Maine Places With Real Downtowns (Portland, Lewiston: lease, lawyers, movie theater)

[woolwiTch]

Over on the Suggestions For Considering Move To Maine thread, newenglandgirl asked a good question: She was wondering if people would identify small cities and towns that have conveniences like libraries, drugstores and markets in town, and not too many strip malls and endless driving. Good question, I thought.

I live near Bath, which is a great small city with a real, old-fashioned downtown. It has a Reny's, a great independent coffee shop, chocolate shop, bakery, bookstores, restaurants, the best kitchen store ever (Now You're Cooking), clothing stores, Irish pub, various other retail stores, a library, seasonal farmer's market and a small independent grocery store.

Brunswick has a very lively Maine Street, in part because of the presence of Bowdoin College.

Further inland, Gardiner's historic downtown has enjoyed a revival in recent years.

Probably any town that is part of the Main Street Maine program would meet newenglandgirl's criteria. Here is the list: Biddeford, Saco, Bath, Gardiner, Waterville, Skowhegan, Van Buren, Eastport, Rockland and Sanford.

[lrfox]

I'll add Farmington ( a great one with a Reny's a drug store, restaurants, shops, etc), Bangor, Augusta, Bethel, Kennebunk, Old Town, Orono, Jay/Livermore Falls, Sanford, Belfast, Lewiston, Camden, Freeport (though a bit "disneyfied" if you will), Bar Harbor, Fort Kent, Presque Isle, Rumford, Westbrook, Rockland and more...

[mainebrokerman]

hallowell, damariscotta, wiscasset, thomaston, searsport,, boothbay harbor

waterville, augusta, camden

[Acadianlion]

Southwest Harbor, Blue Hill, and to a dying extent, Ellsworth. Ellsworth is a tragedy. It's downtown has enormous potential for growing in a traditional "downtown" way, yet it is striving to kill off its downtown and there will come a time, perhaps in my lifetime, when "downtown" means lawyers' offices, a bank, a tattoo parlor and a karate place. Ellsworth had a chance and there was a movement in part to the work of Tim King, the last "real" city manager, to add color and attraction to the downtown. There was an initiative to develop Ellsworth's potentially beautiful waterfront. Money was spent for a study and a public charette was held. The end plan was presented to the City Council which unanimously approved it. In the end, the key property along that waterfront was sold to the largest contractor in the area and he is now using it to park his heavy vehicles.....right smack dab in the middle of Ellsworth's downtown.

Much strip shopping center development has been made necessary due to a lack of parking and the generally small store size in the downtown areas of Maine's small cities. This strip mall development which is now fashionable to revile and call names, is the ONLY reason that there are meaningful retail conveniences in Maine. The majority of the residents of most of these towns and the vast majority of the people who keep the town's mercantile life alive live outside of a normal walking distance to the downtown. This is called "The American Way of Life" and it has been developing for more than 50 years. Until and unless we develop extensive mass transit systems, and spend mega dollars on "urban renewal" in our small cities and towns across the nation, the shopping center, strip mall or otherwise, will be the way Americans shop.

The Maine Street Maine Program was presented and attempted to be sold in Ellsworth. A few downtown merchants supported the idea. The merchants located along High Street, with its strip shopping centers and sprawling concept of modern development successfully killed the initiative, and thus Ellsworth continues its decline into Generica.

There was a presentation made to the Blue Hill selectmen a almost fifteen years ago to develop its downtown further. The idea was for the harbor at Blue Hill to be dredged and the dredging to be used to establish a neck of land that would run out into the harbor. That land could be leased by the town to entrepreneurial development who could build multioccupancy use buildings according to a structured plan to be developed by the town planning board. Buildings would have been restricted to general mercantile and residential occupancy, in keeping with the general architectural flavor of the original downtown area buildings. The enlarged and deepend harbor would have been a magnet for boating, including commercial as well as pleasure craft. It was also suggested that the fire department be moved up to South Street onto new, larger land and be located in a larger, public service center to be built that would enable the fire department to have larger and better facilities and better access to the entire town.

The selectmen liked the idea and it had a little traction for a while. But the concept horrified quite a few, including no doubt the political clout of the fire department. Now South Street is in the process of being developed not unlike the development of High Street in Ellsworth. It won't be the same gaggle of ugly little squat shopping buildings and unbelieveably poorly designed parking lots that Ellswoth is because there won't (in my lifetime) be the population density to dictate that kind of sprawl, but Blue Hill IS sprawling out and probably in my lifetime there will be a major construction project initiated to extend and expand the sewer system, with the resultant jump in tax rate.

[fxtrader]

Norway, Bucksport, and Bridgton have great down towns. Bridgton has a great Reny's on Main St.

[BoundtofindME]

Dexter, which in addition to having a quaint downtown area, is built around 1100 acre Lake Wassookeag.

[MRVphotog]

I would add Gorham, Bridgton and Yarmouth.

[newenglandgirl]

Wow, the response to my question is overwhelming!
I need to narrow it down.... Once I narrow down to 5 places, I will spend time there to check them out.

Some preferences~~ with points (10 = highest) - which towns in the list at the end here gets the highest points IYO?

1 - town water and sewer (I'm too "old" to afford/maintain new septic)
1 - low property taxes for seniors (I know, the more town amenities like water and sewer, the higher the taxes!)*
1 - a nice looking downtown with library, PO, maybe a movie theater, maybe a bookstore (do not need a starbucks!)
1 - not too far from a city (within 15-20 miles) and hospital
1 - not too far from highway (need to travel back to see family)
1 - relatively good economy (not overly depressed)
1 - a place where folks might enjoy my art classes
1 - town with places to do volunteer work
1 - near ocean okay, but not right on it
1- any services at all for seniors (transportation or other)

* Property taxes in Maine seem to be much lower in some smaller towns inland, but not all. Some coastal towns like Kennebunk aren't too bad in taxes, wondering if it's the tourism? For me, low prop taxes would mean a 900 - 1100 sq ft house, no more than 1/2 acre, and $1200 or less per year in a place that is not gung-ho on raising taxes other than very slowly!

Bangor
Bath
Belfast
Biddeford
Camden
Farmington
Gardiner
Gorham
Kennebunk
Newport
Old Town
Orono
Pittsfield
Saco
Sanford
Waterville
Westbrook
Yarmouth

[lrfox]

Let me try my hand at a few:

Farmington:
town water/sewer: 8... never had a problem while I was there (living above a store downtown), but I'm sure it's not perfect.

low property taxes: 6... about the same as most of Maine.

Nice looking downtown with [amenities]: 10. It's everything you describe, active, pretty, has a pharmacy, a VERY admirable library, post office and a few book stores. It also has a movie theater with great prices.

Close to city...: 6. it's about 1/2 hour to Augusta, 50 minutes to Lewiston and 1.5 hours to both Portland and Bangor. Farmington does have a good hospital though.

Highway: 6 again. It's about 45 minutes to I-95 (I-95 and 295 are the only real freeways in Maine) but sits on routes 4, 2, and 27 which are primary roads in Maine.

Economy: 7 (by Maine standards) Farmington has the University of Maine at Farmington which keeps the town active and vibrant no matter the economy. It's very alive and by no means depressed.

Art Classes: 10... Farmington is a liberal, artsy, community with a college smack in the middle. It has a nice little art gallery and art is a major aspect of life in town. Your classes would likely be very appealing (you MAY be able to work with/ advertise through UMF).

Volunteer Work: 8... plenty of opportunity given the local participation the college has. I can't imagine you'd have a hard time finding something to do.

Ocean: 2.. Farmington is an hour and 1/2 away from the coast at best. Not really an ocean community. It has mountains and rivers, but no ocean.

Transport for seniors: 8... Farmington has a good little bus system and senior transport.

Other towns I'd look into heavily would be Bath, Belfast, Bridgeton and Saco. All have a lot of activity downtown and fit most of what you're looking for. Good luck!

[newenglandgirl]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Let me try my hand at a few:

Farmington:
town water/sewer: 8... never had a problem while I was there (living above a store downtown), but I'm sure it's not perfect.

low property taxes: 6... about the same as most of Maine.

Nice looking downtown with [amenities]: 10. It's everything you describe, active, pretty, has a pharmacy, a VERY admirable library, post office and a few book stores. It also has a movie theater with great prices.

Close to city...: 6. it's about 1/2 hour to Augusta, 50 minutes to Lewiston and 1.5 hours to both Portland and Bangor. Farmington does have a good hospital though.

Highway: 6 again. It's about 45 minutes to I-95 (I-95 and 295 are the only real freeways in Maine) but sits on routes 4, 2, and 27 which are primary roads in Maine.

Economy: 7 (by Maine standards) Farmington has the University of Maine at Farmington which keeps the town active and vibrant no matter the economy. It's very alive and by no means depressed.

Art Classes: 10... Farmington is a liberal, artsy, community with a college smack in the middle. It has a nice little art gallery and art is a major aspect of life in town. Your classes would likely be very appealing (you MAY be able to work with/ advertise through UMF).

Volunteer Work: 8... plenty of opportunity given the local participation the college has. I can't imagine you'd have a hard time finding something to do.

Ocean: 2.. Farmington is an hour and 1/2 away from the coast at best. Not really an ocean community. It has mountains and rivers, but no ocean.

Transport for seniors: 8... Farmington has a good little bus system and senior transport.

Other towns I'd look into heavily would be Bath, Belfast, Bridgeton and Saco. All have a lot of activity downtown and fit most of what you're looking for. Good luck!

Wow, thanks! Since you posted your reply, I edited my post, giving 1 point to each preference to make it easier. Framington looks like a nice bet. I'm also interested in Bath, Belfast and Saco.

Do you live in Maine now, and if not, did you leave b/c you didn't like certain aspects?