One of the primary reasons Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay has grown to be one of the top cultural and tourist attractions in the state in such a short amount of time is the incredible natural setting of its gardens among 270 acres of woods, wetlands, ledges and shore front. The original master plan in 2004 for the Gardens was built around an estimated 40,000 annual attendance. Parking, restrooms, office space and the size of the visitor facilities were all scaled to this projection.

Remarkably, visitation surpassed this target the first year and has been growing steadily ever since. Last year the Gardens welcomed nearly 150,000 guests from 63 countries and all 50 states. Understandably, even with many upgrades and modest improvements, facilities and infrastructure are becoming overtaxed.

The Gardens faces a critical decision to either expand its facilities to not only adequately handle current attendance but plan for future growth or begin limiting visitation through timed ticketing and daily attendance caps. All involved are aware of the tremendous positive impact increased visitation has had on the entire business community of the peninsula and beyond, so the last thing the Gardens wishes is to turn people away. Thus, in 2011, work began on a new master plan that would expand core infrastructure while adding facilities to foster greater year-round and multi-day visitation.

Plans include the construction of a 20,000 square foot glass conservatory, which would be the largest of its kind in New England. It would feature year-round garden displays with seasonal themes such as tropical butterflies and orchids in late winter, lights and holiday themes in fall and early winter and a colorful winter garden during the darkest and coldest days of the year.

As this year's wildly successful Gardens Aglow made evident, visitors can be attracted to the area even in winter, and what a boon to local businesses a 12-month season would be. The new master plan calls for more gardens, a new visitor center and administrative building, a plant research nursery, a youth education center and more space devoted to teaching about food and sustainability plus accessible walking trails and boardwalks through forests and wetlands.

Less exciting, but also very necessary, will be expanded parking for an additional 400 to 500 cars as well as more bathrooms and other guest amenities.

Environmental stewardship is a core value of the organization and over the past four years, a plan has been developed that would accomplish all of these goals in a way that will cause the least possible impact to the land, while being sensitive to neighbors and the larger community. Of course, the very reasons the property is so naturally beautiful — ledges, shoreland, forest and wetlands — make any expansion challenging. The organization has hired some of the best environmental consultants and engineers in the state; and sought input from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection as well as the Army Corps of Engineers over the past two years to refine the plans and minimize impacts to wetlands and watersheds. The Gardens filed Site Location of Development and Natural Resource Protection Act permit amendments with DEP and wetland permits with The Army Corps of Engineers in February as a first step in a lengthy approval process that will also involve the town planning commissions in Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor, Maine DOT and other agencies.

On that note, Maine DOT has informed the Gardens that the proposed roundabout and other traffic improvements around the Boothbay Common will be very helpful in mitigating any future traffic impacts at the Corey Lane intersection from increased attendance and it will avoid any possible limits imposed on daily visitation by the state. It is coincidental but serendipitous that the Knickerbocker Group/MDOT proposal has come forward at this juncture, and the Gardens urges anyone who values the tremendous economic benefits of increased tourism to the area to take an honest and measured look at the merits of their plan.

The reality is that in order to accommodate more guests and their cars in the future, CMBG must expand. This will mean giving up some land for buildings and parking, but the trade off — an estimated 100 additional jobs at CMBG plus an expected $75 million flowing annually into the local economy from direct and indirect spending from the projected 300,000 visitors — is worth the effort.

That is a future we can all be excited about.