Route One Ballot Question
LisaJPreney
Posted: June 07. 2013 1:30AM
Maine Voices: Falmouth Route 1 improvement plan raises fiscal, conceptual issues
Funding for the ambitious, costly project isn’t guaranteed, and neither is support for the ‘village’ idea.
2012 File Photo/Gabe SouzaBusinesses line Route 1 in Falmouth. On June 11, residents will be asked to vote on $14 million in improvements to Route 1 that are intended to create the feeling of a village center along the road.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
M. Roberts Hunt is a resident of Falmouth and a member of Falmouth Citizens for Sound Choices.
FALMOUTH — On June 11, Falmouth voters will be asked to approve more than $14 million of improvements to Route 1 from the intersection of Route 88 to the Maine Turnpike entrance road.
The plan calls for burying power and utility lines, creating 10-foot-wide sidewalks and medians with “golden hue” dormant grass, modifying existing curb cuts and enhancing pedestrian lighting and traffic controls.
These improvements, coupled with zoning changes designed to encourage denser development with buildings in close proximity to the street, are intended to eventually create a “village” center where one has never existed in the 199-year history of the town. The new “village” will mirror tunnel-like Route 1 in Freeport, with multistory, multi-use buildings hugging the street.
The transformation would be shocking. Although traditional villages evolve gradually over time, not by the wave of a magic wand, supporters claim that there is a craving, by some, for a place where folks can come together to shop, stroll, gossip and mingle “as members of the community” that makes the drive to create a “village” worthwhile.
According to supporters, the town will purchase a 16-year general obligation bond to pay for the improvements. They hope it will be paid off by revenue from the Route One Tax Incrementing Financing district.
TIF revenue comes from a portion of TIF property taxes set aside for improvements to or for the benefit of the district. For the TIF to have enough revenue to pay off the bond, its taxable property values must appreciate 1.25 percent year over year, according to the town’s director of long-range planning. If they don’t, the bond will have to be paid with funds from some other source or sources – increased residential property taxes and/or reduced or eliminated municipal services.
No one can guarantee there will be enough TIF revenue to pay off the bond. The town treasurer can only say he “anticipates” TIF revenues will be sufficient. On the other hand, no one can guarantee TIF revenue will be inadequate. Actually, no one really knows what will happen during the next 16 years.
Supporters say that historical TIF revenue results, since its creation in 2000, augur well for the future. However, anyone who has invested in equities or mutual funds knows that past results are no guarantee of future performance.
In April, the Town Council admitted there is a risk that the TIF might come up short. Voters need to understand there is a risk that the Tax Incrementing Financing district might not be able to pay off the bond. Then property taxes will go up and/or municipal services will be reduced or eliminated.
Even if TIF revenue is adequate to pay off the bond, voters need to ask themselves whether the proposed improvement will make Falmouth a better place to live in any meaningful way. Is a “village” center with multistory, multi-use buildings hugging the street, creating a claustrophobic tunnel feeling, better than the open spaces that exist today?
Will anyone, especially those with children, want to live on a busy street above a fishmonger, butcher shop, hairdresser, music studio, cobbler, etc.? Will dormant-grass “golden hue” medians enhance or impend traffic flow by creating choke points during busy times of day – causing motorists to use Foreside Road and Middle Road as escape routes and forever altering the rural nature of those two roads?
How many existing businesses have expressed an interest in renovating or expanding (except Walmart)? How much vacant land exists for new development, necessary to drive a 1.25 percent year-over-year increase in TIF taxable property values? Have any market studies been done to evaluate the reasonableness of the “village” concept?
Last, but not least, would you use your own money to pay for these “improvements”?
This project raises many serious questions without solid, common-sense answers.
Voters, beware!
— Special to the Press Herald