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STONINGTON — “This
is a community on the edge of being able to do
something,” Stuart Kestenbaum told his fellow
residents of Stonington and Deer Isle, gathered
last week to discuss their island’s economy.
Kestenbaum, the
executive director of Deer Isle’s Haystack
Mountain School of Crafts, was one of eight island
residents to attend the Blaine House Conference on
Maine’s Creative Economy held in Lewiston in May.
The eight spent the ensuing weeks organizing their
own community forum to discuss “creative” economic
development.
The forum was held
at the Stonington Opera House Wednesday, June 30.
Kestenbaum and
others stressed that their view of “the creative
economy” does not mean a street full of galleries.
It means “making do and being ingenious,” he said,
and involves every walk of life “from carpenters
to fishermen to artists to entrepreneurs.”
“It’s a confluence
of creative thinkers and the places people want to
be,” Kestenbaum said.
More than 70
islanders and others attended the 90-minute forum,
which was called “Jobs and Homes: A Creative
Discussion to Ensure an Island Future for Young
and Old.” Half of those present signed up for five
research committees the organizers hope will
report back to another general meeting at the end
of September.
The five
committees will study taxation and zoning,
housing, jobs, the working waterfront and possible
development projects involving the former
Bartlett’s Market building in downtown Stonington.
The committees represent major themes that emerged
during last week’s forum.
“This is the
awkward transition between no structure and a
structure,” Opera House Executive Director Linda
Nelson said Friday. Nelson moderated the forum and
was one of those who attended the Blaine House
conference.
Nelson said the
forum’s goal is not to create a new economic
development organization but to find out how
existing organizations can work together for that
purpose. “We hope this will be the spark that
leads to the explosion,” she said.
Existing
organizations already have been identified in a
list of “assets” collected in research by the
Healthy Island Project, a nonprofit organization
that runs programs ranging from substance abuse
awareness for children to art workshops for
adults. The research project started in the fall
of 2002 and lasted a year.
The list of assets
includes local schools, churches, health care and
newspaper, as well as a population committed to
living on the island. Of primary economic
importance, respondents thought, were fisheries,
the arts and a diversified “self-employment base.”
Joyce Gray, who
chairs the HIP Board of Directors, said young
people were among the assets the island towns must
work to retain. Although jobs are an issue, she
said the main reason they leave is a dearth of
affordable housing, which she defined as rentals
costing $500 a month or less.
“They can find
jobs,” Gray said. “But they gotta have a place to
live.” She said she and her husband get “one call
a week” asking to rent space on their land for a
trailer.
The topic of
affordable housing ended up dominating the
meeting, in all its complexities. Apart from the
availability of affordable land in an era of
skyrocketing real estate prices, challenges
include rising property taxes and the capacity of
island soils to accept septic systems.
“If you put too
many houses on a small area, you’re going to have
problems down the road with septage,” Selectman
Evelyn Duncan warned.
“We live on a
rock,” said Christina Shipps, who is on the board
of the Stonington Sanitary District. But she
thinks hooking more households to the sewer system
could make it affordable to ship sewage
off-island.
Shipps added that
the sanitary district owns a piece of land that
could be used for affordable housing. The land was
purchased with state funds for sanitary district
purposes, however, so the state would have to give
permission for a change of use.
Tim King,
executive director of the Washington-Hancock
Community Agency, pledged his organization’s help
in any economic development effort. He suggested
looking into the concept of land banking, with
covenants restricting the sale of certain tracts
of land for affordable housing.
The town of Isle
au Haut administers a land trust aimed at
providing affordable land, said Ted Hoskins, who
worked with inhabitants of various islands for the
better part of a decade as pastor of the Sea Coast
Missionary Society vessel Sunbeam. Most islands
have taken similar measures, he said.
The Island
Heritage Trust has been discussing getting
involved in an affordable housing effort,
Stonington resident Dan Hadley said, but its
expertise is in land stewardship for conservation
purposes. It would need a partner with expertise
in affordable housing projects, he said.
Shipps pointed out
that young people aren’t the only ones having
trouble staying on the island. Spiraling property
taxes drive older residents away from their land.
“It’s not just
creating new houses,” Shipps said. “It’s being
able to live in the houses you already have.”
Stonington
residents are waiting with bated breath for their
property revaluation notices, Sally Richardson
Waite said. “The crisis is imminent,” she said.
“After those prices come out you’re going to see
more and more for-sale signs going up.”
Suggestions for
relief ranged from a two-tier tax system
distinguishing year-round from seasonal residents
to lobbying for improvements to the state’s
existing Homestead Exemption. Most tax solutions
involved changes in state laws or practices.
John Steed, who
got a laugh by identifying himself as one of the
mythical “young people” the island is trying to
retain, said affordable housing isn’t the only
problem. He can’t find a job that would set him on
a career path.
“Short-term, jobs
seem to be important too if you want to have a
vibrant middle class of 30-somethings here,” he
said.
Selectman Duncan
said she hoped the island’s new capability for
high-speed Internet access would help attract new
businesses. Steed agreed that that might help.
Shipps brought up
the issue of the large empty building that used to
house Bartlett’s Market in downtown Stonington.
Shipps said some Stonington business owners would
like to see the building turned into a cooperative
with space for individual businesses offering
meat, fish and baked goods, as well as local
crafts. It was noted, however, that the sale price
for the waterfront building might be prohibitive.
Kelly Mitchell,
who runs a gallery on Caterpillar Hill in
Sedgwick, asked for partners in preserving the 30
acres of open land on Caterpillar Hill, where a
scenic turnout offers a panoramic view that
includes Deer Isle. She described the site as “the
gateway to the island.”
“Every single day
people with the money to buy that property come
into the gallery saying, ‘Oh, who owns this? Is it
for sale? I’d sure like to live here,’” Mitchell
said. |
