Johnson Hall

The stock market is shaky. Many families are in trouble. Employment, education and health care opportunities seem to be shrinking on a day to day basis. Mainers, however, have always been survivors in times of adversity. That said, I believe, along with many other people, that Gardiner is poised to continue on a track of becoming one of Kennebec Valley’s more prosperous and engaging communities.

Today, Gardiner already offers many unique shopping and service opportunities, fine eateries and an artistic flair. Gardiner’s historic districts are among the finest in the state. Our waterfront areas including the Cobbossee Watershed and the Kennebec River (a coastal waterway) are being preserved, protected and promoted. Gardiner’s other commercial assets include existing property that once housed mills or shoe factories and countless plots of land that could be developed to accommodate new residential, commercial or industrial undertakings. Tomorrow could be the dawn of a new day.

Gardiner's waterfront is a true natural treasure

The real good news is that Gardiner skirted the pox of other communities that erroneously based their entire economic future through endorsing ill-conceived concepts. Communities that played all their cards on the continuous stream of box stores and mall development may find that they made a big, yet predictable, mistake. What were they thinking?

A bad idea for Maine and Maine people

People in many cities seemingly just watched from the sidelines as their entrepreneurial sectors comprised of locally owned businesses, artisans, trades people, local farms, dairies and the like were simply gobbled up by the tenacious tentacles of big business. For those places prosperity became contingent upon the decisions being made by distant investors and came to rest largely in the hands of outside interests.

Gardiner, on the other hand, is a great place for business development. It is home to people who are hard working, reliable and offer a wide range of skills and levels of education. They also offer a willingness to adapt to accommodate the labor needs of any prospective employer who may choose to locate here.

Signage is needed for visitors to be directed to waterfront areas, historic districts and downtown shopping districts

The bad news is that Gardiner has a lot of challenges ahead for the city to experience a major rebirth. Customer traffic translates into more business. Farmingdale and Hallowell are assured a heavy traffic flow through their business and historic districts and, as such, have a distinct advantage over places like Gardiner and, to a degree, Richmond. Route 201 is the heaviest traveled secondary road in Maine. But in Gardiner Route 201 skirts its way around downtown, historic districts and the waterfront in the blink of a traveler’s eye.

According to the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) the annual average daily traffic flow for 2008 was 8,060 vehicles using Route 201 as measured at the top of Brunswick Avenue. At the intersection of Water Street and Route 201 the vehicle count was 7,060. A total of 16,520 vehicles were reported to have made their way to the section of Bridge St. between Middle St. and Highland Ave. Of those, only some 2,000 vehicles made their way along any stretch of Water Street.

Presently, Gardiner Maine Street is working along side city officials with disbursing an important $25,000 grant to improve signage in the city that would help direct travelers to shopping, waterfront and historic areas as well as informing them of convenient parking opportunities in all areas of the city. Exactly how this money and other grant money will, or has been utilized certainly will be fodder for discussion down the road.

Without a doubt, Chapman Brother's property at the bottom of Brunswick Hill and on the corner of Gardiners shopping district could play a key role in Gardiner's future.

However, even with the inclusion of signage into the mix of Gardiner’s business strategy, a larger issue looms in the background. Gardiner lacks a “front door” to its community. There is no clear area at any intersection coming into Gardiner that makes travelers feel like they have arrived someplace. There is no property that stands out as a place where traveler information booths could be easily constructed. There is no place where the city could develop localized mass transit systems throughout the city, along the waterfront, to parking areas and into historic districts. All the four corner areas of Gardiner along Route 201 and the adjacent side route down Church Hill are taken. There seems to be nothing available where you can feel the pulse of this city. EXCEPT for, what I feel is, the tremendous potential for development on the site currently owned by the Chapman Brothers who operate a fuel company and car lot there.

Always an important player in Gardiner’s economic development is the Savings Bank of Maine who donated $1 million dollars to continue development efforts in the Waterfront District. Work has already begun and will continue  through the summer. These funds will, among other things, be used to construct a riverfront information center and new pedestrian and handicapped accessible gateways to and from Water Street and Maine Ave. Additionally, the old New Mills Bridge is being replaced and that entire area of town will benefit.

The City of Gardiner offers abundant parking opportunities

Unlike some other area communities, Gardiner continues to secure new interest in the city with the recent addition of a Family Dollar store on the corner of Winter and Water streets, a chiropractic office on the corner of Water St. and Church Hill. At the Libby Hill Industrial Park, Dennison Lubricants join other Gardiner mainstays to include On Target Services, Scientific Games, E.J. Prescott and Pine State Trading.

Key Gardiner businesses include The Sportsman’s Barr, Reny’s, On Target Utility, Curves of Gardiner and Raggamuffins which is a really neat consignment store. Up and coming is Pastaz, a new Italian restaurant on Water Street, Mike’s Sidetrack Cafe, Mr. T’s a new car wash and quick lube being built on 201 and a host of long term Gardiner businesses such as Ladner’s Landscaping, Ainslies Market, the Isamax Bakery, New Mills Market, Hopkins Plumbing, Wingate Oil, Maine Drilling and Blasting, McGee Construction, Berry & Berry, Chapman Brother’s, Andy’s Barbershop and the Village Jeweler as well as others.

The new New Mills Bridge currently under construction

In conclusion, I am of the opinion that: “We can do this.”  Gardiner has, simply put, everything going for it. After everything is put into perspective Gardiner’s success or failure will be based on the city’s ability to be positive and active in the community’s affairs.

TAKE NOTE: You can get more information on these and other exciting projects at www.gardinermaine.com/public or by calling Jason Simcock, Planning & Development Director at 582-6888. Furthermore, you can Google search “Gardiner, Maine” for a repository of information of all city departments and links to all groups and associations that impact on the direction of the city and surrounding communities. You will also want to contact Gardiner Maine Street at www.gardinermainst.org.