WINDHAM – About 60 Windham residents, town officials and volunteers came together to discuss Windham’s future at community forum held Nov. 13 at the Manchester School.

At the three-hour forum, the participants broke into seven small groups to discuss what they “love” about Windham, desired improvements or changes, visions for Windham’s near-term future, and thoughts on the 2003 comprehensive master plan.

The public event was facilitated by Ben Smith, Windham’s planning director, and Mark Eyerman, the president of Portland-based Planning Decisions, and was designed to solicit feedback to kickstart a comprehensive plan update process. At the end of the forum, Eyerman summed up the aggregate results of the group discussions. A top “love” was the local educational system, Eyerman said.

The state requires each town to have a comprehensive plan, which involves a lengthy process of soliciting resident feedback on how a town intends to handle future growth. Windham’s was last updated in 2003. Officials expect the planning process to take two years.

“A second area that there were a lot of ‘loves’ about was what I grouped under rural feel,” Eyerman said. “Rural land, farms, green space in North Windham, one group called it, ‘small-town feel, big-town opportunities.’”

Other “loves” included the fact that Windham is “close to Portland, but not Portland,” Eyerman said, as well as the accessibility of retail outlets, the spirit of family friendly community-involvement, and numerous outdoor recreation opportunities.

As far as desired improvements, Eyerman said, common suggestions included providing sewers but protecting wetlands, filling vacant stores, increasing the variety of business development, fixing traffic problems in North Windham, protecting farms and open space, and expanding the selection of audio books at the Windham Public Library. Participants also called for increased planning to protect open space, and the development of more recreational facilities for athletics.

Chuck Fleck, a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, said he had attended the forum because he has three kids attending Windham schools. Fleck and his family recently moved to Windham from Connecticut. Fleck said his group at the forum wanted to see a continuation of the vision enshrined in the 2003 comprehensive plan – with perhaps more of an eye toward issues of environmental sustainability.

“Toward the end there we were looking at pretty much the same conclusion they had come up with back in 2003 – just a little bit more clarification and updates with regard to building green, zero emission, that kind of information,” he said.

Personally, Fleck said, he would like to see more pedestrian-friendly planning and development in Windham.

“I’d like to see a Main Street USA,” he said. “Some place where you can walk around. We’ve referenced the Naples Causeway project as an example.”

According to Jim Cummings, his group also sought continuity with the 2003 comprehensive plan.

“I think it went well,” Cummings said. “I think it’s pretty much just a continuance of the 2003 comp plan. But it would be nice to see some of the ideas implemented instead of waiting another 10 years to have the same discussion.”

Town Manager Tony Plante, who also attended the forum, said the town government plans to act on information collected through the comprehensive planning process as soon as possible.

“We don’t have to wait until the comp plan is a finished product two years from now,” Plante said. “We can start identifying things we can work on now. I think that’s going to be a key thing for the council as we get this input.”

In his introduction to the forum, Smith emphasized that much more change is in store for the town of Windham.

“There’s a lot more history to be written,” Smith said. “The book is not closed on Windham.”

“I think in the year 2100 it’s going to be very hard to imagine Windham looking like it does today,” he added.

Windham Planning Director Ben Smith kicks off a Nov. 13 community vision forum at the Manchester School, where about 60 Windham residents, town officials and volunteers, came together to discuss Windham’s future.  “I think in the year 2100 it’s going to be very hard to imagine Windham looking like it does today,” said Planning Director Ben Smith.