October 20, 2025
From: GrowSmart Maine, www.growsmartmaine.org
Contact: Joe Oliva, Outreach and Comms Director joliva@growsmartmaine.org, 207-329-0265
Web Link FMI: http://bit.ly/MESmartGrowthAwards
YouTube Link to Smart Growth Awards video: 2025 Maine Smart Growth Awards
Press Release
2025 Maine Smart Growth Awards demonstrate smart growth is happening statewide
The Maine Smart Growth Awards celebrate the people, projects, plans, and policies that use smart growth principles to transform land use. Will this project or plan make a difference in people’s lives? Is an existing space transformed to create a “third place” for people to gather outside of home and work? Are we creating communities where people feel safe, feel they belong, and can thrive?
This year, we celebrate three projects and one plan that foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place, strengthen and direct development towards existing communities, and benefit from mixed land use and compact building design.
GrowSmart Maine’s eighth annual Maine Smart Growth Awards recognize the diverse activities that contribute to smart growth and serve as real-life illustrations of the benefits it can bring. A video recognizing this year’s four winners was presented at the GrowSmart Maine Summit 2025 on October 16th.
This year’s judges were C.J. Opperthauser, Executive Director of Friends of Congress Square Park; Sarah Haggerty, Conservation Biologist/GIS Manager at Maine Audubon; Heather Spalding, Deputy Director and Senior Policy Director at MOFGA; and Tyler Norod, President and Director of the Westbrook Development Corporation. The award video was produced by GrowSmart Board member Mehuman Ernst, whose hard work on this project is deeply appreciated. Thank you to all who had a hand in this year’s Maine Smart Growth Awards.
“We are pleased to present this year’s Maine Smart Growth Awards,” said Nancy Smith, CEO of GrowSmart Maine. “These recipients stood out in an incredibly competitive pool of nominations which underscores the abundance of plans, projects, policies, and practitioners around Maine that have centered smart growth outcomes as a guiding star. Congratulations to the award winners and keep up the great work!”
The 2025 winners are:
Exemplary Smart Growth Project
75 Bacon Street Remediation
My Place Teen Center
At the heart of downtown Biddeford, a once-abandoned church has been reborn as a place of hope, safety, and opportunity. My Place Teen Center, known for transforming young lives in Westbrook, has opened its second location at 75 Bacon Street—repurposing the historic St. Andre’s Church into a vibrant “third place” for youth.
This 17,000-square-foot building, once crumbling and empty, now welcomes teens ages 10 to 18 with food, mentoring, and enrichment programs—all free of charge. The Center feeds kids, nurtures emotional resiliency, teaches life and job skills, and offers a sense of belonging in a safe, welcoming space.
The project embodies smart growth principles by reinvesting in existing downtown infrastructure, preserving historic architecture, and creating a community anchor in a walkable neighborhood. Rather than building new and sprawling outward, My Place Teen Center revitalized an iconic structure, keeping its cultural roots alive while transforming it into a 21st-century hub.
This work is transformational: where there were broken pews and pigeons, there are now custom-built tables crafted from reclaimed wood, laughter over shared meals, and programs that help launch kids toward higher education and a chance to thrive.Cross-sector partnerships with city leaders, contractors, and community members made this 4.5 million dollar renovation possible, demonstrating the power of collaboration to meet today’s needs while honoring the past.
My Place Teen Center in Biddeford is more than a building. It is a model of smart growth in action—revitalizing place, supporting people, and strengthening community for generations to come.
Outstanding Smart Growth Project
The Levee
Reveler
On the banks of the Saco River in Biddeford, a once-forgotten industrial peninsula has been transformed into a thriving destination. This is The Levee—a bold redevelopment that reimagines historic mill buildings and underutilized land into a vibrant, mixed-use space
Led by Reveler Development, The Levee blends housing, dining, retail, and cultural spaces into one cohesive neighborhood. Lofts on the Levee converted the historic Saco-Lowell Mill into 90 modern apartments, while The Foundry—a former warehouse—has been reborn as a riverside hub for arts, culture, and entrepreneurship. With support from the EPA’s Brownfields program, contaminated sites were cleaned and restored, turning challenges into opportunities.
This project reflects smart growth in action: compact design, adaptive reuse, and walkable connections to Biddeford’s RiverWalk, downtown, and the Saco Transportation Center, Amtrak, and local transit. The Levee provides a mix of market-rate and workforce housing, easing pressure on surrounding open space and reducing sprawl. With condos, townhomes, and apartments, it offers diverse housing options for a wide range of residents.
Where once there were vacant, polluted buildings, there are now vibrant streetscapes, solar-powered rooftops, and community spaces that honor Biddeford’s industrial history while embracing its future. The project fosters connection—to the river, to the city, and to one another.
By weaving together housing, jobs, culture, and sustainability, The Levee has become more than redevelopment. It is a model of smart growth—revitalizing land, re-energizing community, and reshaping Biddeford’s identity for generations to come.
Outstanding Smart Growth Plan
Municipal Bond for Housing
City of Rockland
In Rockland, city leaders are proving what bold, local action can do to address Maine’s housing crisis. With strong community support, Rockland passed a municipal housing bond—an investment in infrastructure that clears the way for new homes where they’re needed most.
This initiative is about more than funding. It represents a transformational shift in how small cities can embrace smart growth while investing in housing. By directing resources toward infill development and higher-density housing in walkable downtown neighborhoods, Rockland is discouraging sprawl, protecting open space, and creating vibrant places where people can live, work, and connect.
The bond focuses on utilities, roads, and other public infrastructure—critical investments that will open the doors to pocket neighborhoods, mixed-use nodes, and more downtown housing along its thriving Main Street. This means residents can walk to shops, schools, jobs, parks, and the waterfront—reducing reliance on cars and lowering emissions.
What makes Rockland’s approach so powerful is how it was built. City Councilors laid out the challenges with transparency, listened closely and responded to residents, shared data openly, and earned community trust. When it came time to vote, the people of Rockland affirmed this vision with confidence.
Rockland’s housing bond is a model for towns across Maine. It shows that with leadership, planning, and public engagement, communities don’t have to wait for outside solutions. They can take bold steps now—investing in housing, protecting open space, and shaping a more sustainable, inclusive future.
Outstanding Smart Growth Project
Grassroots Advocacy
Mainers for Smarter Transportation
Mainers for Smarter Transportation began with a simple idea: Maine’s future cannot be built on more highways. When the Maine Turnpike Authority proposed the Gorham Connector—a five-mile, $331 million expansion that actually disconnected communities—neighbors, farmers, and community leaders came together. They asked: do we really want more sprawl, more pollution, and more car dependency? The answer was no.
More than seventy-five people met weekly. They wrote a white paper. They lobbied town councils. And they won key votes in Westbrook and Scarborough—effectively halting the project.
Their vision aligns with smart growth. Stop the sprawl. Invest in places already developed and in effective transit. Make housing more diverse and affordable. Strengthen walkable neighborhoods where schools, jobs, and shops are nearby. Preserve open space instead of carving up the historic Smiling Hill Farm. Free up resources for transit, biking, sidewalks, and affordable housing. Instead of millions for pavement.
And the climate benefits are clear: fewer emissions, greater carbon sinks, and less reliance on cars.
Mainers for Smarter Transportation proved that everyday people can change the course of state and local policy. They shifted the debate—from endless expansion to smarter, more resilient choices.
The lesson is simple. When we prioritize people over pavement, we build healthier, fairer, more vibrant communities. This is the future of Maine’s transportation. And it starts with saying no to sprawl—and yes to smart growth.