The Falmouth Town Landing in 2019. In the 2024 comprehensive plan, increasing access to the town’s natural environment was set as a goal. Kate Irish Collins / File photo, The Forecaster

Falmouth Town Council adopted a revised 2024 comprehensive plan, accepting more details about increasing affordable housing in this latest version.

First adopted in May, the guiding document was expanded with details about housing and environmental conditions as required by the state’s review of the plan. In the updated version, accepted on Feb. 10, the plan is more specific about the goal of increasing housing stock in Falmouth – growth that faced community opposition during the plan’s drafting process.

The state-mandated update of the town’s 2013 comprehensive plan began with a “Visions and Values” process in 2020 that collected community input about what Falmouth should prioritize in the upcoming decade. Priorities fell under six pillars that included the encouragement of more diverse housing options, the pursuit of environmental protection and sustainability, and enhancing infrastructure for transportation and connectivity.

Culminating in a March 2022 report, the community’s goals centered around the environment and development, said Town Manager Adam Casey, with development coming to the forefront. In public feedback, residents agreed about preserving the natural environment and access to it and the landscape of Falmouth, but split on the need for more affordable housing.

In January 2024, residents expressed concern that the drafting of the comprehensive plan focused too much on increasing housing stock and did not align with their vision of the town or the reality of population growth.

“I don’t think Falmouth has a housing issue,” said resident Lee Hanchett in January 2024, citing a 2023 state report that said the population in Cumberland County is expected to increase by 1.6% over the next 10 years.

“I think the council is trying to manufacture one,” said Hanchett.

The Long-Range Planning Advisory Committee and the Comprehensive Plan Committee had been developing the plan in accordance with the feedback that it received from the community surveys, said Councilor Jay Trickett. The dividing opinions and need for compromise on development in Falmouth is acknowledged in the 2024 comprehensive plan.

“LPAC has been working to take those pillars and create a series of action items consistent with those pillars,” Trickett said in January 2024.

In May, the 2024 comprehensive plan was adopted by the council and submitted for required state review. The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry and other state agencies requested that the adopted plan undergo slight changes to better align with the state’s Growth Management Act, as well as other clarifications and technical updates.

Falmouth town staff updated the document in accordance with the questions and the draft of the new plan was reviewed by the Long-Range Planning Advisory Committee on Nov. 4, 2024, and it was reviewed and accepted by the Maine DACF on Dec. 5.

Of the 247 pages in the complete 2024 comprehensive plan, only 26 pages saw changes for adoption. Some changes to the revised document more clearly stated the anticipated population growth of Falmouth and the subsequent need to prioritize increasing housing in the next 10 years.

“Housing demand is expected to remain strong as housing continues to be a challenge throughout the region and state. With an expected population growth of 5.4% over the next decade, the town can expected demand for more than 250 additional housing units,” states the plan.

In addition to population growth, the plan now says that the town will see housing needs increase from the current and future workforce, and that the community can expect demand of at least 300-400 additional housing units in total. In the edits, the town sets the goal of accommodating growth that will “minimize impact on existing neighborhoods,” and seeks to achieve that at least 10% of new residential development in the next decade be affordable.

Other details in the newly adopted plan go over specifics of the natural communities and wildlife habitats in Falmouth, such as the salt-hay saltmarsh and vernal pools, as well as endangered species, such as mountain honeysuckle and the spotted turtle. The document states that these natural resources must be regularly inventoried and incorporated into the town’s planning decisions.

While the comprehensive plan was being reviewed by the Maine DACF, the council was still able to use the document to guide the creation of its workplan for 2025, said Casey. The comprehensive plan has over 400 entries of implementation and is visited by the town each year to guide establishing annual objectives.

“You can’t do it all at once. So that’s why the council looks on an annual basis and says, ‘OK, what do we want to get done next year?’” said Casey.

While the 2024 comprehensive plan lays out many specific goals, the guiding document will also have to flex to accommodate changes in Falmouth over the next 10 years.

“We get new information, there’ll be new data … we’ll have to react to something in the world in Falmouth, and they’ll have to change. It won’t be exactly as we thought it might be when we put it together this year,” said Casey.

“It’s a guiding document that we have to take … year by year,” he said.