FMM Logo
June 10, 2014
Greetings!

Ten finalists have been selected to present their Community Building ideas on stage on June 25 and to compete for the $500 People's Choice award. Register Today while the early bird rates still apply. Your modest registration fee includes the social hour cocktail party with hearty appetizers, dessert and coffee and a cash bar. Don't miss your chance to vote for your favorite project that builds strong communities!

  

Building Strong Communities
FMM Annual Meeting  on Wednesday, June 25 at 5:30 pm
Rockport Opera House
Prize $ Available!
Community Spotlight Event
  
Ten finalists have been selected to present their project or initiative on stage on June 25 in Rockport.  The finalists are:
  • Deep Green Retrofit-700 square foot house renovation
  • Five Town Communities That Care-engaging communities to prevent adolescent problems
  • Gardiner Food Co-Op
  • Gardiner Heart & Soul and Duct Tape Council
  • Ingraham Corner, Rockport
  • Midcoast Maine Energy Cooperative
  • NOCASOBE-North of Camden, South of Belfast merchants group
  • Pathways Committee, Camden and Rockport
  • Collaborative Portrait Project, Farmers' Edition
  • Run of the River Project, Skowhegan 
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!  Fifteen showcase tables will be:

  • The Maine Beehive
  • NOCASOBE
  • Merry Springs
  • The Collaborative Photo Project
  • Maine Community Health Options
  • Maine Association of Planners
  • Pen Bay Health Care Better Together Campaign
  • Ingraham Corner
  • Making Community Happen
  • Neighbor to Neighbor Ride Assistance Program
  • Five Town Communities that care
  • Our Town Belfast
  • Food Corps Maine
  • The Sussman House
  • Wiscasset Art Walk-Museum in the Streets

 

Sponsorships are still available.  Sign up to  Sponsor the event, the bar or the food!  Our sponsors are:

  • Maine Association of Planners
  • The Orton Family Foundation
  • Pen Bay Healthcare Foundation Better Together Campaign 

with additional support from Renys

 and the Amtrak Downeaster.  

 

Many more sponsorship opportunities  are available.

 

At the very least, sign up to attend! Early bird discounts still available! The event packet provides all the information you need to register, sponsor, present and attend! Click here for the EVENT PACKETYour registration fee includes hearty appetizers, dessert, coffee and a cash bar!

 

Take our Survey Please!

 

Friends of Midcoast Maine will be launching the Community Institute in Fall-Winter 2014 with three 2 day seminars available through June 2015.  We need your help to ensure we are offering the best workshop topics, times and pricing.

 

Please take our brief 8 question survey today at Community Institute Survey.

  

In response the increased demand for training and technical assistance, 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 [email protected] and type Community Institute in the subject line.

 

 

  

 


Two Midcoast Residents Volunteer to Serve on FMM Board 

 

Robin Mayer of Damariscotta and Michael Tomko of Boothbay Harbor have volunteered to serve on the FMM Board of Trustees for a three year term.  Their names will be placed on a ballot for members to vote at the Annual Meeting on June 25.  Board members Sarah Ruef-Lindquist and Jan Anderson will be stepping down. Jan will join the FMM Advisory Board.

 

Michael Tomko

Michael Tomko is a recent addition to the Maine

community, but has not wasted any time immersing

himself in community development & local improvement initiatives. Since arriving in the midcoast, he's pursued his passion for civic participation by joining numerous volunteer organizations & been appointed to a variety of local & regional committees.

 

For the last 6 years, Michael has served on the Boothbay Harbor Planning Board and been its Chair for the past 4. He prides himself on being able to guide his neighbors & local businesses through the application process with fair and helpful reviews, while working to keep his town viable and help preserve its heritage.

 

In the Fall of 2012 with the help of the Friends of MidCoast Maine, he worked with Friends of Midcoast Maine to launch a Walkability Workshop to grow the local economy, and enhance the community.To further those efforts, he applied for and was awarded a $2K grant, along with monies pledged by the Towns of Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor to launch a Regional Branding Initiative for the Boothbay Peninsula.

 

Michael currently serves on the Exec Board of the Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission, the BBH Comprehensive Planning Committee and numerous other sub-committees, including the BBH Bicycle Pedestrian Plan, Route 27 Corridor Committee, & Lincoln County Sea Level Rise Committee. You will also see him attending many of his Town's Selectmen meetings.

 

Michael Tomko received a Bachelors of Science in Healthcare Services Administration from Franklin University in Columbus Ohio. He runs his own contracting business & lives with his longtime partner and best friend Martha along the eastern shore of Boothbay Harbor. There, the two of them enjoy kayaking, placing & finding geocaches, fabulous sunsets, & continually renovating their 1920s era New England Four Square home.

 

Roberta "Robin" Mayer is currently Principal at Mayer & Associates, a strategic communications

Robin Mayer
consulting firm that focuses primarily on traffic safety. She has participated in a number of assessments of State occupant protection and impaired driving programs, and has assisted in the development and updating traffic safety curricula, websites, and guildebooks on a variety of topics. She also provides services as a copywriter, technical editor, and social media trainer, and is a contributing writer for several newspapers. She currently serves as the communications and public relations manager for the
Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta.

 

Mayer was elected to a three-year term of the Damariscotta, Maine, Board of Selectmen in 2012. In addition to her regular duties, she represents the Town of Damariscotta on the Lincoln County Route 1 Corridor Management Committee. She also is a member of the Friends of Midcoast Maine Ambassador program. Prior to her election to the the Board of Selectman, Mayer was the chairman of the Damariscotta Planning Advisory Committee.

 

Prior to opening her consulting firm, Mayer retired from NHTSA as its Chief of the Office of Consumer Information, where she was responsible for the development and implementation of NHTSA's national media campaigns, and consumer information and materials for both behavioral and motor vehicle programs.   She managed the Click It or Ticket and "Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest." advertising campaigns at the national level (English and Spanish), and provided technical assistance to States in the development and placement of State-specific ads in local media. She also led the development of NHTSA's Diversity Summit, bringing together 100 participants representing 75 multicultural organizations to engage them in traffic safety initiatives. During her tenure at NHTSA, she also served as the Chief of the Impaired Driving Division, Chief of the National Outreach Division, and Program Analyst/Highway Safety Specialist.

 

 

 

Coastal Grants Available

The Maine Coastal Program in the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry has announced the availability of Coastal Grants for FY15.  The Grant deadline is July 1, 2014.  Highlights are:

This announcement covers all anticipated Maine Coastal Program local and regional grant competitions in FY15. This announcement includes the following grant programs:

 Shore and Harbor Planning Grant Program, due July 1, 2014

 Coastal Communities Grant Program, due July 1, 2014

Please make sure your application clearly states the Grant Program from which you are seeking

funds. There is a section describing each Grant Program, including examples of projects that fit into each one. Right of Way Discovery projects are eligible for funding under the Shore and Harbor Planning Grant Program.Grant program funds cannot be used for construction or acquisition of land. Grant program funds can be used in both organized and unorganized coastal communities.

 
For more information visit Coastal Grant Program FY15

 

 

Gardiner Area Duct Tape Council To Meet Today!

The second meeting of the Gardiner Area Duct Tape Council will be on Tuesday, June 10 at 4 p.m. in Gardiner at Johnson Hall.
 
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:
Add a description

Gardiner Duct Tape Council is 

welcomed by Mayor Harnett

  • Gardiner Main Street

  • Johnson Hall

  • Boys & Girls Club of Greater Gardiner

  • Gardiner Public Library/Library Association

  • Gardiner Rotary Club

  • Gardiner Board of Trade

  • SAD 11 and active school-related groups, including PTAs, Music Boosters, Sports Boosters, etc.

  • City of Gardiner Parks and Recreation Committee

  • Gardiner Art Walk

  • Youth sports organizations (e.g., Youth Football, Youth Hockey, Cal Ripkin Baseball, Field Hockey, Youth Basketball, Cheerleading)

  • Kennebec Local Food Initiative

  • Caring Community Gardens

  • Healthy Communities of the Capital Area

  • Maine Crafts Center

  • Jobs for Maine Graduates

  • Kennebec Land Trust

  • Kennebec Rail Trail

  • Friends of Cobbossee Watershed

  • Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts

  • American Legion, Eagles Club, Elks Club, Lions Club, Knights of Columbus

  • Sportsman's Club

  • 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.

 
Rockland and Rockport Commercial Re-Envisioning Project -   Design Work Ends and City Takes Action!
  

Rockland is moving forward with the recommendations contained in the Camden Street Corridor Study completed with the help of Friends of Midcoast Maine. Last week, the City Council voted to

  1. accept the recommended priorities on which to focus in the public corridor and directed the Economic Development Committee to continue its work with staff;
  2. direct the City Manager to apply for funds to provide technical analysis of final designs;
  3. authorize spending up to $25,000 in matching funds for this phase of the project.

The Comprehensive Planning Committee is working simultaneously to review the recommended designs and develop land use ordinances to support the community's vision. 

 

In review, Friends of Midcoast Maine 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

13th Annual

New Partners for Smart Growth Conference,  Denver Colorado

 

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

NPSG Panel 2014

Burden, Minicozzi, Dunham-Jones,

Lafleur and Smith - Panelists at NPSG

in Denver 2014

  
  

 

Gardiner Implementation Grants Begin!
  
The Orton Family Foundation announced the awarding of ten Implementation grants. Implementation Grants Awarded
 
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 announced the funding and project work is underway.

 

 

  
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. 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.
  
  
  
Public Transit in Knox County
  

The results of the Midcoast Transit Study were presented to the 4 communities and the public in April. That presentation is available at Transit Study Final Presentation

 

Four communities in the midcoast collaborated to assess the potential for transit bus service in the Midcoast.  The final recommendations suggested that a service could successfully start in Rockland and grow north and south from there. The results are now receiving further scrutiny and evaluation in collaboration with Maine DOT.
  
Significant public outreach and survey work 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 are part of the final study. The study was conducted by Nelson/Nygaard, a firm specializing in transit planning nationwide.
  
  
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 [email protected] or call 236-1077.
  
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.
  
  
Interesting Articles
  

Jane Lafleur, Executive Director
Friends of Midcoast Maine
  
From Brunswick to Bucksport, helping midcoast communities shape their future.