Comprehensive plan just the beginning
The Town of Cape Elizabeth Comprehensive Plan Committee began meeting in
June, 2005. This evening, Oct. 10, 2007, the Town Council will consider adoption
of the Comprehensive Plan. Could it be the end of an effort that has taken
more than two years to complete? Not really.
If the Town Council adopts the Comprehensive Plan, their vote sets in motion
a whole new set of initiatives. The plan includes 90 recommendations. In
accordance with state comprehensive planning rules, the recommendations must
be designated a level of priority for implementation. Thirty-eight of those
recommendations are identified as high priority with a goal that they be
implemented within three years.
Many of the comprehensive plan recommendations include amendments to town
ordinances. State law and recent court decisions require that land use
regulations be consistent with an adopted comprehensive plan. So the
comprehensive plan lays out the goals and ways to implement those goals.
Then ordinance amendments are adopted to legally implement the goals.
The ordinance amendment process has both formal and informal elements. For
some ordinance amendments, such as telecommunications regulations or farm
stands, the Town Council establishes a committee specifically tasked to draft
ordinance amendment recommendations.
In most cases, ordinance amendments are drafted and then submitted to the
Town Council for consideration. If an amendment to the Zoning or Subdivision
Ordinance is proposed, it must be submitted to the Planning Board for its
recommendation. The Planning Board is required to hold a public hearing prior
to making a recommendation and must advertise its public hearing. Finally,
the Town Council holds a public hearing on ordinance amendments prior to
considering adoption. Comprehensive Plan recommendations that require ordinance
amendments do not become legally effective until the ordinance amendment
is adopted.
So if the Comprehensive Plan is adopted, it really is the beginning of a
process, spanning the life of the plan, to implement its recommendations.
For more information on the Comprehensive Plan, see the special section
posted on this website.
- Maureen O'Meara
Town Planner
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