Pownal residents unanimously adopted on Monday a 10-year plan promoting rural preservation and limited development.

The comprehensive plan is a 109-page document required by the state. So-called “comp plans” are unique to each community that crafts and adopts them. The goal is to set a vision for future development based on community input.

According to Pownal Selectboard Chairperson Jon Morris, while the plan does not implement any immediate action, it instead will act as guide for the town’s select board, planning board and other committees to source from when making decisions. The town’s next step, Morris said, will be to realign land use rules — some of which have not been updated since the 1970s — with these new guidelines.

In addition, Morris said, to preserve Pownal’s rural character, officials may explore tax incentives for landowners to encourage the traditional public access of private property as it changes hands. In other words, Morris said, when new “no trespassing” signs pop up in Pownal, it catches people’s attention.

“The more established residents have been incredibly generous in allowing people to hunt, fish, hike on their land,” said Morris. “What we’re trying to do is we are trying to educate new landowners who sometimes buy land and want to post their land because that’s the way it was done where they’ve come from.”

Town documents indicate that 53 new homes have been built in Pownal since 2016, translating to an average of 11 new housing permits per year. Between 2010 and 2020, the town’s population increased by about 6%, according to US Census data.

Pownal is about 23 square miles, and according to the 2020 census, home to approximately 1,566 people. It is characterized by farmland, dirt roads and the 700-acre Bradbury Mountain State Park.

Additional goals outlined in the plan include regularly evaluating the need for a larger police presence, working to ensure Pownal is a friendly community for all ages and minimizing the residential tax burden while maintaining town services.

Infrastructure strategies are also outlined in the plan, such as looking for ways to fund the renovation or building of new town infrastructure like a fire and rescue or public works facilities.

“We have almost $2 million worth of equipment parked outside because our facility can only fit one vehicle in at a time. It’s very difficult, especially during storms, to work on vehicles,” Pownal Road Commissioner Dick Clarke told The Forecaster. “Another problem we have is a place to rest during a storm. We either sleep in our trucks or in chairs in the town garage. We could use a facility where we can rest and make a meal in between rounds of plowing. We’d like to see a facility that houses what our needs are.”

About 36 residents turned out to Monday’s special town meeting.

Mercedes Pour, a Pownal resident for four years, said that she was happy the plan was able to capture the essence of the town.

“As a guiding document, as the selectman talked about tonight, I think it does a wonderful job of giving us a framework and structure to move forward,” said Pour. “This town has actually seen some recent change, and is probably facing a lot of change, and we need that framework to help us navigate that.”

“I think it’s a step in the right direction,” Ordinance Review Committee Chairperson Tom Hall said. “Pownal is a bit of jewel for Cumberland County – a small town, a rural town, we like what we have here, and we want to keep it. We realized that the American way of things is to be able to buy a home and set down roots, and we want for folks to be able to do that, but we want to keep our character in allowing such things to happen.”

Ordinances approved

Three additional ordinance-related items were also up for a vote on Monday, all of which passed.

Article three approved language changes in the town’s animal control and welfare rules. Specifically, changing the word “mammal” to “animal,” which will give the animal control officer more tools with enforcement.

The fourth article that was approved changed the town’s compensation guidelines from an ordinance to a policy, which gives the select board the ability to govern staff pay-rates without a town meeting vote. The article is intended to give the select board more flexibility due to the current labor market.

The final article authorized an amendment to the public and private roads ordinance, correcting visual diagrams of the roads to match the written descriptions.

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