Town of Topsham

Topsham is a town of about 9,000 people, located along the Androscoggin River where it converges with the Merrymeeting Bay estuary of the Kennecbec River.  It is home to Maines first operating paper mill, and has a rich history dating back before its incorporation in 1764. Topsham is a neighbor to the Town of Brunswick, where Bowdoin College, and the now defunct Brunswick Naval Air Station have influenced the Topsham community’s past growth.

Topsham is a growing community that is easily accessed by Interstate 295.  We are located within a 20 minute drive to most of Maine’s distinct population centers (Portland, Lewiston/ Auburn, and Augusta). This has brought recent national retail development to its highway interchange area, and has inspired many new residents to call Topsham home.  Retirement communities and single family home development have changed Topsham from a more rural bedroom community to a developing service center in its own right.

The north western two-thirds of the Town is mostly rural, interspersed with single family homes, small farms, the Cathance River corridor, and vast wetlands along the upper Cathance River and within  Merrymeeting Bay.

Topsham has long planned for the protection of its rural character and natural areas with the recognition that a well-planned healthy downtown core is an essential ingredient in protecting these rural values.

We recognized that while we desired more infill development with future downtown neighborhoods that are walkable, safe, and vibrant…as well as our rural and natural areas protected…we saw an opportunity to provide for both in a more planned and intentional manner.

Using the SAMP allows the Town to streamline certain development permitting within its designated growth area, while allowing the Town and its project partner, the Brunswick Topsham Land Trust, to approach rural landowners with the opportunity to receive compensation for conservation easements to protect vernal pools on their lands.

It has also strengthened our natural areas planning efforts by developing a prioritized conservation map in regards to vernal pools to be protected.  This mapping has aligned with the Town’s identified conservation focus areas, as well as the Brunswick Topsham Land Trust strategic planning efforts. An added planning tool that conserves valuable vernal pools, also permanently protect the surrounding acreage from future development, thereby assisting us in our goals of preservation of rural character (and perhaps more importantly…protecting the ecological functions to sustain a vernal pool over time)

Bringing this issue to the forefront has also educated our citizens in the importance of protecting vernal pools. Large and small landowners have attended many sessions to learn the values of these pools, and resoundingly have gotten on board in the future protection of these resource as landowners.

As we defined our vernal pool overlay district (Designated Development Area) utilizing mapping data…this exercise has informed our current comprehensive planning efforts, and the Town is now identifying this DDA in it future land use plan.

Topsham Designated Development Area

Topsham is the first Town in Maine to have stepped through the process to fully have delegated review authority to enact the SAMP in Maine.  Many years were spent reviewing draft ordinance language, mapping, and economic impact modeling, resulting in a product that was resoundingly adopted at our annual town meeting (a major hurdle for any new regulatory scheme).  Without the assistance from the University of Maine, and State/ Federal Agencies in developing this template with us we would not have been in the position we are today.

Rod Melanson, Topsham Director-Planning, Development & Codes, (207) 725-1724, rmelanson@topshammaine.com

Town of Topsham, 100 Main Street, Topsham, ME 04086

Town of Orono Board Approval

Topsham Vernal Pool SAMP Application