Streamlining Community Planning in Falmouth, Maine

Tags:

CBI Practitioners:

Patrick Field
Kate Harvey

Clients:

 

Case Background
Falmouth, an affluent suburb of the Maine's largest metropolitan area, had a sophisticated and complex land use management system, including progressive conservation ordinances and a plethora of voluntary boards and committees. The complexity of this system often left stakeholders confused and frustrated with the land use planning, review, and permitting processes. Furthermore, in 2008 Falmouth had recently undergone a period of personnel conflict and staff transition, which raised questions about the appropriate roles and responsibilities of the many entities involved in the permit review and approval processes. 

CBI was asked to help streamline these processes and help Falmouth improve its land use and community development functions.


The CBI Approach
CBI’s highly collaborative approach began with the formation of a volunteer Stakeholder Advisory Committee. CBI then conducted confidential stakeholder interviews and administered a qualitative web-based survey to the public. This assessment allowed CBI to gain a broad understanding of stakeholders' views on Falmouth's land use processes. Through the Stakeholder Advisory Committee, CBI built key local support for the initiative and engaged with three Town Council
representatives, eight citizen volunteers, and three Town staff members on a regular basis. CBI spoke with 35 key stakeholders during confidential interviews and received Web Survey responses from 130 individuals.

CBI also coordinated a public forum to give stakeholders an opportunity to engage in a facilitated conversation about their concerns, values, and future visions for their community. The public forum not only gave the public a chance to bring new ideas to the table, but it also allowed CBI to get a sense of any underlying tensions surrounding this issue and to further guage stakeholder's perceptions of the town's land use functions. CBI synthesized their findings in a final report which offered findings and recommendations on specific actions that the Town could take to better design their land use processes. The process culminated in a presentation of the report to the Town Council in a public hearing followed by a CBI-facilitated strategic planning retreat during which the full Town Council worked to create a plan for implementing the recommendations.


Outcomes
The final report discussed best practice guidelines for information sharing processes; comprehensive planning strategies; the roles and responsibilities of key planning departments, boards, and commissions; application and permit review processes; and monitoring and evaluation. CBI also recommended 16 specific actions that Falmouth could take to improve its land use and community development functions.

Through the facilitated Town Council Strategic Board Retreat, CBI helped Falmouths' decision-makers realize a shared vision and create a realistic plan for revising and implementing short- and long-term improvements to the town's land use and community development systems. Six months afer the strategic retreat, Falmouth had implemented many of the recommendations and continues to consult with CBI on collaborative planning processes.  

 

For more information on this case, please contact Managing Director Patrick Field.