A Full Agenda This Spring

A Full Agenda This Spring

By Michelle Hayes, Town Council

According to the calendar, "spring has sprung," bringing longer days and glimpses of warmer weather, which incites optimism for what's to come. The Eastern Trail is clear of snow and ice—my favorite spot to walk and think—as the Town Council tackles a full agenda of topics critical to our residents. 

In my four short months serving our Town, I've been impressed with the level of engagement from Scarborough citizens. Your feedback and insight are appreciated; they make a tremendous difference as the Council discusses complex topics, debates trade-offs, and weighs the impact of our decisions—financial and lifestyle—on the lives of Scarborough residents.

You've attended our "Conversations with Councilors" sessions, and the diversity of folks showing up and speaking up has represented Scarborough well. We've had attendees who have lived in Scarborough less than three years, and attendees whose families have resided here for 100 years. We had two fathers attend the North Scarborough meeting with their babies in tow surrounded by retirees and lifelong residents. The conversations have been open, informative, civil, and educational; neighbors talking with neighbors. The themes of our February meetings again focused on growth, infrastructure, traffic, taxes, unfunded mandates out of Augusta, communication, and transparency. These topics are priorities for the Town Council and I want to spend a minute expanding on a few.

A key reason I ran for Town Council was my desire to pause the Town's rate of growth and allow our infrastructure to catch up, as Scarborough has been Maine's fastest-growing town. The Council had productive discussions and reached much agreement on the topic. However, our work was quickly followed by the introduction of LD 1829, a State legislative mandate that took us completely by surprise. As proposed, LD 1829 essentially removed local control over Scarborough's growth management with Augusta making the decisions. The Council and Town Manager quickly took action, including: inviting the Speaker of the House and our state legislators to a Town Council workshop to express our concerns; working with regional partners and towns with similar concerns to propose augmented legislation to LD 1829; and having our Town Manager, Fire Chief, and Town Councilors provide testimony in Augusta expressing our concerns. The good news is that our advocacy appears to have positively influenced the outcome of the "fix-it bill," LD 2173. The bill's final outcome will be communicated in April. I appreciate the collaboration and rapid response of so many stakeholders to ensure a better outcome for Scarborough residents. Stay tuned!

Recently, the Town Council hosted a workshop focused on the Scottow Hill Road closure. We had about 25 attendees including staff members. It was a wonderful example of bringing key stakeholders together to problem-solve through educational, civil, and productive conversation. I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge from our town engineer, the residents who use the road for daily commuting, and the residents who reside on Scottow Hill Road. Each stakeholder group clearly provided data that might be new to the other groups. For example, folks who live on the road are enjoying being able to walk their dogs or jog without the fear of speeding cars. Daily commuters are frustrated by the road closure because it adds time to their daily travels. Each group understood the road closure's impact through their neighbors' experiences. I left feeling hopeful we could solve future challenges in a similar manner. Thanks to all who participated!

My first Town budget season has arrived and similar to our home budgets, it presents many challenges and tradeoff discussions. There is tremendous uncertainty in our economy—oil and gas prices, food, health care premiums, electricity—and many of our neighbors live on fixed incomes. Financial pressures are significant, and I approach budget season with an appreciation of these pain points, expecting the Town will be required to make the same hard decisions we make at home. I look forward to better understanding the budget components when the Town and School present their budgets for a first reading to the Town Council on April 1. The Council set a budget goal of a 0% mil rate increase. There are a few surprise upward pressures that may present difficulties in reaching that goal, like a further reduction in state funding for our schools and an increase in our tax contribution to Cumberland County for services (historically 4–5%, but now near 13%). However, I remain committed to delivering a prudent budget to our taxpayers and have confidence in our staff. 

I've received many inquiries about the proposed MaineDOT traffic pattern pilot on Route One. The pilot will merge northbound traffic into a single lane on the portion of Route One over the marsh from Anjons/Milliken Mills Road to south of Tractor Supply. The goal is to allow space for bikes/pedestrian traffic. The proposed pilot dates are June-August which is peak summer tourism traffic. I DO NOT support this pilot for a multitude of reasons. Traffic is already a major concern for Scarborough residents and that corridor of Route One is busy with two lanes open. We need to ease congestion not exacerbate it. This pilot has the potential to push traffic to Payne Road which is already struggling with congestion. Today, 30% of Route One traffic is pass-through traffic to and from Biddeford, Saco, Old Orchard, and Arundel. It would be aspirational to incentivize pass-through traffic to utilize the turnpike instead of Scarborough's Route One but I don't believe this pilot will achieve that goal. The Eastern Trail is perfect for pedestrian and bike traffic. I cannot imagine a scenario where enough people feel safe enough to enjoy those activities on a hectic Route One. 

A shout out to the Scarborough Library! If you haven't discovered what a tremendous resource and Town treasure they are, check out their upcoming programming. I guarantee you'll find something interesting to attend. I recently had the privilege of hearing local author Robin Merle discuss her novel, A Dangerous Friendship, and answer questions about her writing process. A packed room and fun to highlight local talent.

We have a number of challenges ahead! Please keep showing up at meetings, sharing your thoughts and feedback, and helping us keep Scarborough a wonderful community to call home.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Scarborough Town Council.