Cushing

If you’ve been following along, you know that I share your concerns about growth in our town. It affects each of us in different ways. If I were visiting from way away, like say Mars, and listened to the chatter, I would think “growth” is some kind of disease. Its symptoms include traffic congestion, long waits at lights, buildings in places that some of us remember as beautiful fields and, worst of all, lines at the supermarket and the restaurant. If I were preparing a report for my planet, which I am not because it’s too crowed to go back to, I would observe that the root cause of this problem is people. The problem is that this little hamlet has done such a nice job of creating a livable community that people want to live here. They often bring with them little people who need to go to school. Most of them have a car and they use it to take them places like the supermarket or the restaurant. The dilemma is that the nicer Scarborough becomes, the more people want to come to Scarborough.

This Martian has observed three things about growth: It’s not all good, it’s not all bad, and you can’t stop it. It appears that if you are thoughtful you can manage it. Doing so is a complicated process that is fraught with the possibility of unintended consequences. All growth management decisions are forward looking, and by forward I mean 20 or 30 years into our future. Individuals and businesses rely on growth management laws to make decisions about where to live and where to invest. It is important to get it right. This means having a clear and shared vision of what you want your town to look like. I discovered that Scarborough has such a vision. You can find it on the town website under the heading of comprehensive plan. Have you read it? Does it reflect your views?

The more people that understand the implications of decisions we make about growth, the better the outcome, which brings me to the point of this note. The Leader is kind enough to give us some space to share our thoughts about various issues affecting our town. This year we are going to use that space to provide you with information about the impact of growth in our town and strategies to manage it. We will explore growth through the lens of our finances and taxes. We will look at the effects of growth on our environment – what we are doing to sustain our beautiful spot on our planet. This includes protecting our beaches and our fishery. We will also consider growth in terms of its effect on traffic and transportation. We will look at the effectiveness of things we have done and inform you about what we are planning to do. Of course, all of us on the council want to hear your ideas. If you follow along you may come to better understand the things your representatives think about when trying to use the tools of government to balance the sometimes-conflicting needs and goals of our community.

Don Cushing is a member of the Scarborough Town Council. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Scarborough Town Council.