The public is being asked to comment on a strategic planning process for Aroostook and Washington counties that has been more than three years in the making.
Information about the planning process is available at the GROWashington-Aroostook website. The deadline for public comment is Friday.
The initiative focuses on economic and workforce development, renewable energy, brownfields and economic renewal, transportation infrastructure, modernizing communications and electric utility infrastructure, sustainable housing, transportation and housing, healthy communities, climate change and infrastructure resilience, water infrastructure investment and growth management law change.
An announcement distributed by Michael Eisensmith, director of regional planning at the Northern Maine Development Commission, called it the “most extensive strategic planning process ever undertaken in Aroostook and Washington counties.”
Other planning processes have examined specific areas, explained Eisensmith on Monday, such as public health, transportation and other issues.
This initiative was much broader, more wide-ranging, examining a whole gamut of issues — a strategic planning process that “really had never been done before,” he said.
It began in February 2011 and involved four agencies: the Northern Maine Development Commission, which was the lead agency, and the Aroostook-Washington Workforce Investment Board, the Washington County Council of Governments and the Sunrise County Economic Council.
The planning was divided into different areas, and people engaged or involved in those areas were brought into the process. Among the tasks, participants reviewed current conditions in each area, did more research, analyzed information to reach conclusions, developed recommendations and looked into what resources would be necessary to achieve them.
There are 10 recommendations related to economic development. They include a regional ‘education to industry’ initiative to connect K-12 students to job opportunities with local businesses; improve training resources for businesses (such as apprenticeships); strengthen and expand small farm initiatives; support rail access to the Port of Eastport; promote new mining industry initiatives; and encourage wind, solar and tidal energy.
Three recommendations are pegged to the vast forest resources in the two counties: develop training and education programs to support labor needs for forest harvesting and value-added wood processing; continue promoting conversion of homes and small businesses from oil heat to biomass; and further investigation into developing manufacturing for biomass heating appliances.
The public comment period began three weeks ago. Eisensmith has received comments from about 20 people so far, he said. He received the most comments related to the section on public health, but “what I’m seeing there is some confusion,” he said, about that the planning process sought to address. Most of those comments have dealt with costs for healthcare and insurance, he said, “which is not really what we were focusing on.”
Comments on other areas in some cases corrected data or information or suggested there was not a clear enough emphasis on some aspect of the strategic plan, he said.
For more information or to comment, contact Eisensmith at meisensmith@nmdc.org or 493-5763.