NORWAY – Discouraged after the second attempt to get a comprehensive plan approved in 10 years, Town Manager David Holt has told state officials he may be fed up with the process.

In a response to a letter on inconsistencies found between the town plan and state guidelines, Holt wrote, “I know I am discouraged and I doubt the committee has any energy left to try and make this acceptable to you. Quite frankly, I (for one) may be burned out on comprehensive planning.”

But it’s too early to give up hope, according to Fergus Lea of the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments. Lea has helped with both versions of the plan and said the state may accept it with some fine tuning and a letter of explanation.

“In a letter you can explain how the state should interpret the information that’s there,” he said.

Comprehensive plans are often described as blueprints for a town. They identify needs in a community and provide a vision for directing growth and development. As required by the state guidelines, Norway’s plan talks about everything from population trends and housing needs to transportation and natural resources.

An Oct. 26 letter from Frank Hample of the Maine State Planning Office found four inconsistencies with Norway’s plan. Hample said the plan needs:

• More information on the number and size of households and information on housing trends in the town and region.

• Details on how suggestions in the plan will be implemented, when they will be implemented and the associated costs.

• An analysis of Norway’s affordable housing situation from a regional perspective.

• A land-use plan that encourages “orderly growth and development.”

On the number and size of households, Lea said, “It was probably the way (the document) was formatted more than the actual weakness, if you will.”

Details on how the plan may be implemented were partially omitted, he said, but will be easy to add.

Lea also said the state is often critical of the affordable housing portion of plans, but he believes the area can be addressed because Norway has a good supply of affordable housing.

As for the land-use portion of the plan, this is an area where both Lea and Holt feel consistency may be difficult to achieve because of property rights issues.

When the town tried to have its last plan approved 10 years ago, Lea said, the state did not like the two-acre lot size proposed for rural areas. Other towns in the area received approval for plans with similar lot specifications, Lea said, but for Norway the planning office decided “two acres did not a rural area make.”

“I think the issue is that the state would like to see 10,000-square-foot lots with sewer and water, and 20 acre lots (where there is no) sewer and water,” he said. The state is concerned with sprawl, evidence of which has crept into Norway over the last three years, Lea said.

Holt said he understands what the state wants, but is reluctant to infringe on what people can do with their properties. “Many of these people have owned that land for generations and cared for it and that’s the way it is because of their care,” he said.