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Sanford Comprehensive Plan
The Town of Sanford has a long history of planning for the future growth and development of community. The Town developed the current Comprehensive Plan in the late 1980's with financial assistance through the State's Growth Management Program. Town Meeting adopted the Plan, with some minor amendments, in 1992 as a guide for the future growth and development of Sanford and Springvale. The adopted plan contains an interrelated set of goals and policies that address the following areas:
- Population and household growth
- The local economy
- Natural resources
- Water and sewer service
- Land use patterns
- Downtown
- Transportation
- Housing
- Public facilities
- Recreation and open space
- Cultural resources
- Historic and archeological resources
- Fiscal resources
The goals and policies of the adopted plan address a number of key themes including:
1. Aggressively pursuing economic growth through a coordinated economic development program including providing an adequate supply of serviced, usable industrial land, revitalizing the Sanford Mill Yard, establishing design standards for commercial and industrial uses, and upgrading of the quality of the community's labor force,
2. Protecting the Towns natural resources with a focus on improving the quality of the Towns surface waters, protecting the groundwater, and preserving important habitats,
3. Managing the Towns residential growth by encouraging development in and near the existing built-up areas of Sanford and Springvale while discouraging large-scale, intensive residential development in outlying rural areas,
4. Revitalizing the downtowns of Sanford and Springvale as vibrant, mixed-use districts,
5. Upgrading the housing in the older residential neighborhoods, and
6. Providing the public facilities and services needed to serve the Towns expanding population.
The Comprehensive Plan laid out an implementation program for achieving the goals and policies set out in the Plan. In the decade since the adoption of the Plan, the community has carried out many of the activities proposed in the Implementation Strategy.
