Call to form climate action plan

town needs.

(Continued from Page 1A)

The person doing the presentation, Clair McGlinchey was hired six to eight months ago as the Climate Resiliency Program Manager at CEBE.

In the Town of Casco, residents demonstrated that one priority is creating safe travel lanes for pedestrians and bicyclists, especially along the Route 121 corridor between the Pike’s Corner and Casco Village, according to Vlaun.

“I think the big takeaway is they [Casco residents] were ahead of the game because of going through the comp plan process, and Casco has a pretty active conservation committee,” Vlaun said. “They are focused on the health of their lakes. They understand that the health of a lake is tied to the tax base, the economy. Everyone is eager to protect that watershed.”

Vlaun attended the public-input meeting in Casco on Jan. 24. Also, this week, he was present at another gathering with residents in Lovell.

Last year, CEBE helped five towns get grants approved. Those were Norway, Otisfield, Woodstock, Bethel, and Paris. Currently, CEBE is assisting five towns: Casco, Sumner, Lovell, Hartford and Oxford.

The item that topped Casco’s list of needs and wants is safe places for pedestrians to walk and for people to ride bicycles, Vlaun said.

“The things that people were leaning toward were resource habitat inventory and complete streets. Complete streets is looking at designing streets to accommodate bicycles and pedestrians as well as [improving] transit,” he Vlaun said.

“Public transit was a big topic in Lovell for senior citizens and for people who are too young to drive. We had a really good meeting up there” on Monday night, he said.

“Casco — they are in the middle of their comp plan so that was already on their minds: Re-doing the zoning to make a two villages centers with a 1-1/2 mile long road between the two; Having the zones connected by pedestrian friendly area, maybe even a bike lane that is separate,” Vlaun said.

The other priority from the list of community actions was creating an inventory of natural habitats and how climate change can impact or stress those environments.

“Those were pretty much the hands-down winners,” Vlaun said.

Enrollment is required before the town can apply for grants. “Casco is almost done. The next step is to finish our enrollment process. The select board will pass a municipial resolution. The municipal resolution is a template that we use from state. There are three required clauses. There are a handful of optional clauses to make it more individualized to the town. The people in Casco have input to which additional, optional clauses would be included,” Vlaun said. “So, we have resolution signed by select board and sent to the state with the enrollment package.”

Basically, the CEBE will assist with enrolling the town in the program, which would allow the Casco to receive a grant every six months. Those grants amount range from $5,000 to $50,000 per request. Also, municipalities can work on joint project together and receive up to $125,000, Vlaun said.

“Once enrolled, Casco can get a grant every 6 months. It is a way to get the ball moving on some climate resiliency,” he said. “We enroll them in the program. We help them write the first grants. After that, the town decides how to proceed. They can contract us to help them with subsequent grants. Some towns have done grant-writing on their own.”