Brad Favreau is Biddeford’s development and sustainability coordinator. The city passed a climate plan last year and since then the city has proposed an ordinance to allow solar development and created electric vehicle charging stations. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald

More Maine communities are adopting individual plans to take control of their climate future by cutting carbon emissions, promoting renewable energy use and taking steps to prepare for the impacts of climate change.

Each community views its particular climate situation as unique. Some have done vulnerability assessments to prove it, identifying specific public buildings, neighborhoods, attractions and businesses most at risk in the climate of the future.

The leaders of five Maine towns – Biddeford, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Kittery and Saco – gathered last week at a sustainability conference at the University of New England to discuss their path to adopting a local climate plan. The Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission guided their journey.

Since passing a climate plan last year, Biddeford has proposed an ordinance to allow solar development and created electric vehicle charging stations. It will soon start work on beach nourishment strategies, and also craft a tree ordinance to provide the shade needed to make downtown walkable.

“I’m really proud of our process,” said Biddeford Development and Sustainability Director Brad Favreau. “Our climate action plan was created by hundreds of regular folks not particularly trained in any one aspect of climate or environment. It’s amazing to me what regular folks can do when they feel passionate.”

Favreau agreed to staff the climate action committee because he got “hooked” on environmental issues as a child in the 1970s growing up on Woodsy the Owl public service announcements on TV. “You know the ones, ‘Give a hoot! Don’t pollute!’ ” Favreau said. “They really marked me.”

Saco just passed its climate action plan last month, but it had already been working on transit-related climate proposals through its master transportation plan, Assistant City Planner Shannon Chisholm said. Her tip for towns just starting out: Build upon what you’ve already done.

Compared to other Maine communities, Saco is lucky to have almost $21 million in a mix of grants to fund its current slate of climate projects, including a new jetty and beach replenishment at Camp Ellis, sewer plant upgrades and elevating a coastal road. It is applying for more to write its open space plan.

“There’s not enough money out there to fund the work needed to get ready for what’s coming,” Chisholm said.

Not all climate action must be expensive, though, she said.

Updating the landscaping ordinance to promote the use of native plants, or building an urban green space ordinance to encourage downtown pocket parks and green spaces – all things Saco is doing – may sound small, but they add up, Chisholm said.

The biggest challenge is learning to balance the need for urgent action to adapt to a rapidly warming climate with the need for a deliberative public process.

“Government is not known to be super nimble, but you need to make time for the public,” Chisholm said.

Seven “regular citizens” formed the task force that guided the Kennebunkport climate action plan to unanimous passage last July. The task force worked to balance members’ needs for easy early wins to build momentum with their desire to pursue difficult but effective starting goals.

The group settled on an emission reduction strategy, a homeowner outreach campaign to promote home weatherization and electricity use reduction, and a long-awaited streamlining of the municipal ordinances that govern homeowner response to sea level rise and other climate disasters.

“Don’t give up,” said Kennebunk selectwoman Lisa Pratt, a liaison to the climate action task force that passed its plan in March. “At first, no one is going to show up … but we kept on meeting. We were among the last of the group to get our plan done, but we used what we learned and it really helped us.”

Some communities, like Portland-South Portland, York and an 11-town coalition in the Bangor region, hired consultants, collected local data and developed detailed climate action proposals like Maine’s state government did for the just-finished state climate plan, Maine Won’t Wait 2.0.

Others conduct self-assessments to create a list of easy resilience projects, like installing energy-efficient lights in public buildings or adopting an anti-idling ordinance. This often leads to enrollment in Maine’s Community Resilience Partnership, which qualifies them for bigger grants to do larger climate projects.

RESILIENCE PARTNERSHIP

Gov. Janet Mills established the partnership in 2021 to assist local communities with projects to bolster resilience to climate effects and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. More than 225 communities are now enrolled. She wants to enroll 80% of Maine cities and towns, or about 138 more communities, by 2030.

The partnership program has awarded more than $9 million to Maine towns, cities, tribal governments and regional groups since 2021. The latest grant round is open until mid-December, with another nearly $8 million in state and federal funds available.

With Maine facing a $1 billion deficit in its next budget and President-elect Donald Trump threatening to claw back unspent federal climate dollars, some communities are rushing to enact plans to apply for the last big climate grants remaining. Others that can are preparing to go it alone.

“All evidence suggests federal support for climate action is on the chopping block,” said Cameron Wake, head of Kittery’s climate action committee. “Now more than ever, states, municipalities and businesses need to provide bold leadership. We have laid a really strong foundation, and yet we need to do more.”

However, not every community has the funds, staff capacity, or community expertise to create a local climate action plan. The Maine Municipal Association supports the sentiment of local control but says small, rural, cash-strapped towns can’t plan for climate change impacts as well as wealthy towns and the state.

“The state’s experience with climate action planning is not easily replicated in every municipality,” the MMA wrote in its February 2022 legislative bulletin. “Local governments cannot commit to the process the same level of funding, capacity and coordination that the state can.”