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Blue Hill Striving to Preserve Its Rural Character
Blue Hill has been designated a “service center” by the state
Planning Office for having a hospital, banks, large grocery
stores and a pharmacy. It also has one of Hancock County’s most
frequented co-ops. |
Located off the
beaten tourism path, Blue Hill remained relatively undiscovered for
years.
Its population has
always swelled during the summer, mostly from the seasonal influx of
people who had built vacation homes there. But over the past decade,
Blue Hill has grown considerably.
The town’s
population increased by 23 percent over the past 10 years.
In that time, many
summer homes have been converted to year-round use, and many new
homes have been built. Blue Hill also has become a destination for
an increasing number of visitors.
With the exception
of Brooklin, all towns on the Blue Hill Peninsula have experienced a
more than 20 percent population growth over the past decade.
For the residents
of Blue Hill—both natives and newcomers—the most pressing issue over
the past few years has been how to maintain the rural character of
this coastal village while accommodating the demand for greater
services that accompanies growth.
Blue Hill may be
hit hardest by the growth because it provides services to towns
throughout the area. About two years ago, the state Planning Office
designated Blue Hill a “service center.”
Although one of the
smallest towns in Maine to receive that designation, Blue Hill faces
many of the same challenges that larger service center towns and
cities face.
Among the services
provided in Blue Hill are a hospital, banks, large grocery stores
and a pharmacy.
Blue
Hill
Memorial
Hospital
and its affiliate medical centers serve residents from Bucksport to
Stonington and from Brooksville to Surry.
Whereas there are
three banks in Blue Hill, there are none in any of the other towns
on the Blue Hill Peninsula.
The transfer station located in Blue Hill also serves the solid
waste disposal needs of Surry, Brooksville, Brooklin and Sedgwick.
Blue Hill is home
to two full-service grocery stores, Tradewinds Marketplace and
Merrill & Hinckley. There are two high schools, a public elementary
school and a private elementary school. The high schools and private
elementary school serve students from nine surrounding towns on a
regular basis, as well as attracting students from even greater
distances.
Much of the
population growth on the Blue Hill Peninsula, estimated to be
occurring about twice as rapidly as the rest of Hancock County,
results from an influx of people retiring in the area.
One result is that
the elementary schools in Blue Hill and neighboring towns are
experiencing declining enrollments, which soon will affect high
school enrollments.
One of the issues
addressed by planners in Blue Hill is how to attract businesses and
jobs to the town to keep the town’s youth and attract families to
the area.
The town also
wrestles with law enforcement and governance issues.
At the annual town
meeting last March, voters appropriated $7,500 for contracted police
coverage from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department. Two weeks
later, a special town meeting was convened to raise another $4,500
for contracted law enforcement.
At the annual town
meeting, voters also authorized selectmen to appoint a committee
charged with studying the town’s current form of government and
recommending changes that might help in dealing with the increasing
work of administering town government.
Blue Hill has
slightly more than 26 miles of shoreline, and harbor and waterfront
issues increasingly have become the focus of debate. At the annual
town meeting, voters authorized selectmen to develop a plan for
establishing an all-tides docking capability at the town wharf.
– James Straub |
