MANCHESTER — Residents want more people living in the village center and a safer U.S. Route 202.

That’s what officials learned and documented over the last two years while drafting a new town comprehensive plan.

An increase in residential housing in the village is something the town likely can influence — by reflecting that desire in the new comprehensive plan and, in turn, tweaking zoning rules to allow more growth in the heart of town.

Improving U.S. 202? That remains to be seen, residents and officials say.

“Manchester residents’ view of Route 202 is very different than the rest of the state’s,” Selectman Martha Nielsen said.

Nielsen said residents outside Manchester view U.S. 202 “as a highway to Augusta.”

But residents view the highway more as a disruption, she said.

“For us, it bisects our community,” she said. “It has been a problem since the widening in the 1980s. There is so much traffic, it makes it difficult to navigate across town. Our sense of community was very much disrupted.”

Nielsen, who serves as chairwoman of the Comprehensive Planning Committee, said town officials hope to be able to work with the state transportation department when the road is worked on next, to make it less of a barrier to residents traveling in town, and safer.

Nielsen said residents have expressed interest in making U.S. 202 intersections — such as those at Puddledock and Kerns Hill roads — less dangerous.

A public hearing on the proposed comprehensive plan that updates the current 20-year-old document is planned for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 24, at Manchester Elementary School.

Town Manager E. Patrick Gilbert said a town’s comprehensive plan can act as a roadmap, giving guidance to officials planning for the future.

“It documents who you are, and where you want to be,” he said.

Nielsen said one desire expressed by a majority of residents who participated in past comprehensive plan sessions was to encourage residential growth in the village center, approximately between U.S. 202 and the fire station.

But the town’s current zoning rules aren’t friendly to that goal.

“The ordinances we’ve adopted haven’t been successful in directing growth to the town center,” Nielsen said. “So one of our main recommendations is to make it easier to fill in spaces in the area where we’d like to redirect growth.”

As examples of impediments to residential growth in the village area, Nielsen cited large lot size requirements and an ordinance that prohibits resubdividing a lot into multiple lots.

While the comprehensive plan wouldn’t change those zoning rules, it could suggest changes to encourage more residential growth in the village and recommend that officials look to change-pertinent zoning rules to do so.

Nielsen said the two-year process of drafting the plan has included public hearings, research of previous studies and surveys, and assistance from the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments.

As part of the process, residents were also asked what they’d like to see in Manchester. Those desires included a restaurant, coffee shop or community center to serve as a communal spot for residents to gather; beach access to Cobbossee Lake; and sidewalks on roads, including Route 17.

Nielsen anticipates the plan, if accepted by the State Planning Office, could be ready for a vote by residents, likely at a special town meeting sometime over the winter.

Maine towns are not required to have comprehensive plans but, according to the State Planning Office, a consistent comprehensive plan helps a town qualify for some 25 state grant and loan programs, including Community Development Block Grant, Land for Maine’s Future, and Land and Water Conservation Fund programs.

Keith Edwards — 621-5647

[email protected]