Rediscover Readfield!
A town's comprehensive plan takes stock of where the town is and then sets goals for where the town's residents want it to be in the future. Readfield’s Comprehensive Plan has sought to encourage orderly growth and development in appropriate areas, while protecting the Town's rural character, making efficient use of public services, and preventing development sprawl. Readfield last updated our comprehensive plan in 2009. A comprehensive plan update lets us find out what has happened in town and see how we are doing on the goals that are in the current plan. A comprehensive plan update should assess the effectiveness and validity of the current plan, and make changes where necessary.
The comprehensive plan update process is also a chance for our community to get together and really talk about our town. What do we like about Readfield? What might we like to change? Where do we want to be in the future? We will talk about all of these things and may remove, revise, or create new goals as part of the updated plan.
A current comprehensive plan also has certain legal and regulatory benefits. The state requires consistent plans to be updated every 12 years and meet certain standards. Plans that meet these requirements are the legal basis for enforceable municipal zoning rules. They also qualify towns for preferred status when competing for state grants and working with state departments.
The Select Board has formed a Comprehensive Plan Committee to help lead us through the update process and ensure broad community input and engagement. The Comprehensive Plan Committee consists of several representatives from our outstanding boards and committees, and also members of the general public. This is a steering committee so you do not have to be a committee member to be actively involved in the planning process; however, we are looking for interested residents to volunteer! Committee members will serve for a term of up to two years and help to achieve the following tasks:
- Work collaboratively with the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments (KVCOG) to complete the comprehensive plan update. KVCOG has been contracted by the Town as our planning consultant for this project.
- Review the current Comprehensive Plan for the Town of Readfield.
- Establish a clear, detailed, and time limited process to update the 2009 Comprehensive Plan and present a completed comprehensive plan update for voter approval in June of 2022.
- Pursue aggressive public outreach, education, and engagement in the plan update process.
- Actively involve relevant committees, organizations, institutions, and interested parties.
- Collect, review, digest, and incorporate technical information and data related to the various plan components.
- Report to the Select Board and Planning Board a minimum of quarterly.
The comprehensive planning process is critical to a deliberate and thoughtful future for the Town of Readfield. Please get involved! If you would like to volunteer for the Committee please visit our Volunteer Page or contact the Town Office. If you’re interested in participating in the process, keep an eye on our various communication tools including the Messenger, Website, Facebook, mail, and email. We have set up a dedicated Comprehensive Plan Committee Page on the website where you can follow the update process and we will host our plan information, public involvement efforts, and documents. We are excited to Rediscover Readfield and hope you are as well!