SCARBOROUGH — “Planapalooza,” a four-day event designed to give residents and businesses a chance to contribute to the town’s Comprehensive Plan, begins Monday, Sept. 25.

The town first publicized a road map to build a new Comprehensive Plan on May 23. According to material promoting the event, “a Planapalooza is an intense, participatory design, and public input process where you are invited to work directly with your neighbors and a multidisciplinary consulting team.”

The event will be guided by Tennessee-based Town Planning and Urban Design Collaborative. The town hired the collaborative at a cost of nearly $133,000 to help update the plan for 2018.

The town has set up a website dedicated to the Comprehensive Plan at www.scarboroughengaged.org.

Ten planners with different specialties, such as urban design, transportation, and sustainability, will be at the event.

According to Jay Chase, town planner, the consultants will begin to draft a plan for the town based on what they learn from the Planapalooza. A public review process will be undertaken at a later date to evaluate the draft plan.

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Monday’s opening event will take place at 6:30 p.m. at Scarborough High School, 11 Municipal Drive. According to town officials, the main event on Monday will be a “hands-on, roll-up your sleeves” workshop or charrette that “everyone should attend.”

Open houses will be held Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. at 264 U.S. Route 1, in the “planning studio” above Scarborough Grounds coffee shop. On Thursday an open house will be held there from 9 a.m.- 12 p.m. During the open houses, residents can drop in and share their thoughts and ideas.

In addition, on Tuesday the following technical meetings will be offered in the planning studio: 9 a.m., sustainability; 10:30 a.m., natural environments and resiliency; 2:30 p.m., economy and jobs; 4 p.m., mobility and health; and 5:30 p.m., built environment and design.

A closing presentation will be held at the high school at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

In a news release, Chase said the goal of the event is “enlisting participants from all over Scarborough to help design the town’s future and develop the 2018 update of the Comprehensive Plan … The purpose of the Comprehensive Plan is to articulate a common vision for the Town’s future. The plan serves as the foundation for all land use ordinances.”


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