Chapter 5: Land Use and Development

Historic Development Patterns and Current Trends:

The historic land use development pattern in Canaan is typical of that in rural Maine: the village was the original concentration of manufacturing, business and culture, and the residence of people who worked in those trades; the countryside was mostly farms. In the 20th Century, and the past thirty years particularly, development patterns have changed. Easy, cheap transportation is the reason. On the one hand, Canaan's farms could not compete with larger farms on better land in the south and west, and when cheap transportation bought those goods to local markets, local farms folded. Nor could local businesses compete with larger, better equipped businesses in nearby cities, so the commercial part of the village sort of died as soon as it became easy for anyone to drive to Skowhegan or Bangor. On the other hand, people no longer have to live within a walk or bus ride of work and stores. We can live as far away from work as our cars will take us.

Rural Areas:

The current rural development trend is well-established. Because a large proportion of rural land is not used profitably for farming or timber anymore, it is relatively cheap and plentiful. Because transportation is so cheap, it is also cheaper to live on rural land than near commercial and employment centers.

The catch is that much of the rural development is only economical where cheap transportation, i.e. town roads, exists. Nowadays, we would not think of building a house without road frontage. Though Canaan does have more than its share of private subdivision roads, the majority of new housing in town is along the frontage of existing town roads. This trend not only creates more of a feeling of suburban clutter than there actually is; It makes it far more expensive to develop land on "back lots,: which will have to happen if Canaan is to continue growing.

As the frontage of rural roads becomes completely developed, the price of vacant land will rise (supply and demand at work). Judging from the rate at which development is taking place, this is pretty close to happening now. The first signs of this happening is that development shifts to the roads that are in poorer condition.

An inventory of development in rural Canaan shows that in 1984, 78 percent of the houses were on paved roads; In 1994, just ten years later, only 69 percent of the houses were on paved roads. That suggests that a lot of new houses were built along gravel roads (especially since some of the gravel roads were paved in those ten years). On 16 of the gravel roads in town, there have been more houses built in the past ten years than there were total, ten years ago. That is true on only four of the 22 paved roads. The roads with a really significant amount of new development over the past ten years are Hill Road, Sand Road, Ella Gerald Road, Shady Lane, Warren Ave., Pine Valley Drive, and the Browns Corner Road. The end result is that the Town is spending far more money maintaining gravel roads because of the new development.

The Town also ends up paying more to support rural development in other areas. No one will dispute that school busses are a big part of a growing school budget. There are far more busses traveling more miles today than there would be if not for rural sprawl. And fire protection is far more costly for rural areas than the village.

Village:

By contrast, the development trend in the village is still in doubt. Except for Merrit Street, and Overlook Drive , there has been virtually no new housing development in the village. It is difficult for village-oriented business to grow if its customer base does not. And it would be fatal for a business in Canaan village to try to compete head-on with Skowhegan businesses. The village is struggling for an identity that will be a niche different from urban-area businesses, but it will not be able to depend on walk-in patronage from village residents.

The fact that the village is located along Route 2, a major east-west corridor through Maine for commerce and tourism, will help, in that there is a built-in potential market. However, that does not give the village any particular leg up over other locations along the highway. One of the planning issues facing the Town is that most of the vehicles on Main Street are there because it is Route 2. Long-distance travelers and trucks, especially, are not interested in slowing down for Canaan, which only helps to isolate one side of the village from the other.

The prior chapter discussed some of the measures that are being tried to stimulate business development in the village. However, commercial space along Main Street is limited. So is parking. This naturally leads to some leakage of development onto the highway leading into the village -- strip development.

The problem of potential strip development in Canaan is real. From a practical perspective, a developer is more likely to want to develop a large, cheap parcel along a rural stretch of Route 2 in Canaan, than he is to try to work with an existing building and undersized lot in the village. The thinking is the same for residential developers. From an individual view, it is easier and more profitable to ignore the village, even though in the long run, the entire community ends up paying for it.

Agriculture and Forestry:

Forest and farmlands are essential elements of Canaan's landscape and need to be preserved in order to maintain Canaan's quiet, rural character. Ensuring the continuation of farming and forestry is one important way of protecting the woods and fields that Canaanites feel is such an important part of the Town's heritage.

Agriculture and forestry contribute to the region's economy by providing raw materials and production for local and regional markets. These activities also support a number of jobs on a seasonal, part-time, or full-time basis. The woods and fields maintained by farming and forestry provide for outdoor activities such as hunting, fishing, hiking, snowmobiling, and cross-county skiing.

There is a significant amount of land in Canaan dedicated to agriculture and forestry. According to 1999 figures, there are 6,925 acres registered under the Tree Growth Tax Law and farmland Tax Law, or over 26% of the total acreage in Canaan. In other words, about 1/4 of Canaan is set aside intentionally as forest and open space for the foreseeable future. These tax programs allow for the valuation of commercial forest, farmland, or open space based on its current use rather than its potential fair market value for more intensive uses.

There are also farmers and commercial forest owners not registered under these tax programs, making the actual amount of land used for farming, forestry, and open space significantly higher than the 6,925 acres enlisted in tax programs, In essence, Canaan is still mostly woods and fields.

Agriculture:

It is no secret that farming is barely viable and its future is uncertain. Local farmers face many hardships including high maintenance costs, regulatory demands, consistently low prices, high costs, and fluctuating markets. They also have a hard time competing with producers in other parts of the country who have lower production costs. The decline in agriculture has been occurring independently of economic trends. When the economy is strong, farmers find subdividing their land a more lucrative activity while during poor economic times, farmers can sometimes be forced to sell. For these and other reasons. Canaan has seen a general decline in agricultural activity.

Not all the news is bad for local farmers. The area around Canaan has the largest concentration of dairy farms and head of cattle in the state. There are still a good number of supporting services for farmers in the region, too. Veterinary services, feed stores, livestock auctioneers, and parts suppliers are located throughout Fairfield, Pittsfield, Winslow, Skowhegan, Clinton, Waterville, and Norridgewock. As a matter of fact, Hammond & Tilton in Fairfield is one of the largest farm equipment suppliers in Maine. Having these businesses nearby will help keep existing farms viable at least into the near future.

Agriculture can be financially advantageous for a town. The average dairy farm in Maine, for example, pays over $3,000 in property taxes yet requires little in public services. A number of agricultural studies have shown that New England farms and open space require of the public service dollars that residential development demands. Dairy farms are big business, as well. They typical dairy farm in Maine has 68 cows and requires an investment of at least $475,000.

It has been noted in this plan that the southern portion of Town is witnessing the most growth and should continue to do so. There are farms located in this area, some of which will likely decide to sell and/or subdivide as development surrounds them. The largest and most viable operations, however, are still out of reach of this development. Thus most of the agricultural losses in the next ten years should be predominantly marginal farms while the larger, stronger farms should escape the pressures of residential growth. The five major dairy farms in town are listed on the list of businesses in Chapter 4.

Forestry:

As previously outlined, a large portion of Canaan's land is entered into the Tree Growth and Open Space Tax programs. Practically all of that land, 6,910 acres, is under the Tree Growth program. This figure indicates a large amount of forested land and a strong commitment to commercial forestry in Canaan.

Timber harvesting in the Town of Canaan plays an important role in the local economy by supporting harvesting and processing jobs as well as providing income for the land owners. The above-mentioned harvesting plans employed five licensed foresters and 15 harvesting operations. Some of the raw product gets value added in local saw mills also, two of which are located within Canaan. And the sale of the wood is benefitting a good number of small woodlot owners in Canaan; not just a few large owners.

The pattern of Tree-Growth-registered parcels is shown on the map at the end of this report. By far the largest extent of forest land is that owned by Scott Paper Company, north of Brown's Corner Road and Lancaster Roads. In addition to being under active forest management, this tract serves hunters, snowmobilers, and other recreationists.

Land Use Regulation:

Under Home Rule authority and various state mandates, the Town has the right and the responsibility to control land use patterns so that they do not harm the residents of town, nor raise the cost of public services. Canaan has exercised that authority with restraint and discretion over the years.

In addition to the state-mandated Shoreland Zoning Ordinance, Canaan's major control is our subdivision ordinance which was revised in 2000 The subdivision ordinance provides a reasonable set of development standards to ensure that subdivisions protect the environment, maintain the rural character of the community and allow the town to provide the necessary services to development.

The subdivision ordinance, adopted in 2000, contains standards governing the construction of roads , erosion, stormwater, and other requirements. The ordinance also requires a one acre minimum lot size and 200 feet of lot road frontage. An open space subdivision option is also available.

The Town also has a mobile home park ordinance, communication tower ordinance and a building ordinance.

Housing Development Trends

The Town has averaged at least 20 new homes per year since 1980. A total of 419 new residential units were constructed or installed in the Town between 1980 and 2000. The majority of these homes were placed on individual lots along existing town roads. A total of 256 homes accounting for 60% were located on roadside lots. Subdivision development accounted for 164 homesteads or 40% of the total. Although a total of 273 subdivision lots were created between 1980 and 2000 there are 109 subdivision lots still vacant. The table below list all of the subdivision activity in the Town for this period.

Subdivision Development Activity Table: Source; Town Records

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Most new subdivision activity occurred between 1980 and 1990. A total of 213 subdivision lots were approved in this period compared to 70 lots approved between 1991 and 2000. The average lot size for these subdivisions is 4.5 acres per lot although the lots range in size between , ½ of an acre to 26 acres . A lot size between 1 to 2 acres is the most popular.

The subdivision lot vacancy rate is 40% of the total. It is not reasonable to consider all of these vacant lots as readily marketable. Many of the lots on the older subdivision will not likely be developed for a variety of reasons. If vacant lots in the subdivisions created between 1980 and 1986 are subtracted then the result is a more realistic number of 84 lots. The existing availability of subdivision lots can accommodate the town's current of housing for at least 4 years.