
Vehicles travel along Route 1 through the Scarborough Marsh last September. Town Council candidates have cited the need to protect natural resources, like the marsh, from development. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
Three candidates are vying for two open seats on the Scarborough Town Council.

Scott Doherty
Scott Doherty, Cory Fellows and Crescencia Maurer are looking to fill the seats of Donald Hamill and Nick McGee, who are not running for reelection.
The Leader was unable to connect with Doherty before its print deadline on Wednesday, but you can hear from all three candidates by viewing the recording of Candidate’s Night which can be found on the town’s YouTube page.
Fellows, vice president of Preservation of Affordable Housing and a Planning Board member from 2007 to 2018, serving as chair from 2015 to 2018, described the town’s pace of growth as both a challenge and an opportunity.

Cory Fellows
“Scarborough is a desirable coastal community in the heart of one of the fastest-growing regions in the state, and those of us who are fortunate enough to already live here cannot just lock the door behind us,” Fellows said. “I believe we should view growth not solely as a challenge but as an opportunity to welcome new neighbors and businesses, and to expand our tax base. That doesn’t mean we should grow aimlessly or endlessly. If elected, I will work to ensure that the town’s growth management tools – including zoning and site plan review ordinances and development impact fees – are utilized and refined as needed to ensure that growth and infrastructure go hand in hand, and that critical natural resources such as the marsh and its tributaries are protected.”
Maurer, a project manager and member of the town’s Open Space Planning Committee, said the council needs to ensure it can keep up with the pace.
“Rapid growth has overwhelmed some of the town’s key services and infrastructure (such as) schools, roads, sewer, drinking water, fire and safety, as well as economically important natural resources: shellfish beds, marsh habitat, river and stream corridors,” Maurer said. “The solution is to manage the pace of future growth, particularly housing, and focus on catching up investment in infrastructure and services.”

Crescencia Maurer
Maurer said the town needs to remain affordable to taxpayers but continue to provide needed services and find ways to ensure both of those continue to be true when making big investments.
“Scarborough residents are unhappy about the rise in property taxes and the decrease in affordability, but residents also want good schools, a bigger library, and a community center,” Maurer said. “There is no easy fix. Solutions require picking ‘doable’ options over ones that are more desired but less affordable, capturing non-town funding resources for improvements, and pursuing solutions that serve multiple objectives.”
She said that requires taking a combined approach when addressing the town’s schools, library and a community center and that “a combined approach could cost less overall and garner wider support.”
When it comes to addressing Scarborough’s overcrowded and aging schools, “inaction is not an option,” Fellows said.
“There will undoubtedly be some tough decisions around locations and costs, but it’s our responsibility to tackle those,” he said. “This must be done deliberately and thoughtfully, but with a sense of urgency given the conditions of some of our schools and the fact that building projects have a way of only getting more expensive over time due to changes in land values, construction costs and interest rates.”
Fellows also hopes to make the town more affordable between housing costs and property taxes.
“I hope to have the opportunity to work with other councilors to formulate a coherent affordable housing plan that optimizes resources such as Scarborough Housing Alliance funds and includes a more intentional approach to credit enhancement agreements, which are often critical to the financial viability of affordable developments,” Fellows said. “I realize that no one enjoys paying taxes or wants to see their taxes increase dramatically. I support a measured, strategic approach to capital projects and annual budgets, with the goal of keeping any tax increases modest and predictable.”
Protecting the town’s natural resources is a major challenge the town is facing, Maurer said.
“Most people see environmental and economic interests as conflicted. In Scarborough’s case, the two are intertwined,” she said. “Scarborough is experiencing coastal erosion, more frequent flooding and severe storm damage. But we can’t just build our way out of this problem. Scarborough can also adapt by exploiting its natural advantages. We’re experiencing less severe impacts than most of our neighbors because our marsh acts as a natural shock absorber, sponge and pollution filter. This is vital to our tourism, fisheries, shellfish and commercial businesses. In Scarborough, good environmental stewardship makes smart economic sense.”
Voting will take place at Scarborough High School, 11 Municipal Drive, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 5. For more information on voting in Scarborough, go to the town’s website, scarboroughmaine.org, and navigate to the Voting and Elections page.
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