GREENE – The demand for residential space is changing the look of this rural town, which has reviewed eight proposals for subdivisions this year.

New growth is about to explode, said Greene Town Manager Stephen Eldridge. The town has already seen a 12 to 16 percent annual growth in residential building in the past few years. Greene issued 32 new home starts last year; 29 were issued in 2002.

Eldridge attributes some of the recent migration to the town to the projected turnpike exit in Sabattus and Greene’s low tax rate.

“The combination of the two is certainly attracting more people who want to work in a city but live in the outskirts,” Eldridge said. “Greene can and does offer this.”

Along with neighboring towns Monmouth, Leeds and Wales, the Town of Greene is becoming more suburban and less rural, according to a study by Planning Decisions Inc. of South Portland

It also reported a tremendous decrease in the number of Androscoggin County farms, which have been broken up and sold to make room for houses.

Smart growth

Town officials are strongly encouraging growth. Smart Growth, that is. Smart Growth is a strategic planning guide that strongly encourages zoned building districts. Yet, according to Smart Growth plans, there is not a solve-all mold that can fix and meet every town’s requirement.

What works for Monmouth might not work in Greene, Eldridge said.

“But it does allow the city to plan its future and give foresight to how it will look tomorrow,” he said. “For the most part, the plan leans against sprawling and favors cluster building.”

An example of cluster building is a subdivision, which in the case of the Greene proposals, would group about 12 residential houses together, creating a small community. Eldridge said it helps prevent branching out into the rural area and limiting future possibilities.

“Greene is a community that thinks where it is going and has a very active town government,” he said. “People take their volunteer roles here very seriously.”

New Neighbors

Although several plans are still on the drafting board, Eldridge said one of the newest subdivisions to receive the go-ahead will be located at the former Allen Pond Campground property. There is also a proposal for a subdivision on Meadow Hill that is on the Planning Board agenda to be reviewed.

The largest proposed subdivision would go on property near Sabattus Pond, where developers hope to put 28 lots, he said.

To see so many subdivisions submitted to Greene is unusual, town officials said, but they believe people are seeing the writing on the wall.

“We have a great school system, a strong interest in conserving our land and people have nowhere else to go,” Eldridge said. “We are in a great location just north of Lewiston-Auburn, and I just think cost of housing in southern Maine is too expensive.”

Most of the houses going up in Greene are well into the $200,000 bracket, Eldridge said.

“This seems to be the trend everywhere,” he said. “Greene is just starting to see this kind of growth.”

The town manager credits much of the area’s recent growth to local businesses such as Central Maine Medical Center, Tambrands, Pioneer Plastics and several others, all of which have been helping the overall economic development.

“We are in one of the fastest-growing economic regions in the state right now,” he said. “Most studies show that the majority of the people moving into Greene are professional, middle-aged people with good incomes, without children living at home.”

That explains why SAD 52, the school district that also serves Turner and Leeds, hasn’t seen an enrollment hike.

Growing Pains

To prevent too rapid of a growth spurt, town officials have begun to weigh different possibilities for the future. Options ranged from placing a cap on the number of building permits that would be issued yearly to the initiation of impact fees.

The fees would help offset the expenses needed to maintain and/or upgrade the transfer station, schools and town roads due to rapid growth.

“These are things that the local government will need to address,” Eldridge said. “My personal feeling is that they will lean more towards a cap.”

Will a cap control the growth? Eldridge doesn’t believe so. “But it will slow it down a bit.”

Greene has not a lot of open space right now and people do want to keep that rural character, Eldridge said.

“How we can do that, I don’t know,” he said. “That’s the ultimate question that all municipalities are struggling with.”