| Bourne Financial Development
Corporation Announces $250,000 in Senate’s budget
for Economic Studies for Main Street Buzzards Bay
For release: June 14
Contact: Sallie Riggs 508 457-5305
The Bourne Financial Development Corporation (BFDC) announced
today that its efforts to revitalize Main Street Buzzards
Bay are poised to clear a major funding hurdle. As part of
the Senate’s version of the fiscal year 2007 budget,
Senator Therese Murray (D-Plymouth), Chairwoman of the Senate
Committee on Ways and Means, included $250,000 to fund the
majority of the market and density analyses, and wastewater
and other infrastructure studies that are necessary for the
revitalization project to move forward.
“Senator Therese Murray and her staff have been very
supportive of our efforts,” noted John Harding, President
of the BFDC Board of Directors. “She understands the
value of planning based on the kinds of facts and accurate
information that professional planners can bring to the process.”
The BFDC, working in collaboration with the Buzzards Bay
Village Association, the Cape Cod Canal Region Chamber of
Commerce, the Cape Cod Commission, and representatives of
the Town’s Planning Board and Local Comprehensive Plan
committee, with the Town Administrator and the Town Planner
participating ex officio, is taking the first step
in a comprehensive planning process.
“This coalition of public and private leadership gives
us a unique opportunity to make a difference,” Harding
added. “Senator Murray’s support gives the potential
data gathering a major boost. Only when we have the facts
can we do something.”
The process involves building on earlier studies and gathering
data with the help of planning professionals, and then creating
a re-development plan with accurate information about potential
markets, appropriate mixes of commercial and residential
uses, the fiscal impact on the Town, and solutions to infrastructure
issues such as wastewater management, traffic/parking, flood
zone, and transportation. The planning process will include
discussions with townspeople.
The goal of the planning effort is to revitalize Main Street
Buzzards Bay with both commercial and residential development
resulting in a compact, pedestrian-oriented downtown that
serves as a destination for both residents and visitors.
The Town’s Local Comprehensive Plan includes the revitalization
of “. . . Main Street in Buzzards Bay in accordance
with an accepted comprehensive plan.” No such comprehensive
plan currently exists, however, nor can one be created without
significant research into questions of density, fiscal impact,
appropriate residential and commercial mixes, and the exploration
of options to solve infrastructure problems.
The House and Senate are in the process of completing negotiations
on the final, compromise budget for fiscal year 2007.
The Senate’s budget also provided several other funding
initiatives for Bourne to encourage tourism and development.
They include:
- $100,000 for the Buzzards Bay Village Association to
develop a master transportation and communications infrastructure
plan for Main Street, Buzzard’s Bay;
- $250,000 to repair the Monument Beach Marina;
- $50,000 for increased state police patrols during high
traffic times on Scenic Highway and Route 3.
- Additional education funding to assist communities who
are under extreme financial strain because of additional
financial burdens such as extraordinary increases in enrollment
or decreased federal assistance.
The Bourne Financial Development Corporation is a 501(c)(3)
organization, established by vote of Bourne Town Meeting
and an act of the legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
in 2000. Its mission is:
. . . to promote the common good and general welfare
of the town of Bourne and to improve the living standards
of its citizens by fostering the improvement of employment
and educational opportunities.
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