FREEPORT — The town is hosting a public planning session next week on the future of a recently developed recreational fields area.
This is the first planning session that brings together all the pieces of the more the more than 250-block area of Hunter and Pownal roads, plus Hedgehog Mountain and the transfer station, Town Planner Donna Larson said.
“This is an opportunity to get a good cross-section of the community and get some good thinking of what should happen out there,” she said.
Some of the potential developments could be a connector road for Hunter and Pownal roads, additional parking, and establishing more fields and trails, Larson said.
At the meeting, residents will meet with town officials, review maps and see new aerial photographs of the area.
Larson said residents will be able to draw roads and other ideas onto the maps. “We’re hoping to hear people’s priorities of what should happen out there,” she said, “with a little bit of detail of what they should be and where they should go.”
This session precedes a Maine Department of Environmental Protection permit application the town will have to submit before any work can begin on the properties.
After the planning session, the Town Council will look at the recommendations and likely hold a public hearing about which projects to focus on, Larson said. Councilors would then need to decide on a price tag for designing and building the project.
At the meeting, people will be divided into small groups and given a specific task to work on. They will then bring that task back to the larger group, which will then make a decision on the priority of that project.
A facilitator will oversee the session and summarize the discussion into a report for the town.
The meeting will be held from 6:30-9 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 27, at the Freeport Community Center, 53 Depot St. To sign up, contact the planning office at 865-4743 ext. 108 or email Larson at dlarson@freeportmaine.com.
Will Graff can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 123 or wgraff@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @W_C_Graff.
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