October 22, 2020
From: GrowSmart Maine, www.growsmartmaine.org
Contact: Nancy Smith, Executive Director, nsmith@growsmartmaine.org
207-215-7183
Web Link FMI: http://bit.ly/MESmartGrowthAwards
YouTube Link to Smart Growth 2020 Award Video: Maine Smart Growth Awards 2020
Press Release
2020 Smart Growth Awards show smart growth taking place statewide
Smart growth is a common-sense concept that helps communities welcome – and manage – growth while still maintaining their historic feel and natural beauty.
GrowSmart Maine’s third annual Smart Growth Awards not only recognizes the diverse activities that contribute to smart growth but serve as real-life illustrations of the benefits it can bring.
This year’s winners showcase bold yet practical solutions to such challenges as the need for affordable housing, rebuilding downtowns, reducing sprawl, and conserving land for public use. They also showcase two Mainers who have contributed both regionally and statewide to building a better Maine.
This year’s judges were Maureen Drouin, executive director of Maine Conservation Voters; Chuck Lawton, retired economist; Paul Schumacher, executive director of the Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission; and Gwen Hilton, Commissioner of the Maine Land Use Planning Commission.
The 2020 winners are:
Outstanding Project Award: Port Property Management and Consulting Partners/82 Hanover Redevelopment/Portland
Contact: Tom Watson, CEO, 207-252-0358
In 2017, the City of Portland released an RFP for the redevelopment of a former Public Works maintenance building at 82 Hanover Street, a brownfield site in a state of blight and disrepair. Port Property Management devised a plan to convert the site into a vibrant, pedestrian oriented, mixed-use commercial center.
Today, the project is fully occupied with a lively variety of local food, beverage, fitness, and service businesses…and all of the new social and economic activity at 82 Hanover has helped attract other investments to the neighborhood.
Multiple new market-rate and affordable housing units, for rent and for sale, have recently been developed in the nearby vicinity and 200 additional units are in the planning phases for other adjacent lots. 82 Hanover is an example of how strong city leadership partnered with a visionary smart growth-oriented developer can provide the catalyst to transform an abandoned industrial block of town into a vibrant new neighborhood.
Demonstrable Commitment to Smart Growth: Moosehead Lake Region Economic Development Corporation
Contact: Margarita Contreni, Vice President of MLREDC and Purdue University – VP for Corporate and Foundation Relations. cell phone number: 765-491-0489.
The Moosehead Lake Region Economic Development Corporation, in partnership with a broad range of public and private community stakeholders, designed and implemented a plan for the region; A Regional Master Plan, Strategic Regional Action Plans. The plan embodies the principles of Smart Growth and have already led to many tangible accomplishments: wayfinding infrastructure, free downtown wifi hotspots, a visiting artists’ colony, a summer music series, and broad-scale village beautification projects.
In the region’s village centers, these changes have already begun to catalyze increases in the number and variety of unique shops, restaurants, and businesses operating on ground floors, with residents living on upper floors.
Most recently, the organization acquired a major, in-town, waterfront property with a vision to form strategic partnerships and develop this property consistent with the Greenville Downtown Plan. Moosehead Lake Region EDC’s many accomplishments serve as a model of how smart growth and community vitality can be achieved in rural Maine communities.
Outstanding Project Award: Great Falls Construction/Station Square/Gorham
Contact: Julie Smith, jasmith@greatfallsinc.com, 207-615-3999
Created out of a long-empty lumber yard, Station Square is a five-story, thirty-three residential, six commercial unit property located in the heart of Gorham’s thriving downtown village.
Now home to nearly fifty residents, Station Square is a hub for village entertainment, dining, commerce and more. The Station Square project transforms Gorham’s downtown village into a more walkable center while also enhancing and drawing upon the historical identity of Gorham as a train-centered community.
Station Square signals a reverse to the decades-long trend of leapfrog development and sprawl that has impacted so many of our communities and provides an excellent example of the rebirth of Maine’s traditional, walkable village center.
Outstanding Project Award: Bangor Savings Bank Operations Center/CWS Architects Contact: CWS – Ben Walter, president,207-232-3348
The vision for Bangor Savings new campus was to invest in the local community and serve as a catalyst for restoring Bangor’s prosperity, both integrated with environmental responsibility,
The facility’s extensive renewable energy systems include 80 geothermal wells and 1,400-photovoltaic solar panels (one of Maine’s largest solar arrays). These technologies, together with efficient building materials a by approximately 80%.
The campus landscape was designed without physical barriers or fences to promote public access to the green space, and Bangor Savings implemented a program to allow local non-profits to benefit from parking revenues generated during events at the nearby Bangor Waterfront Pavilion.
The campus encourages wellness at work with an accessible gym, expansive rooftop patios, and daylight views visible from all workspaces, resulting in an employee-centric workplace that redefines the company’s culture.
The project is iconic of the smart growth that is possible when strong, Maine-based companies with a commitment to employees, community, and the environment make strategic investments Maine communities.
Demonstrative Commitment to Smart Growth: Raise-Op Housing Cooperative
Contact: Craig Saddlemire, raiseop207@gmail.com, 207-956-0508
Founded in 2008 in response to housing challenges facing downtown Lewiston, the Raise-Op Housing Cooperative’s mission is to operate safe and affordable housing that’s democratically controlled by its members, on a non-profit basis, and according to the principles of respect, accountability, integration, solidarity, and equity.
Raise-Op currently owns and operates three apartment buildings, housing 50 resident-members in 15 households. In the coming years, Raise-Op is on track to double this resident population by expanding its portfolio through planned acquisition / rehabilitation as well as new construction projects.
As a Cooperative, Raise-Op resident members meet regularly to make budgetary and maintenance decisions. Members not only control the operation of their buildings, but also advocate for housing justice and a cooperative economy.
Raise-Op has participated in neighborhood improvements, such as developing a center for the Somali Bantu Community Association, a community vegetable garden, and a neighborhood pocket park. Raise-Op also partnered with the City of Lewiston in pursuit of a Choice Neighborhood Implementation Grant from the Dept of Housing and Urban Development.
The Raise-Op Housing Cooperative provides a model for Maine communities not just in terms housing, but also by demonstrating how cooperative members can leverage the power of their housing community to effect meaningful community change.
Demonstrable Commitment to Smart Growth: Mark Eyerman, planner
Contact: Mark Eyerman, markplanme@gmail.com, 207-329-2030
For 35 Years, Mark Eyerman has been a practicing planner in Maine. Working with over 30 Maine municipalities, coastal and inland, urban and rural; Mark has brought smart growth principles not only to these communities, but to the many others that have followed his example.
Decades before they became mainstream ideas, Mark Eyerman had anticipated and was expounding the principles of smart growth by cautioning communities to the perils of sprawl, and promoting the benefits of traditional, human-scaled development.
Throughout his career, Mark has been an effective change agent, applying innovative strategies such as Transfer of Development Rights, Proportional Density, Form-Based Codes, Transit Oriented Development, and Sustainable Stormwater Standard. These strategies are now in place in many Maine communities.
Excellent planning takes shape slowly and incrementally and often escapes public awareness. But Mark’s Eyerman’s impact is felt across Maine, through smart growth principles put into tangible action.
AWARD CRITERIA
Q1. Mixed Use, Compact Design and Placemaking: How does the submission support optimal use of limited downtown or village center land through mixing uses, compact building design or context-sensitive density? How does it make optimal use of existing public infrastructure? How does it contribute to a community-valued built environment, whether in contemporary or historic contexts or through excellence in architecture and site design?
Q2. Housing Opportunity and Choice: How does the submission contribute to increasing housing options for persons of all ages, family and socio-economic status, including those with disabilities?
Q3. Transportation Choice and Walkable Communities: How does the submission contribute to creating/enhancing walkable communities or reducing auto dependency by supporting access to other transportation options such as rideshare, transit or bicycling?
Q4. Preservation of Open Space: How does the submission reduce development pressure on open spaces such as agricultural, recreational, forested and/or environmentally sensitive lands?
Q5. Transformation: In what way is this submission transformational to the understanding and successful implementation of smart growth principles? How has it shaped people’s perceptions or changed the dynamics of the neighborhood?
Q6. Climate Change: How does this submission support Maine’s need to adapt to a changing climate?
Q7. Public Engagement: How does this submission encourage open and balanced discussion on changing community needs while also helping community members to build confidence in their ability to successfully interact with each other and local and state government?