The Brunswick Town Council on Monday night approved a sweeping plan that will guide the town’s land use and growth over the next decade.
The plan, crafted over six years by the Comprehensive Plan Update Steering Committee, serves as the legal basis for the town’s zoning and land use and provides guidance on future investments and development, building on the previous plan from 2008.
Titled “One Brunswick, Beautifully Balanced,” the 2025 plan designates areas for growth, limited growth and rural protection, and serves as an outline for protecting natural resources, investing in infrastructure and maintaining town character. Notably, the plan reduces the designated growth area and discourages development in rural parts of town.
In anticipation of the new comprehensive plan, the council approved a 180-day emergency moratorium last month that temporarily pauses new housing developments outside the growth zone. The council plans to take the six-month period to consider a cap on new units in the town’s rural areas, where residents have expressed concerns about the rate of growth.
“The time is now to move forward with this so that the Planning Department, the Town Council, the Planning Board, can work to change some of these ordinances and some of these zoning regulations that we have that just don’t fit our community anymore, to help protect natural resources and, at the same time, develop growth where we’ve identified it should be,” Emilie Schmidt, chair of the plan update committee, told the council Monday night.
The changes to Brunswick’s land use map come on the heels of a recently adopted state law that allows for high-density development within municipalities’ designated growth areas.
Brunswick’s Planning and Development Department — Julie Erdman, director of planning and development, and Jimmy Dealaman, principal planner — told the Times Record earlier this month that reducing the growth area allows the town to retain local control over the levels of density in neighborhoods.
“One of the underpinnings of this comprehensive plan is to grow deliberately, so our public infrastructure such as water, sewer, roads and schools can be accommodated,” Dealaman told the council Monday.
The comprehensive plan is an outline, meaning it does not alter the town’s zoning ordinance. The town will begin a comprehensive update to the zoning ordinance in fall 2026, Erdman said Monday.
The council unanimously voted for the plan, which will take effect in 30 days. Several councilors and some public commenters spoke in support of the plan, though some residents noted they would have liked to see more acknowledgement of Brunswick Landing’s Superfund status in the text. Council Vice Chair Nathan MacDonald also noted that he was concerned about the effect that shrinking the growth zone will have on affordable housing development.
This story was originally published by the Maine Trust for Local News. Katie Langley can be reached at klangley@metln.org