Damariscotta Heart & Soul Community Planning

In 2005 a Wal-Mart proposal forced Damariscotta residents to acknowledge conflicting values and proactively address quality of life. The experience revealed the need to engage a cross-section of the community in future planning and development decisions. The Town hired a part-time planner, formed the Damariscotta Planning Advisory Committee (DPAC), and launched the Heart & Soul process.

Coordinated by Friends of Midcoast Maine (FMM), Damariscotta Heart & Soul has used variety of methods and tools to engage new voices and develop a shared community vision. This vision will guide future plans and actions and reinforce the qualities that make Damariscotta a great place.

• Project partners collected and shared local stories in a variety of ways, including Neighbor to Neighbor Chats (interviews), Community Conversations (story circles) and community forums.
• DPAC members and community volunteers used those stories to identify a set of common community values to guide future planning and development decisions, such as Ability to Live and Work Locally, Proximity to Nature and Culture, and Sense of Community
• In Spring 2009, project partners prepared a draft vision statement building on community input, which was used to develop and test planning scenarios reflecting the values expressed by the community.
• Damariscotta held an open public design charrette to explore specific issues, such as integrating the historic village with new commercial development. CommunityViz® software helped citizens analyze design and development scenarios.
• With the help of consultants, the Town drafted a Form-Based code to help implement some of the recommendations from the charrette and planning process. This code was voted down by the public and Damariscotta is considering next steps.