DOT PPI – Planning Partnership Initiative

Within the City of Caribou are various parcels of land that have access to municipal water and sewer but, due to their location along Route 1, they have been closed to potential development because they are in corridors that the State of Maine exercises Access Control. A controlled access highway is one where the state – and not local zoning – controls the type and location of access points to ensure safety and efficiency. Therefore, property owners along the highway do not have direct access and the development potential is limited.

Members of the City Council, the Development Committee, and staff met with representatives of the Maine Department of Transportation earlier this year. Recently, staff had a follow-up conversation. Because Caribou is currently working on the 10-year Comprehensive Plan for the City and part of that is identifying potential areas for development that can be connected to municipal water and sewer , the State is willing to partner with the City on a Planning Partnership Initiative (PPI). From the DOT website: “The PPI is intended to address time-sensitive locally initiated planning and feasibility studies. The approach is to study, evaluate, plan and scope transportation projects on or adjacent to the state transportation system with MaineDOT as a partner.” If the scope of work is approved, this would be a 2-party agreement between the City and State at a 50/50 cost share and will assist the City in its ongoing work to analyze existing parcels to determine their highest and best use. Any PPI agreement would need to be brought back to the City Council for approval and funding.

Map of the area to be studied:

For more information on the Planning Partnership Initiative, please visit the Maine DOT webpage:

https://www.maine.gov/mdot/pga/cbi/planning/index.shtml

Media coverage of this planning project: