Raymond residents recently adopted the 2025 Comprehensive Plan at a Special Town Meeting. The document is used to guide decisions about policy and land use issues for the next 10 to 20 years. Resiliency, protecting natural resources and improving roads and traffic are among the top goals identified for the town to focus on.
According to the Comprehensive Plan, which is available for viewing on the town website at raymondmaine.org, “the comprehensive planning process is an opportunity for a community to come together and take inventory of current trends, while looking ahead toward future needs, challenges, and opportunities. … The priorities, policies, and action items described in the Plan are intended to help municipal staff, boards, and committees identify projects, initiatives, and ordinance updates that will help the community fulfill their vision, values, and goals.”
The main goals listed in the Comprehensive Plan as ways to improve the Raymond community include:
• Build a Resilient Raymond – Adapt to changes and challenges. This could be from severe weather or pursuing services and programs for the residents. Priority actions include working with the Maine Department of Transportation to complete an assessment of and work plan to improve town culverts and road infrastructure at risk from increased flooding. Add staff capacity to seek and manage grant funding through additional staff, a consultant, or regional partnerships.
• Protect Raymond's Natural and Water Resources – Raymond's waterways are essential for recreational activity, and local organizations should be supported to protect the water quality of the town’s lakes and streams. Priority Action is to develop a process to determine the appropriateness of sites in Raymond for solar development and incorporate these criteria into Raymond’s Solar Ordinance.
• Invest in road and traffic improvements – Raymond has a high volume of cars, especially during the summer. The policy guidelines are to improve road safety, create a 302 Master Plan in partnership with MDOT, and provide alternatives to driving. Priority Actions include collecting/analyzing speed and crash data and implement proven traffic calming strategies throughout Raymond. The 302 Master Plan should be based on the vision for Route 302 in the Future Land Use Plan.
• Prioritize safe walking and biking around Raymond – This would be looking at opportunities such as sidewalk construction, adding bike infrastructure, and off-road trails. Priority Action includes building a network of sidewalks, trails and bike paths connecting identified Growth Areas and local destinations.
• Strengthen Raymond's sense of community. Priority Action is developing a master plan supported by public input to repurpose the Jordan Small Middle School and determine the future use of other town-owned buildings, including the library and town office.
One of the core components of the plan is Future Land Use. “Raymond’s 2004 Comprehensive Plan called for focusing new development where development already exists and minimizing growth in rural areas and near natural resources to conserve rural character,” according to the plan. “This principle is the cornerstone of land use recommendations in this plan as well.”
According to Town Manager Joseph Crocker, the major aspects of the Future Land Use portion of 2025 Comp Plan include identifying growth, transition, and rural areas.
Growth areas include Route 302 as an area for small business and multi-family development with traffic and transportation improvements; and Raymond and East Raymond Village built in the traditional New England village style with diverse housing, small businesses and tree-lined streets.
Most of Raymond is designated as Rural Areas, according to the plan. “Today, these areas include places for low-density housing among forests, lakes, and ponds, working lands for farming and timber harvesting, and the town’s largest undeveloped habitat blocks.” Low density housing and small businesses are appropriate but also important is conserving natural resources and supporting farms and forest owners.”
The Transition Area is a pocket of industrial-zoned land off of Route 121/Meadow Road. According to the plan it “is home to an electronics manufacturing company and a large WGMETV transmitter. With the existing development and TIF District here, this area is appropriate for continued industrial or commercial use, such as office space or light manufacturing.”
Public input was an important part of creating the new Comprehensive Plan and was included in numerous parts of the process beginning with creating a Comprehensive Plan Committee. A summer survey took place in 2023, a data highlights workshop in January 2024, multiple community listening sessions with various stakeholders, a future land use workshop, a space for community engagement on the town website and a public hearing was held about the plan on Aug. 12 prior to approving the new plan.
At the Aug. 12 Special Town Meeting, Raymond resident Bradley McCurtain suggested several ideas to add to the Comprehensive Plan such as having some of the five town selectmen represent certain districts of town; ways to make the website easier to navigate; and creating a program for the town’s older population to mitigate isolation.
Raymond Select Board Chair Denis Morse said some of McCurtain’s suggestions were already in the works and don’t need to be included in the plan.
Resident Peter Leavitt said that making changes to the plan at that point could put the process back a year and no changes were made.
With the Comprehensive Plan being passed, Crocker said, “it is creating a guide for when the town makes decisions, and we are collectively moving toward the vision of our community.’
The next step is to set up a Comprehensive Implementation Committee which would start putting some of the Comprehensive Plan goals into action. That committee will make recommendations based on both the local and state goals, policies, and action items. Those items are listed in the Comprehensive Plan. <
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