In an effort to develop a partnership between the City of Old Town and The University of Maine, a resolution passed by the General Student Senate (GSS) last month led to Tuesday’s creation and election of a GSS liaison to Old Town City Council. Both ends of the partnership are hopeful that Old Town will be able to serve the UMaine population in ways that Orono cannot.
“I think that Old Town has the potential to rival Orono, I just think it has kind of underutilized the resources it may have,” said Trey Stewart, president of GSS. “The good news is Old Town is much more receptive to increasing the student population there and kind of bumping up the vibe some, and there is no reason they cannot do it.”
The liaison, Sen. Shaun McDonald, will attend Old Town City Council meetings as a representative of UMaine’s undergraduate population. His position will serve as an opportunity for the town and the University to collaborate with each other to better serve the needs of the University’s students.
“The City of Old Town wants to meet the needs of and provide services to many demographics. Being close to the University of Maine suggests we should collaborate and partner with the UMaine and the students who attend the institution,” said EJ Roach, member of Old Town City Council.
At the end of the 2014 spring semester, GSS created a liaison position to the Town of Orono and elected Sen. Andrew Bracy to fill the role. According to Stewart, Bracey has gone above and beyond GSS expectations by attending nearly every Orono Committee or Council meeting in a given week, sitting at the table in those meetings representing the undergraduate population to the town.
After hearing concern from town residents about the encroachment of off-campus student housing in residential neighborhoods, the Orono town council contemplated putting in place a six-month housing moratorium to stop the conversion of family homes into student housing.
“We kind of experimented with [the liaison position] in Orono and had great results in making Orono a better college town — making sure that the largest demographic of Orono is being represented,” Stewart said. “I truly do not think that the student housing moratorium would have been halted if [the GSS liaison] has not happened.”
Though the moratorium was struck down last month, many students feel the conversation surrounding the moratorium drove a wedge between them and the residents of Orono.
“Old Town has been more low key, as of late, than Orono has; particularly surrounding the issue of the moratorium. I think that is why Old Town has been put on the back burner. It doesn’t need as much help as Orono does right now,” Stewart said.
Stewart believes that the hostility surrounding the student population in Orono will cause more students to consider Old Town when looking for housing options next year.
However, attracting college students to Old Town is going to take a lot more than a just a low key attitude towards students, Stewart said. As compared to Orono, Old Town has a much less developed downtown area and has decentralized areas of interest. Whereas Orono’s downtown area contains centralized amenities that a college demographic is drawn to.
“Old Town has gotten put on the back burner in terms of how can it be revamped, and how it can attract college students to make it competitive with Orono,” Stewart said.
In order for Old Town to gather student interest, the city needs to focus on bringing amenities to it’s downtown that students are attracted to. Stewart says these amenities can range from small apparel shops, to coffee shops, to restaurants as well as bars for the 21-and-older college crowd.
Both Old Town and GSS are hopeful that the creation of the liaison position will allow for student-minded input to be brought to the table when planning for future development.
“As we look to revitalize our downtown area we want to consider the needs of UMaine students and encourage them to have a voice in what types of services, businesses, housing options, etc. that should be considered,” Roach said.
While the position is still in its infancy, as soon as GSS receives an invitation from the City Council collaboration will begin. Stewart also suggests that Old Town should reach out to public policy students at UMaine to further develop ways the city can serve its existing and future student population.
“The person that we have for this position is a really good fit, and I know that if the invitation is outreached from the city council there. They will be more than receptive with it and hopefully they can develop the same relationship [as with Orono],” Stewart said.