Summit energizes believers

AUGUSTA - After its first full year of operation, GrowSmart Maine, the nonprofit group charting Maine's future, can count at least four tangible results: two bond issues and two state commissions.

But there were about 850 other results in the hallways of the Augusta Civic Center on Friday - attendees of GrowSmart's 2007 Summit.

"These are people from all around the state who are shaping the future of Maine," said Alan Caron, president and founder of GrowSmart, as he gazed over the conference floor. Earlier in the day building inspectors were gabbing with nonprofit managers, college students with engineers, farmers with legislators, state officials with private developers. "We want more collaboration and coordination ... that naturally flows out of an event like this. People are talking with each other, hearing each others issues."

The conference was based on the findings of last year's Brookings Institution report that outlined a path to sustainable prosperity for Maine while preserving its heritage. The report keyed on three themes: protecting the unique characteristics of Maine, basing economic growth on innovation and streamlining government.

All three themes were evident in a morning workshop on mill redevelopment. It was one of 32 workshops presented on topics that varied from commuter and passenger rail service to innovation and water farming.

Moderated by Auburn real estate broker Barbara Trafton, panelists compared mill projects from Lewiston's Bates Mill to Waterville's Hathaway Creative Center, Topsham's Bowdoin Mill and Biddeford's Island Point.

Each developer was committed to preserving the architecture of the unique buildings, and saw their historic riverfront locations as a prime asset for redevelopment. But preserving the mills runs afoul of modern building codes, causing many of the buildings to be gutted for renovation.

"Clearly modern codes have been set up for new development," said developer Kevin Mattson, who's renovating the Biddeford/Saco Island Point project. "You have a stairway that's been OK for 100 years, but now it doesn't meet code."

Mattson said that often means developers won't take on mill projects, or they have no choice but to gut them, leaving only the superstructure. His company sunk $4.8 million into due diligence before committing fully to Island Point, a risk that he thinks will pay off given the parcel's location in the fastest growing county in Maine.

"But development is always a white-knuckle ride," he said. "It's a high-risk endeavor."

What would help? An appeals process or waiver that would allow a developer to present alternative plans for historic redevelopment that meets life-safety requirements, if not conventional building codes.

Mattson noted that there's between 2 and 3 million square feet of empty mill space that could be redeveloped in Maine if there were separate state rehabilitation building codes. That kind of creative development preserves Maine's heritage while positioning it for future prosperity and prevents sprawl. Mattson's neighboring panelists nodded in agreement.

"The more you do this, the less building on the cornfields," said Ric Quesada, whose Bowdoin Mill development in Topsham converted the historic paper mill into retail and office space, sparking other "village" type development nearby. "It certainly makes sense from a GrowSmart point of view."

Seeking sensible development based on collaboration and a shared vision was the foundation of the Maine Community Foundation Noyce Award presented to the Western Mountains Alliance and Mountain Counties Heritage groups for their work in Western Maine.

Tanya Swain and Bruce Hazard received the recognition during a lunchtime ceremony, an acknowledgment of their Western Maines Sustainable Development Initiative that weaves local leadership, coordinated planning activities, preservation of quality places, and use of existing resources into a plan for sustainable growth.

"We are a small organization, working in a big part of the state," said Hazard, who acknowledged he was "blown away" by the award. "We have passion ... for place, people, land. That is the origination of the work we do."

He also acknowledged all the partners he and Swain work with to get things done. The group recently attracted $1 million to build and support heritage-based tourism.

Their award followed a lunchtime address by Gov. John Baldacci, who commended the work done by GrowSmart to implement the Brookings report.

"We are working together to move this state ahead," he said.

Seizing on the theme of streamlining government, Baldacci said consolidation isn't a new theme. He cited 20-year-old studies on merging the state Department of Transportation and Maine Turnpike Authority.

"We can't have one foot in the past and one foot in the future," he said. "We need both feet in the future. We can't do anything halfway, folks.

"What the Brookings report means to me is, you know what needs to be done. Bring it about."

Caron thinks Maine is off to a good start. The two bonds - $43 million for higher education, and $55 million for research and development - are on the November ballot. State commissions to streamline government and preserve quality of place are working.

Not bad for the first year of a four-year plan to implement Brookings.

"This is the right mix of people," said Caron of the summit attendees. "What we need is more. I think we're on the right track."