SKOWHEGAN — Those interested in the future of Skowhegan, from the town’s housing stock to the growth of the local economy, can weigh in Tuesday on an updated 10-year comprehensive plan five years in the making.

The Skowhegan Planning Board is scheduled to hold a workshop at its regular meeting Tuesday, which begins at 5:30 p.m. at the municipal building at 225 Water St.

Members of the public will be welcome to comment and ask questions, Melanie Weston, the town’s planner contracted through the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments, said. Anyone not able to attend Tuesday’s meeting may also contact Weston with questions or comments via email at mweston@kvcog.org.

After Tuesday, the public will be able to review the plan again when the select board holds its own public hearing later this spring, Weston said. If the select board approves it, too, voters would consider formally adopting the 351-page document at the annual town meeting in June.

A full copy of the draft plan is available on the town’s website, skowhegan.org.

The plan surveys current data, conditions, issues and policies in the town, including those related to historic and archaeological resources, population trends, natural and water resources, agricultural and forestry resources, business, housing, recreation, transportation, public services, fiscal capacity, existing and future land use and regional coordination.

“A Comprehensive Plan is a guide to a town’s future,” the introduction to the draft plan reads. Comprehensive plans serve as a guide for town government to use to ensure it is moving in a path determined by the public and municipal officials. It provides a snapshot of the town and  roadmap with a direction the town wants to take over the next 10 years, and guidance on how to proceed.”

While comprehensive plans aren’t a state mandate, towns that adopt them are provided a level of legal protection and qualify for state grants to improve growth-related public facilities, the draft plan says.

The state requires a review of such plans every 12 years under the Growth Management Act.

Skowhegan’s Comprehensive Plan was last updated in 2010. This latest effort to develop a new plan using new state guidelines began in 2020 and was a collaboration among the Planning Board and several town employees.

The plan states that public involvement is crucial to its development. A survey circulated earlier this year received 121 responses; the details of its results are included at the end of the report.

“Despite efforts to be inclusionary, the individuals responsible for the Comprehensive Plan update often encounter poorly attended meetings and decreased interest,” the plan says. “Often, it is not until the public votes on the plan that a large segment of the town’s residents voices their views in support of — or in opposition to — the document.”

Skowhegan, a town of about 8,600 people, is site to several major projects promising growth, such as the expansions of the New Balance factory and the Sappi Somerset Mill, the planned construction of the Skowhegan River Park and the redevelopment of the Spinning Mill downtown. Maine School Administrative District 54, meanwhile, is set to open a $75 million consolidated elementary school this fall and Redington-Fairview General Hospital plans to break ground on a new medical office building this spring.

Skowhegan has also finalized a wide-ranging traffic and transportation plan developed working with the Maine Department of Transportation as part of the state’s Village Partnership Initiative. That plan made some key recommendations, such as the need for a second Kennebec River bridge located in the downtown area and modifications to Madison Avenue.

The local economic revitalization nonprofit Main Street Skowhegan also commissioned a master trails plan that was completed in 2024.

The draft Comprehensive Plan emphasizes balancing new economic development with maintaining Skowhegan’s rural character and values.

The document notes that Skowhegan’s population has also been evolving. The total population has remained relatively flat in the last three decades, but the Maine State Economist Office is projecting about 5% growth by 2040.

That prediction comes as the median age of Skowhegan residents has been increasing significantly, along with an associated increase in elderly, single-person households. The family-age adult bracket, ages 18 to 44, meanwhile, has been decreasing significantly. Thus, the plan calls for developing more rentals and senior housing, rather than larger homes.

“Skowhegan is growing and evolving,” the plan says. “This will require us to respond with new ideas and strategies.”