Research snapshot · Environmental · 31 August 2026

Watershed protection overlay in Maine: 54 towns on the record, the pace easing

This page is a snapshot, cut 31 August 2026, of a topic that moves. Below is the shape of the movement, read from the towns' own meeting records, and the way to get a view of it that stays current.

Border case — could go STORMWATER or SHORELAND.Our definition of the class, 29 August 2026.

Snapshot taken 31 August 2026, based on 123 dated municipal records flagged as watershed protection overlay in Maine, spanning 54 municipalities. The topic moves; a later cut supersedes this page.

What this page is for one topic at state or national scope, told as a story: how it arrived, the shape of its movement, a dated snapshot of a moving record, and the door to a view of it that stays current. If it does not, write to us; that is what changes the next edition.

The story so far

The record starts in Presque Isle, 7 January 2013. Since then 54 Maine towns have put the topic on a meeting record, the newest of them Harpswell on 4 June 2026.

The last 90 days put 13 meetings on the record, down from 14 in the 90 days before. 2 more are already on posted agendas.

It runs through the rooms where budgets and ordinances are made: Planning Board, Town Council and Select Board.

The shape of the movement

Dated meetings on the record at this scope, quarter by quarter, and the same 90-day count as a rolling line, whose right-hand point is that number. Counts of documents, never a reading of what they decided.
QuarterMeetingsTowns
Sep 2025 to Nov 202555
Dec 2025 to Feb 20262119
Mar 2026 to May 20261511
Jun 2026 to Aug 2026 (current)148

a rolling 90-day total, so the right-hand point is that same 90-day count. The busiest stretch was Dec 2025 to Feb 2026, with 21 meetings.

The towns on the record54, earliest first

Every Maine town carrying the topic, the earliest first, each with its latest document.
Presque Isleearliest 2013-01-07 · 4 meetings · latest 2024-02-14 · the agenda Packet
Windhamearliest 2015-02-09 · 3 meetings · latest 2015-02-09 · the document PB072110
Wiltonearliest 2019-04-27 · 5 meetings · latest 2025-04-19 · the document 2024 CCR
Bridgtonearliest 2019-05-02 · 3 meetings · latest 2026-02-03 · the minutes 2.3.26 Minutes
Litchfieldearliest 2019-05-20 · 3 meetings · latest 2022-06-22 · the ordinance Land Use Ordinance Approved June 18, 2022
Clintonearliest 2020-01-01 · 1 meeting · latest 2020-01-01 · the document Hot Topics for Planning and Zoning Department
Falmouthearliest 2020-01-01 · 12 meetings · latest 2026-08-25 · the document Public comment for 241A Foreside application_ Dan and Sandy Kerpelman_ Opposition letter and info_ 10 Old Powerhouse Roa
Orlandearliest 2020-10-02 · 3 meetings · latest 2025-02-28 · the document Joint Statement 12-19-24
Yarmouthearliest 2021-01-27 · 3 meetings · latest 2026-07-08 · the document Planning Board — AGENDA 7-8-26
Libertyearliest 2021-02-05 · 1 meeting · latest 2021-02-05 · the document Floodplain_Managment_Ordinance
Lewistonearliest 2022-03-28 · 7 meetings · latest 2025-06-17 · the agenda City Council Agenda/Info Packet-06-17-2025
Lymanearliest 2022-05-01 · 1 meeting · latest 2022-05-01 · the ordinance Shoreland-zoning-ordinance-amended-06-08-2021
Levantearliest 2022-09-01 · 1 meeting · latest 2022-09-01 · the document REVISED_SHORELAND_ZONING
Jeffersonearliest 2022-10-03 · 4 meetings · latest 2026-07-08 · the agenda April 7, 2026 PB Agenda
Sanfordearliest 2023-01-01 · 3 meetings · latest 2025-08-07 · the document Water Quality Inventory (2157 KB)Opens in new window

And 39 more towns on the record, in an account view.

From the record

The most recent documents behind this page, one per town. Each link opens the town's own file.

25 August 2026 · Falmouth Board of Zoning Appeals

the document, on the town's own site Public comment for 241A Foreside application_ Dan and Sandy Kerpelman_ Opposition letter and info_ 10 Old Powerhouse Roa

30 July 2026 · Auburn City Committees

the minutes, on the town's own site City Committees — Agenda 7 30 26

8 July 2026 · Portland Sustainability and Transportation Committee

the meeting packet, on the town's own site Sustainability & Transportation Committee Meeting 2026-07-08 — S&T Agenda Packet

8 July 2026 · Yarmouth Planning Board

the document, on the town's own site Planning Board — AGENDA 7-8-26

Companies on this record202 companies, 90 documents

Named in the same documents that carry this topic, read from the record itself: the firms designing, building and advising the work, each with where the record places them:
Maine DEPEliot, Falmouth, North Yarmouth and 2 more
Central Maine PowerEliot, North Yarmouth, Sanford and 1 more
Casco Bay Estuary PartnershipPhippsburg, Portland, Yarmouth
GPCOGCumberland, Harrison, Portland
Maine Municipal Bond BankCamden, Harpswell
Bangor Savings BankHarpswell, Hope
Cumberland County Soil & Water Conservation DistrictFalmouth, South Portland
FB Environmental AssociatesAuburn, Falmouth
Federal Emergency Management AgencyHarrison, Liberty
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)Lewiston, Yarmouth
GMRIBath, Portland
Maine Coast Heritage TrustSanford, Yarmouth
Maine Floodplain Management ProgramHarrison, Liberty
MEDEPFalmouth, South Portland
C.A. White & AssociationHarpswell
FlycatcherYarmouth
Harpswell Neck Fire & RescueHarpswell
Harriman AssociatesAuburn
Maine Office of GISSanford
Maine State Historic Preservation OfficerYarmouth
National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationYarmouth
OrensteinYarmouth
Procter & GambleAuburn
SL Environmental Law GroupCamden
SMRPCSanford
Tambrands, Inc.Auburn
US Army CorpsYarmouth
US Fish and Wildlife ServiceYarmouth
Wiscasset Climate Action TeamWiscasset
80 Bridge StreetYarmouth

And 172 more companies.

The documents naming each, and the threads they sit in, are the account view. If one of these is you, those are your projects on the record. Ask and we will show you every one, and the towns around them, as they move.

A snapshot of a moving record

Everything above is frozen at 31 August 2026; the topic is not. 85 more events on this topic carry no usable date and are counted, never dated. The counts follow where we read most: a town or a state absent here was not read at depth, and absence is not evidence the topic is absent there. A lighter-read state is not a ceiling; where you care about a region, pointing the system there is the first thing an account changes. How coverage is built, and its known limits: municipalalpha.com/methodology.

How we can tell you about it ongoing

We track this topic continuously; this page is one cut of it, taken 31 August 2026. An account turns the snapshot into a working view: every town and every document behind these counts, the thread on each matter as it develops, word of new meetings as they land on the record, your own states and topics side by side, and the data itself when you want it in a table. The towns above are the taste; what each is actually deciding, funding or stalling is the read an account carries.

Also at this scope: Watershed protection overlay across the country. Counts and dates are computed from the documents on the record; the topic and its definition are ours. This page carries no subscriber content.

Watershed protection overlay, Maine

from the towns' own meeting records

Scope

Maine

every topic this state carries

Area

Environmental

every topic in this area

Towns on the record

54

with a dated document on this topic

Earliest

7 January 2013

the documents' dates

Meetings, last 90 days

13 against 14 before

dated documents

Snapshot cut

31 August 2026

this page's date

A view that stays current

ask for yours