Members of Madawaska’s planning board showed support for a new comprehensive plan during a Monday night meeting after hearing a summary of the plan from Kristen Henry, the town’s newly appointed economic and community development director.
According to a draft of the new executive summary, which Henry summarized during the meeting, the 2027 plan will guide numerous municipal decisions in areas like “land use, housing, economic development, infrastructure, public services, recreation, conservation, and cross-border collaboration.”
Planning Board Chairperson Christina Ouellette said she was happy to see the emphasis on working with the town’s Canadian neighbor, particularly the neighboring Canadian city of Edmundston.
“I think we get lost in translation a lot with people coming from away,” Ouellette said. “They think the world drops off after the end of I-95 or somewhere in Bangor. Well, we have a major city right across from us. There’s 18,000 people in Edmundston.”
In terms of population, Edmundston is about twice as big as Presque Isle, Aroostook County’s largest city, which has roughly fewer than 9,000 people. It would also take roughly 3 ½ hours to travel from Madawaska to Quebec City in Canada, or about the same time it would take to travel to Bangor.
A public input session was scheduled a half hour before the planning board meeting, but no residents attended. Henry said she hopes to present new elements of the plan roughly once a month, and that public feedback is an important part of the process.
The new plan will build on what town officials established in the Madawaska Grand Plan, which was designed to implement changes between 2018 and 2028 that will help grow the town. This plan contained four strategic goals, creating a strong culture and place, a vibrant and attractive community, a diverse and thriving local economy, and an efficient and exceptional government.
In the executive summary for the Grand Plan, town officials wrote that these goals speak to Madawaska’s “vision to become a vibrant center of opportunity where the French culture, nature’s abundance, and an international bond make Madawaska a great place to live, work, and visit.”
One of the key themes from the original Grand Plan is to continue focusing on the northern Maine border town’s Acadian culture and heritage. Statistics about this aspect of the town’s heritage are shared in the community profile and regional context report, which is also part of the materials for the draft plan. According to this report, nearly half of all residents aged 45 or older speak a language other than English at home, and in nearly every case that language is French or Acadian French. Around 92.8% of the town’s residents speak fluent English with the remaining percentage primarily consisting of older adults.
This report acknowledges that the biggest challenges facing Madawaska are its aging population, workforce gaps, and high poverty rates among certain demographic groups, with the highest rate being 78.5% among middle-aged single adults between 45 and 54 and 66% among those aged 55 to 64. The report indicates that this highlights major needs in areas like supportive housing, mental and behavioral health services, and other forms of assistance for isolated residents.
Henry said the data was pulled from the American Community Survey and U.S. Gazetteer Files, which are both from the U.S. Census Bureau.
It will also prioritize accessible recreation and walkability and focus on economic improvements gained through partnerships across the border with Canada with cities like Edmundston. It also includes working with nearby towns in the St. John Valley.
Some of the strategies in the draft plan include improving the housing supply through rehabilitating old apartment units and encouraging new construction projects.
The town has created a website for the new Comprehensive Plan in which residents can learn more and watch as it comes together before the final approval next winter.
Looking ahead, Henry said she would ideally like to see the plan completed by early 2027, and then go to a referendum vote that summer.
