Norway

Comprehensive

Plan

Summary

 

Public Hearing:

May 27, 2004

Norway Town Office

 

Town Meeting:

Annual Town Meeting

June 2004

Background Information

 

The People

¨       Population Change: The population of Norway increased significantly in the 70’s and 80’s but was stagnant during the 90’s.

 

¨       Education Levels: The people of Norway have  improved their education levels over the past two decades.  Educational attainment is higher in Norway than it is for Oxford County as a whole, but it still lags behind the State.

 

¨       Income: The Median Household Income is significantly lower than for Oxford County and the State.  Over the 20 years, households have lost ground compared to the state. 

 

¨       Occupations: The occupations of the residents are integrally related to employment opportunities, educational levels and income.  Even with a dramatic loss in manufacturing jobs, Norway still has a higher percentage of the labor force in “production, transportation, and material moving” than does the state.

 

Housing

·         Housing Growth:  Due to the demand for seasonal housing and the continued decrease in household size, housing growth will continue to outstrip population growth.   In the past three years, we have seen housing become less affordable, and we are starting to see development in many of the rural areas of the community. 

 

Natural Resources

·         The Natural Resources in Norway are numerous.  The Lakes are one of the town’s most valuable assets supporting a approximately 25 % of the tax base.  They also offer recreation for residents and an attraction fro visitors.

 

·         Other important resources include the numerous wetlands, the waterfowl habitat, the abundant groundwater, the Crooked River and the numerous streams and brooks.

 

·         The large tracts of undeveloped land provide a base for commercial forestry and are important to the diversity of wildlife found in the community.  The mix of open land with fields, brush and woodland is also important in maintaining a diversity of species.

 

Character

·         Participants in the Comprehensive Planning process, whether through surveys or public forums, identified the Character of Norway as being important.  The Character is defined by the Downtown and Village areas, the lakes, and the rural areas with the open fields, scenic views and the extensive woodlands. 

 

Population Changes

 

	2000	% Change 1990-2000	% Change 1970-2000
NORWAY	4611	-3.0	28
Greenwood	802	16.4	31.5
Harrison	2,315.0	18.7	121.5
Otisfield	1560	37.3	165
Oxford	3960	6.8	109
Paris	4793	6.7	28
Waterford	1455	12.0	91
West Paris	1722	13.7	47
Oxford County	54,755	4.1	26
State of Maine	1,274,923	4.1	28

 

 

Housing Changes

 

	1980	1990	2000	Percent Change 1990-2000	Percent Change 1980-2000
Total Units	2,011	2440	2,551	4.5	27
Year-Round	1,704	1,927	2,155	12	26
Seasonal	307	413	396	-4	29

 

 

Occupations of Residents

	Maine		Oxford County		Town of Norway
	#	%	#	%	#	%
Management, professional, & related occupations	196,862	32	6,835	27	575	27
Service occupations	95,601	15	4,509	18	402	19
Sales and office occupations	161,480	26	5,459	21	489	23
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	10,338	2	403	2	17	1
Construction, extraction, & maintenance occ.	64,064	10	3,323	13	243	11
Production, transportation, and material moving occ.	95,666	15	5,157	20	404	19
Employed civilian population 16 years and over	624,011		25,686		2,130

 

 

The Comprehensive Plan

 

What is a Comprehensive Plan? A comprehensive plan is not a land use ordinance.  It creates a framework or guidance for the growth of the town, and it forms the legal framework for land use ordinances.  All implementation actions will be brought before subsequent town meetings to vote on ordinance changes or to allocate funds for recommended actions.  The plan does not propose significant expenditures that are not already included in the towns Capital Improvement Program. 

 

This Comprehensive Plan is an update of the plan adopted by the town in 1992.  The plan builds on the Policies and Strategies and Future Land Use Plan developed in the 1992 Plan.

 

Directions for the Future

The Comprehensive Plan establishes Policy and recommends actions for a variety of topics for which the town has some responsibility ranging from Economic Development to Recreation to Land Use to Transportation. 

 

Many of the policies and actions are similar to those in the previous plan that was passed in 1992.  However, the proposed plan considers changes in Maine, the region and in Norway that have occurred since then.  The Plan addresses some new priorities and looks at some of the previous ones in more detail.  

 

Priorities in the Plan include:

 

Efficient and Cost Effective Government

Downtown and Gateway areas

Recreation

Natural Resources and Land Use

 

 

Efficient, Cost Effective Government

To address the growing property tax burden and ensure that Norway remains a competitive community in broadening its economic base, three policies are proposed. 

 

·            To coordinate work within all town departments, the water district and other entities to ensure that there is no duplication of services and that projects and programs complement each other rather than negatively impact each other.  Particular emphasis must be placed on public works projects, to ensure that maintenance, upgrades and expansions are done efficiently and in accordance with the town’s goals, policies and plans.

 

·            To participate in shared programs and services when such cooperation provides increased efficiencies, improved services, and/or cost effectiveness.

 

·            To obtain State, Federal and private grants and funding to implement projects in accordance with the towns goals, policies, and plans.

Recreation

Recreation areas are important to our residents and may also form an attraction for tourists to visit Norway.  Combined with a historic, attractive and vital commercial area, they may serve to attract tourism dollars in support of the economy as it changes from manufacturing to service.  Two high priorities are

 

 

·         A trail network that would be used for non-motorized travel (and possibly snowmobiles.

 

·         Pennesseewassee Park improvements would make this park one of the premier municipal parks in the State of Maine. 

 

Downtown

The Downtown and the Gateway areas are important to the economic well being of Norway.  They offer opportunities to attract economic activity from visitors and to provide opportunities to keep local dollars in the Norway economy.  The Plan proposes to:

 

·         Maintain the historic character of the Downtown by ensuring that rehabilitation work and new construction is in keeping with the historic architecture.  However, the Plan does provide for a variety of building types and architectural styles. 

 

·         Signage and landscaping that compliments the historic character of the Downtown will be encouraged. 

 

·         Pedestrian amenities will be encouraged such as green spaces, shade trees and well maintained sidewalks.

 

·         Parking  requirements in the downtown will be more flexible and will be a joint responsibility of the town and private sector.

 

·         Gateway areas to the south (South Main St., Fair St. and Paris St.) and north (Rt. 118/117) of the Downtown are important areas for business development and as entrances to the Downtown.  They should have many of the qualities of the Downtown—maintain good building design, have signage and landscaping that compliments the area, and provide off street parking.

 

 

 

 

Natural Resources and Land Use

Existing ordinances need to be strengthened and possibly a new land use control ordinance developed and adopted.  Strengthening of the existing Subdivision and Site Plan Review ordinances would provide additional protection to lakes, streams, wetlands and wildlife habitat.  More information on and a map of Future Land Use follows.

Information About the Future Land Use Plan

 

The Future Land Use Plan builds on the land use plan developed in the 1992 Comprehensive Plan. 

 

The plan considers the proposals of the previous plan and the type of development that has been occurring in the community.  Most development has occurred in proximity to the downtown and the lakes.  The areas are generally served by reasonably good roads or roads that will be improved over the next several years.   The plan tries to take advantage of the significant tax base that is developing around the lakes and in areas with exceptional views. The plan also tries to protect the character of Norway, the natural resources and wildlife habitat and provide for a continued working forest, especially in the more distant areas of the town.  In these areas, roads will be maintained but improvements and upgrades are not planned.  Ordinances should provide the significant flexibility for development. In several of the land use areas, the concept of density of development is used.  This will encourage open spaces to be maintained and to allow flexibility in the design of new development.  Using this concept, developers can reduce their costs and natural resources can be protected.

 

To achieve this flexibility, a density concept for development is used.  Under the density concept, the number of houses on any given piece of land is determined by dividing the amount of land by the allowable density.  For example, if the density is established at 80,000 square feet (roughly 2 acres), then 10 houses could be located on a 20 acre lot. 

 

Shoreland Zoning remains unchanged from the current ordinance.  Streams are afforded additional protection by creating a 75 foot buffer between perennial streams and new development activity. 

 

The information to the right provides some information on each of the land use areas that are proposed by the map on the reverse side of this page.