The groundwork has been formally laid for a revitalization of the Gorham Little Falls-South Windham village on Route 202.
On the heels of the Windham Town Council’s approval on April 25, the Gorham Town Council Tuesday unanimously adopted a master plan that makes numerous recommendations to bolster the once thriving area that straddles the Presumpscot River.
The 119-page document was produced jointly by Gorham’s Department of Community Development in collaboration with the town of Windham and a project team of Aceto Landscape Architects and North Star Planning after a two-year study. It marks the second revitalization plan for the area that was last updated in 1998.
The plan recommends a streetscape with trees; narrower travel lanes and wider sidewalks; conservation of natural resources and farmland; an effort to seek public transportation; the allowance of a mix of business and increased residential density; parking behind buildings; public art; increased access to the Presumpscot River; and paving the Mountain Division Rail Trail to Westbrook.
The village bustled with stores and other businesses in the last century. File photo / American Journal
“The plan looks great,” Gorham Town Councilor Seven Siegel said.
The plan is a tool for the council to use, Gorham Town Manager Ephrem Paraschak said, and changes won’t happen overnight.
The former fire station the two towns once shared on the Windham side of the river is being renovated into a restaurant.
The Little Falls-South Windham economy was once fueled by a factory on the Windham river bank that now is a vacant eyesore. The former Keddy Mill sits on a seven-acre site, according to the master plan.
“The site is now currently an EPA Superfund site. Some of the challenges to the site include cleanup and remediation efforts and its location within the shoreland zone,” the master plan said.
When the mill was humming, the area bustled with stores, a pharmacy, laundromat and barber shop. Iconic stores included Patsy’s on the Windham side and Sawyer’s in Gorham. The village had its own library, located on privately owned land. Gorham gifted that building to the Windham Historical Society, which moved it to Windham Center several years ago.
Gorham Town Councilor Suzanne Phillips asked that the new master plan be posted on the town’s website and made available at the Baxter Memorial Library. Council Chairperson Lee Pratt suggested having the document also available at the Lakes Region Senior Center in the Little Falls Activity Center.
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