How walkable is Wiscasset?

The answer may have implications for not only foot traffic-dependent businesses, but other property owners, too. A walkable downtown, easy to get around and desirable to linger in, has higher land values within a five-minute walk, according to international walkability expert Dan Burden.

Those values can be 100 percent to 400 percent over ones in and near other downtowns, Burden said in a telephone interview from Hawaii on December 20.

Burden could be walking Wiscasset's sidewalks next March, if the town lands a walkability audit. Selectmen on December 17 gave Town Planner Misty Parker the go-ahead to seek one of two grants the Midcoast Public Health District is funding. The strings are a local, $1,000 match that can include in-kind services, but at least $500 in cash; and Wiscasset would need to start or make plans to start a committee to encourage healthy and environmentally friendly travel modes like walking and bicycling, according to the form to apply for the grants.

Brunswick, Harpswell, and towns in Lincoln, Sagadahoc, Knox and Waldo counties have until January 8 to apply. Two towns will win the audits.

Wiscasset and other applicants will have a short wait for word. Selections will be made by January 15, said Jane Lafleur, executive director of Friends of Midcoast Maine. The nonprofit is working with Burden, of the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute, to help the Midcoast Public Health District carry out the audits.

“He's great,” Lafleur said of Burden. Wiscasset will likely have some competition for a grant. “There's going to be a lot of interest,” Lafleur said.

Burden described his walks as workshops that draw on his fresh set of eyes, along with townspeoples' memories and their ideas for what could be.

“All of a sudden there are these 'aha' moments.

“The whole concept is really getting people to see things through a brand new lens, and see their town as a place for people,” Burden said. Towns often focus on trying to keep cars in motion, he said. “As long as that's the thought process, then we don't really see the potential for the community.”

Burden has done the workshops in nearly 4,000 North American communities, including Boothbay Harbor in 2012.

Parker told selectmen her interest in the grant stemmed in part from increased local interest on two fronts: healthy living and enhancing the downtown experience for townspeople and visitors.

“So I think this (grant) is very serendipitous with a lot of the conversations that I've been hearing from residents,” Parker said. “And it's an opportunity that may not be available in the future.”

Selectmen agreed to tap contingency funds for the $500 cash match if the town gets the grant.