Residents can comment at the hearing on Thursday, Feb. 19.
OTISFIELD – Residents in this community will get the chance to review the draft comprehensive plan and give comments on it during a hearing Thursday, Feb. 19.
The plan, an update of one adopted in 1991, builds on that plan.
After securing a planning grant from the state, the selectmen appointed nine members to the Comprehensive Planning Committee during the summer of 2001.
Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments provided technical support in developing the plan.
Last summer the Comprehensive Planning Committee urged selectmen to schedule a special town meeting so residents could vote on the updated plan. After reviewing the plan, selectmen informed the committee they did not believe the plan was finished. The board asked the committee to make some changes and add items that were left out.
One item selectmen noted was left out was growth management.
This was resolved when the committee and selectmen agreed to add wording to the plan outlining why it was left out. It states growth management was left out because the topography in the community does not require it.
The wording in the formation of a Town Government Committee was also changed. It had called for elected and paid town personnel to be excluded from the committee and for the committee to be elected. This was changed to exclude elected officials but allows elected officials to act as advisors and allows paid town personnel to be on the committee. The plan now calls for this committee to be appointed. The selectmen have already appointed that committee as well as a Road Advisory Committee.
A Capital Improvement Plan, which was inadvertently left out of the plan, has been included.
Copies of the plan are available at the town office and online at www.otisfieldcomprehensiveplan2003.org. The online plan was put together by the committee and outlines the changes in the plan.
The hearing is set for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, in Otisfield Community School.
Residents will get their chance to vote on the plan during the annual town meeting slated for Saturday, March 6. The hearing is in preparation for the vote.
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