POLAND – While turnout for the Comprehensive Planning Committee’s community visioning sessions has been low – eight people showed up for Saturday’s meeting at the Excelsior Grange Hall – comments received go to the heart of issues that townspeople have grappled with for years.

Reining in the proliferation of housing subdivisions, stopping the spread of private roads that are eating away at the rural character and protecting the town’s water resources were among the chief concerns expressed.

Residential development was identified as the boogeyman, filling schools and driving property taxes up.

“With a cost of $9,000 or $10,000 a year for one student, the town will be bankrupt if we don’t come up with a way to offset school costs,” John Laskey said.

Pat Nash wondered whether the town should institute a building moratorium to control growth.

Jim Porter pointed out that it costs the town $1.50 for every tax dollar residential development brings in whereas for every dollar collected from a business, it only cost the town 75 cents to provide the services the business requires.

Opinions varied on the benefit to be derived from the recently created Village TIF Zone that offers incentives for the development along the Route 26 corridor and the section of Route 11 from Route 26 to Wolf Cove Inn.

So is the Village TIF Zone the answer?

Fred Huntress saw the TIF Zone as encompassing far too much land off the Route 26 corridor and earmarking land that probably should not be developed at all.

“Developers nowadays think land is putty. What we don’t need is more marginal land leveled for housing,” Huntress said.

Laskey questioned extending the Village TIF Zone down Route 11.

“There are times when parts of it are under 2 feet of water; it’s a quagmire around there. How they ever thought that was a good idea blows my mind,” he said.

Stan Tetenman’s suggestion that design standards be adopted for development on Route 26 – clapboards and wood shingles instead fake adobe “drive-edge” and incorporated green space – gained overwhelming support.

Fergus Lea suggested that land along the Poland-Auburn border, adjacent to the expanding industrial area around the Auburn-Lewiston Airport, be again targeted for industrial development, even though it was recently voted down.

Huntress said that lakes are Poland’s true economic resources and should be protected at all costs. That could well mean, he suggested, that large tracts of forested upland – Black Cat and Bragdon mountains – be declared conservation zones, with no building allowed.

Barbara Strout said the town’s policy of selling its own open and vacant land should cease and the town should pursue the idea of setting up land trusts, buying up development rights, as a way to dampen growth.

The Comprehensive Planning Committee has set Poland’s annual spring town meeting as its target date to present the new 10-year growth plan for public approval.

The panel wants to hear the comments and suggestions of more residents than have come forward to date. The committee’s next three meetings are scheduled for Nov. 8 and 29 and Dec. 13. Comments can also be forwarded at any time to Rosemary Roy at the Poland Town office, 998-4601.