Falmouth Town Councilors Amy Kuhn and Hope Cahan, re-elected in a three-way race for two seats last week, have Vision and Values on their minds.

Kuhn

The town project, which will ultimately shape future development in Falmouth and the town’s comprehensive plan, will continue to be their priority, they said.

Kuhn and Cahan won reelection to their second terms June 8 with 1,201 and 1,106 votes, respectively. Candidate John Winslow, an outspoken council watchdog who frequently attends town meetings, garnered 401 votes.

Vision and Values includes a host of meetings with residents and surveys for their input on what they want for the town.

“This is the pathway for the town to understand and then address residents’ hopes and concerns about development” and other issues, said Kuhn, who has been the council’s chairperson for the past two years. “Developing outcomes will require a careful balancing of impacts on the tax base, the schools, traffic and the environment.”

Cahan said Vision and Values is now using residents’ input to dive into specifics.

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Cahan

“We are now digging down deeper into specific issue areas to really get more in the weeds about what people meant with their survey responses and what they want in the town,” Cahan said.  “We are using that with other community conversations to better our ordinances with development and make sure we are developing or not in the way the community wants.”

They’ll be looking at development with the project in mind, they said.

“Falmouth is changing. We are facing a lot of pressure around growth and development,  and residents have some pretty specific concerns and hope about what they want the future to be like,” Kuhn said. “This is what this whole process is about, is to enable the community to grow while preserving the character we all enjoy.” 

Supporting the schools as they transition back to full-time, in-person learning, continuing the town’s commitment to environmental protection and improving roads for car, bike and pedestrian safety are also on her priority list for her second term, Kuhn said.

Cahan said she also will focus on sustainability and continuing the council’s work to update the town’s sustainability plan.

“Right before COVID we were working on a plastic straw ban, which seems minor but it does have an impact,” she said. “Now that we are starting to get back into the groove of things I hope we can move forward with that.”

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