the land is used for production, like farming, pasture and hay fields, and woodlots. It emphasizes that the town should be working to make all landowners aware of the “current use” tax programs designed to keep lands in their existing, and undeveloped states.
Across Maine, open space planning has evolved into a crucial topic to towns and municipalities as development impacts the environment and strains open space resources in rural areas and major population centers in the state. Effective open space planning preserves valuable natural wetlands and vital wildlife habitat from Maine communities for future generations while helping to formulate policies used to protect environmental corridors and natural ecosystems.
Lessard said the new Open Space Master Plan aligns with the desire of Windham residents and the Windham Town Council to encourage compatible growth in the future by managing aspects of growth and development and provides long term economic benefits by helping the town avoid costly mistakes of misusing available open-space resources. <
Friday, July 24, 2020
Summer recreation program for children still popular in Windham
A total of 115 children are participating in the Summer Kids' Club recreation program at three different locations this summer in Windham. SUBMITTED PHOTO |