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Greetings! We hope you enjoy our monthly E-Newsletters. Please send us comments and suggestions for future editions. With your support, FMM is working to build and strengthen communities, places and people though planning, education, community engagement and community development initiatives. |
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Community Spotlight and Community Showcase -
FMM Annual Meeting on Wednesday, June 25 at 5:30 pm
Rockport Opera House
REGISTER BY MAIL TODAY
Prize $ Available!
 | | Community Spotlight Event |
In what is sure to be a fun, educational and entertaining evening, the FMM Annual Meeting will be a combination Community Showcase and Community Spotlight, focusing on community, organizational and individual actions, events and initiatives that build strong communities.
At this event you will learn what Maine, Mainers and our communities are doing to build and strengthen places, people and communities.
Sign up to host a Community Showcase table to provide examples of your efforts, your plans, and your projects. Have a photo display or samples of products. Do you have new community initiatives, a farmers' market, a community garden, outdoor movies, a community picnic, a new parklet, or a new community event that strengthens people, places and communities? Show it to us by hosting a table to showcase your work!
Or....sign up for Community Spotlight! Develop a 5 minute presentation (combination Pecha-Kicha-Ted Talk like presentation) with slides to tell us on stage about your community, organization, activity or event! Ten presenters will be selected in advance. One will be chosen for a $500 People's Choice Award! Application deadline is June 2.
Or...sign up to Sponsor the event, the bar or the food! Many sponsorship opportunities are available.
At the very least, sign up to attend! Early bird discounts available now!
Event Flyer and Registration
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Gardiner Area Duct Tape Council Meets
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Gardiner Duct Tape Council is
welcomed by Mayor Harnett
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The Gardiner Duct Tape Council held its first organizational meeting in early April. The Council is comprised of non-staff representatives of numerous community organizations including:
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Gardiner Main Street
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Johnson Hall
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Boys & Girls Club of Greater Gardiner
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Gardiner Public Library/Library Association
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Gardiner Rotary Club
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Gardiner Board of Trade
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SAD 11 and active school-related groups, including PTAs, Music Boosters, Sports Boosters, etc.
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City of Gardiner Parks and Recreation Committee
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Gardiner Art Walk
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Youth sports organizations (e.g., Youth Football, Youth Hockey, Cal Ripkin Baseball, Field Hockey, Youth Basketball, Cheerleading)
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Kennebec Local Food Initiative
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Caring Community Gardens
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Healthy Communities of the Capital Area
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Maine Crafts Center
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Jobs for Maine Graduates
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Kennebec Land Trust
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Kennebec Rail Trail
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Friends of Cobbossee Watershed
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Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts
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American Legion, Eagles Club, Elks Club, Lions Club, Knights of Columbus
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Sportsman's Club
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Quimby Field Trustees
At the first meeting, the Duct Tape Council discussed its goals, its collaborative potential and up-coming actions before June 2014. Included in these are to kick-off a Welcome to Gardiner effort and to update the Gardiner Community Calendar with all community events and activities. The Duct Tape Council plans to meet quarterly with the next meeting in June 2014. FMM Executive Director Jane Lafleur will be facilitating these meetings.
The overall goals of the Council are shown here: Gardiner Duct Tape Council Description
Friends of Midcoast Maine is pleased to be assisting with this effort.
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 | | Wiscasset Walk Audit |
Belfast and Wiscasset
Walkability Audits
Belfast and Wiscasset were selected through a competitive process to receive a walkability audit with Dan Burden and FMM in March 2014. Belfast participants focused on the area from downtown westward toward the commercial strip area on Route 3. Wiscasset participants focused on their downtown.
The two final reports are available at Belfast Walk Audit and Wiscasset Walkability Audit.
These audits were supported and funded by the Midcoast Public Health District's Community Transformation Grant and were offered in collaboration with Dan Burden of the
 | | Belfast Walk Audit |
Walkable and Livable Communities Institute and Friends of Midcoast Maine.
The walk audit application process was open to communities in Knox, Waldo, Lincoln and Sagadahoc Counties as well as Brunswick and Harpswell, which currently have an Active Community Environment Team (ACE Team) or planned to designate a team in conjunction with this application. Belfast has an active team and Wiscasset will be designating one over the next few months.
Friends of Midcoast Maine has worked with Dan Burden in Camden, Rockland, Thomaston and Boothbay Harbor. Each of these towns have used the results to strengthen their community, highlight areas for improvement, develop an action plan and leverage additional funds. For more information or to discuss hosting a walk audit in your community, visit www.friendsmidcoast.org or e-mail info@friendsmidcoast.org.
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Boothbay Peninsula Values and Vision 
The Boothbay peninsula communities worked with Friends of Midcoast Maine to develop a common vision for the peninsula in order to collaboratively enhance the economy and strength of those communities. Using a small grant from the Lincoln County Regional planning Commission, a steering committee hired Friends of Midcoast Maine to hone in on the commonly held peninsula values. The values and vision report was developed based on a visioning workshop and a follow-up survey from over 150 people.
For more information, visit
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Rockland and Rockport Commercial Re-Envisioning Project - Design Work Ends and City Takes Action!
Friends of Midcoast Maine has completed 18 months working with the City of Rockland and the Town of Rockport to develop a new vision for the Camden Street/Commercial Street neighborhood from Maverick Street in Rockland to Warrenton Street in Rockport. Using a cumulative multi-step process with community members and committee members, the project began with identifying community values, and moved on to conducting a walkability audit, an economic analysis of the strip versus the downtown, and finally to designing several possible design options for 6 volunteer properties and the public corridor and spaces. The project received feedback and comments all along the way and incorporated these into the final designs. The final design concepts are now available with an accompanying list of design principles for the City and the Town to consider in future regulations, and the design of public roads and spaces.
The Rockland City Council has formally accepted the report, including the design principles, and has charged the Rockland City Manager and staff, and REDAC and the Comprehensive Planning Committee with preparing implementation recommendations for action to the Council. For the final report, visit Unlocking the Potential Design Report
Rockland Project Received National Exposure
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13th Annual
New Partners for Smart Growth Conference, Denver Colorado
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Friends of Midcoast Maine Executive Director Jane Lafleur presented the Rockland planning project to a packed national audience at the new Partners for Smart Growth conference in Denver in February. The panel included FMM's work as well as the technical assistance providers to the Rockland project, Joseph Minicozzi who completed the economic analysis and Dan Burden who conducted the Walkability Audit for Friends of Midcoast Maine. Nancy Smith from GrowSmart Maine and Ellen Dunham Jones, a leading authority on sprawl repair projects also served on the panel.
Shown here are the panelists and Lafleur giving her presentation.
 | | Lafleur presents Rockland, Maine work to a full house at NPSG |
 | | Burden, Minicozzi, Dunham-Jones, Lafleur and Smith - Panelists at NPSG in Denver 2014 |
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Gardiner Holds Successful Community  Summit -
Action Plan is Finalized!
In collaboration with the City of Gardiner, the Gardiner Main Street program, the Gardiner Heart & Soul Community Advisory Team (CAT), the Board of Trade and the Orton Family Foundation, Friends of Midcoast Maine has helped to turn community ideas into actions.
In mid-January, a hugely successful Community Summit was held to bring area organizations together and to finalize commitments to the Heart & Soul Action Plan. That plan is available at Gardiner Action Plan.
The Summit included dozens of community organizations, hundreds of attendees, a delicious lunch provided by the high school, and presentations by organizations to entice community members to sign on to their projects! Several organizations honored their volunteer of the year. Special highlights included adding organization's events to a large Community Calendar and a Heart & Soul Community Charter, signed by dozens.
Over the past two years, the Heart & Soul project and the Community Advisory Team have worked to find new ways to engage the public, and ensure that the ideas and voices of all who live, work, play and do business in Gardiner are represented. To that end, there have been numerous public forums, discussions, events and activities to gather ideas, as part of the City's Comprehensive Planning Process.
As the Comprehensive Planning and Heart & Soul process evolved, the project partners noticed that many of the great community ideas might be led by community members, businesses and community organizations and the City could be a supporter instead of the leader. This type of collaboration and local leadership can be extremely powerful and can strengthen the City. Activities might even be spearheaded, carried out, developed or accomplished without tax payer money!
In mid-October, FMM facilitated two community workshops to prioritize the community actions. Each of the eighty community generated actions were assessed as to their Impact and Feasibility. Through this process, many actions rose to the top. A few examples with strong leadership and commitments for 2014 are to provide waterfront concerts and outdoor movies, strengthen the "buy local" program , provide more picnic tables at the waterfront, develop a skateboard park, and expand the ice skating opportunities, to name a few!
Implementation Grants
In late February, Friends of Midcoast Maine assisted the Gardiner Grants Committee in the review and selection process for Implementation Grant funding from the Orton Family Foundation. Eleven applications were received by the committee and ten were recommended for funding. The Orton Family Foundation is reviewing these projects and final decisions will be made soon.
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FMM Community Ambassadors
Friends of Midcoast Maine is looking for additional Ambassadors to work with FMM over the coming year. We have 55+ communities in our region and need at least one and preferably two from each community. We currently are looking for additional ambassadors from
- Appleton
 - Bath
- Bristol
- Brunswick
- Dresden
- East Boothbay
- Edgecomb
- Harpswell
- Hope
- Northport
- Owls Head
- Phippsburg
- Searsmont
- St George
- Trevett
- Union
The next Ambassador Breakfast is being planned for early May. To become an ambassador to FMM or for more information about the Ambassador program, visit FMM Community Ambassador Brochure or call Jane Lafleur at (207) 236-1077.
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The Community Institute
In response the increased demand for training and technical assistance, FMM is launching a new educational program in late 2014. The Community Institute will address the expressed need for technical training and collaborative opportunities in the midcoast and beyond. Several series of workshops and trainings will be available on a variety of topics including community engagement, community and economic development, planning tools, tax increment financing, youth engagement, site plans and subdivisions, place-making and transportation for everyone, to name a few.
FMM is receiving grants, donations, and business and individual sponsorships for the Institute and is developing the curriculum, fee schedule and marketing materials. Seminar leaders from Maine, New England and elsewhere will be invited to participate in this cutting edge, relevant and critical initiative.
The Community Institute will "build community, build places and build leaders". The Institute will work to strengthen our communities by improving the collaboration, knowledge and skill in our state. If you would like to suggest a session topic or series, please e-mail Jane Lafleur at info@friendsmidcoast.org and type Community Institute in the subject line.
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Public Transit in Knox County
The Midcoast Transit Committee will meet on April 22 at the ROCKPORT Town Office, Richardson Room at 11:00am to review the findings. Boris Palchik of Nelson/Nygaard will be on hand to answer questions. A light lunch will be available (donation requested) or you may bring your own. You are invited to attend and hopefully you'll join the newly expanded committee.
Four communities in the midcoast are eagerly awaiting the results and recommendations of the regional Transit Study. Committee Chairman Don White noted "the Final Report from Nelson Nygaard Associated consultants is expected to be ready in March. At that time, we will invite the principle committee representatives from the four communities to accept the report and also members from the region who have expressed an interest in being part of the Midcoast Transit Committee going forward."
Public outreach and survey work has was conducted as part of the study. After hiring a consultant firm to assess potential for service in the towns of Rockland, Rockport, Camden and Thomaston, the Midcoast Transit Committee asked the public to weigh in on the specific ideas. These ideas and the technical evaluation of transit options will be part of the final study.
The study and potential transit options were developed by Nelson/Nygaard, a firm specializing in transit planning nationwide.
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Knox County Towns Invited!
 | | Camden Conducts Rural Active Living Assessment |
Friends of Midcoast Maine is working with the Knox County Community Health Coalition to identify 6 towns in Knox County that might be interested in conducting a Rural Active Living Assessment.
Assistance and training will be available from Friends of Midcoast Maine. Camden completed one in October 2013.
This assessment can help communities assess the locations, proximity and quality of community amenities that promote active, healthy living. The information can also be helpful in a community's comprehensive planning process. To take part in an community-led assessment, contact Jane Lafleur at info@friendsmidcoast.org or call 236-1077.
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Shared Border, Shared Vision 
The Rockland and Rockport re-envisioning project received national attention this week with this blog, written by Jane Lafleur on the Community Collaboration. Visit Shared Border, Shared Vision.
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Interesting Articles
Take a look at some recent articles that might be of interest.
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