LEWISTON — The city will try to continue the enthusiasm from 2013’s Planapalooza with a special Saturday discussion next month.
“We’ve done a lot of tweaks to it, and it still needs some tweaks, possibly,” City Planner David Hediger said. “But we want to go over what we’ve heard and what direction we think it’s going in.”
The city will host a discussion at 9 a.m. Nov. 15 at the Lewiston Public Library about the plan and about planning for Lewiston’s future.
It’s all part of the city’s effort to create a new comprehensive plan. State law requires cities to draw up long-term plans to help shape zoning and development decisions, and Lewiston’s plan is out of date.
The report was written by Town Planning and Urban Design Collaborative based on the June 2013 Legacy Lewiston Planapalooza.
The Planapalooza process featured three formal public meetings with nearly 40 hours of impromptu private meetings at a Lisbon Street storefront. Planners from the group opened their studio to Lewiston residents, letting them stop by to offer their opinions, check up on their progress and critique their work.
“It’s been a while since the Planapalooza process, so we’re trying to get people excited about it again,” Hediger said.
The full-color plan became available for download on the city’s website in a 35-megabyte PDF file in September. A printed copy is available for review at the Lewiston Public Library.
“People don’t need to read even 200 pages of the report,” Hediger said. “They should just thumb through it, and look and see the areas that interest them. If they are interested in housing or the environment, they can go through and see what they think. Just doing that might get them interested.”
The draft is full of photographs, colorful graphics and tables and informational pullouts. It’s divided into two sections, “Today” and “Tomorrow.” The first section uses statistics, maps and demographics to describe the city as it is now; the second section plots where the city can go over the next decade.
The city took public comments in September and city staff and members of the Comprehensive Plan Committee will review those comments and host a public hearing on the draft in November.
A final draft is expected to go to the City Council for a public hearing later this winter.
Legacy Lewiston Comprehensive Plan Draft by Scott Taylor
To download the draft of the “Legacy Lewiston Comprehensive Plan,” go to the city’s Web site, www.lewistonmaine.gov/comprehensiveplan.
The 232-page document is a 35-megabyte PDF file.
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