The Boothbay Comprehensive Plan Committee will hold a community forum on Monday, Aug. 4 starting at 6 p.m. at Boothbay Region Elementary School. The purpose of the forum is to get feedback on a number of the key policy proposals the committee has developed for inclusion in the update of the town’s comprehensive plan. This is a chance for you to influence the future of your community. The committee wants to hear what you think about the ideas they have been working on.

The comprehensive plan is a policy document that lays out objectives and actions for guiding decision making in Boothbay over the next 10 years. The Comprehensive Plan Committee has been working to update the plan and has prepared drafts of a number of the chapters in the plan. The updated plan will be organized into three parts: Part 1 provides background information about the town; Part 2 contains the policy recommendations; and Part 3 lays out the steps that will need to be taken to implement the recommendations.

Part 2 consists of three chapters: Chapter 4 sets out a vision for the future of Boothbay; chapter 5 establishes proposed objectives and actions dealing with a wide range of subjects including population, the local economy, housing, municipal facilities, recreation and open space, infrastructure, transportation, natural and marine resources, fiscal issues, and education; chapter 6 looks at land use and how the town should grow and develop over the next decade including possible changes to the town’s zoning and land use regulations.

The home page of the town website has been dedicated to the Public Participation Meeting and working drafts of these three chapters are available on the town’s website at www.townofboothbay.org.

The community forum will focus on Chapters 5 and 6 and many of the key policy proposals included in those chapters. At the forum, the committee will present information about these proposals and then there will be an opportunity to discuss the proposals in small groups. After the discussion, everyone will have a chance to give the committee their feedback on each proposal by giving it a “thumbs up” or a “thumbs down.” The committee will take the feedback from the forum and consider it as it finalizes a draft of the updated comprehensive plan.

There will be beverages and snacks available at the forum. So come and spend a few hours and help the committee shape the future of our community.