About Chris

Priorities

Take care of what we already own, on a schedule. It's cheaper, and residents can count on it.

ROADS

Steady upkeep, safe infrastructure

Roads are the meat and potatoes of town government, and Cape has funded them inconsistently. In 2011 the Town Manager said we should spend $400,000 a year on repaving;1 over the fifteen years since, the paving line has hit that number three times, swung from $100,000 to $700,000 and back, and last year it was zero. This year the town is putting in $181,000; the rest is one-time grant money.2, 3 The town's own engineering consultants told us in 2013 that rebuilding a road costs at least six times what resurfacing it on time does.4 I'll push for a steady, published road program: survey on schedule, fund it every year, report what got paved.

CONSERVATION

Preserve our open space

Open space is why people stay in Cape Elizabeth. The Land Trust's land is protected for good; a lot of the rest isn't. The town's plan says unrestricted town land “may be put to a different use by the Town Council at any time.”5 I'll push to make the Town Farm's protection permanent and to put the land fund in an ordinance, so its money stays reserved for land and the yearly contribution is in every budget.

More on this

The Town Farm is only protected through 2050,6 and a town committee has already voted to keep it on the list for future housing.7 The Land Trust asked in 2025 to make that easement permanent; no action appears in the public record.8 Meanwhile the town's land fund sits at about $175,000. Its small annual contribution, about $33,000 a year, was halved in 2020, restored, then zeroed in 2024 with no written explanation in the budget or the minutes.9, 10

SCHOOLS

Back our School Board

The charter gives the School Board our schools and gives the Council the tax bill and the borrowing. Voters approved the new school in 2025, and the bids came in millions under budget.11 Relitigating settled decisions costs time and money. I'll ask my questions early, then respect the Board's decisions and the voters' verdict.

The case for consistency

The things that frustrate people about Cape Elizabeth's government aren't dramatic. They're the results of inconsistency.

Conservation is follow-through, too.

The town's build-out study counts room for hundreds of new homes on land that's still open, much of it rural,12 and the Land Trust's strategic plan calls for conserving priority lands “while they are still available.”13 Of the 22 conservation easements in Cape Elizabeth in the state's database, the Town Farm's is the only one with an end date.14, 6 Fixing that takes a Council vote and a recorded amendment.

Build housing where the town already is.

Every house on a nearly-two-acre rural lot eats open space, adds a driveway onto a country road, and costs more to build for. The town's Gull Crest study found compact housing needs about a seventh of the site work per home.15 The Comprehensive Plan estimates that on current lot sizes, the rural zone will use three times the land to house one-third of the new homes.16 Reasonable housing in the Town Center, where the water, sewer and sidewalks already are, protects the best parts of Cape and adds to the tax base without adding miles of road to maintain. Voters agreed last year.17 I'll back that approach.

Some of this is the Charter. Most of it is follow-through.

In 2012 voters updated the charter and said they wanted a say on big projects, and I'd keep that.18 But the $1 million referendum threshold for projects was never adjusted for inflation, and it catches things voters never meant. It was one of the reasons the Town Center got an $825,000 intersection instead of the roundabout that survey respondents preferred two to one.19, 20 It's reasonable to exempt street, sidewalk and sewer bonds from its rule.21 I'd push to put that kind of modest fix in front of voters, and keep the vote on new buildings, land and big borrowing.

It shouldn't take a circus.

Getting a school repaired or a better traffic fix for the Town Center shouldn't take a political fight. It should take a plan, a budget line, and a Council that sees it through. Of the 22 roads and projects on the town's five-year priority list, eleven were done on time.22

We all have equity in this community.

In our homes, in our friendships, in our sense of belonging. My job on the Council is to protect that equity.

Sources (22)

Every figure above, with the town document it comes from. We host our own copies so the links keep working.
  1. Town Manager, Capital Improvement Plan FY2012–16, Jan 5, 2011 (excerpt, one page): the town “should be spending … $400,000 a year to repave roads, $600,000 a year to improve roads and drainage,” and “deferred maintenance results in significantly higher expensive fixes.” The paving line reached $400,000 in three of the fifteen budget years since (FY2015–2017; FY2015 leaned on carried-over balances). Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  2. Town paving line, FY2012–FY2027, as proposed in each budget book and, where minutes survive, as adopted: $100K · $275K · $295K · $700K · $435K · $445K · $220K · $200K · $300K · $300K · $300K · $300K · $325K · $338K · $0 · $181K (FY2027 also carries $829K of one-time grant match and state aid; FY2019 and FY2020 audits record lower original figures; FY2022's $300K sat inside a larger $988K roads-and-drainage line). Compiled by the campaign from the town's budget books, Capital Improvement Plans and audited financial reports; every figure is cited by page in the linked research report. Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  3. Public Works Director memo to the Council, Oct 2, 2025 (Oct 15, 2025 packet, p. 250): “the Town did not fund the Paving and Roadway Improvements CIP in FY26, due to other funding priorities”; $232,041 reallocated from FEMA and state road aid. Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  4. Gorrill-Palmer, Town of Cape Elizabeth Pavement Management Report, July 22, 2013 (p. 3): rehabilitation “costs at least three times the amount it costs to complete a light overlay; reconstruction of a roadway costs at least six times.” Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  5. Town of Cape Elizabeth, Management of Greenbelt and Open Space Plan (adopted 2012; hosted copy is the Nov 2011 draft), Executive Summary p. 5: “Many of the properties included in this plan do not have any restrictions that limit their use to open space … Land without deed restrictions that is managed for open space today may be put to a different use by the Town Council at any time.” Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  6. Conservation Easement, Town of Cape Elizabeth to Cape Elizabeth Land Trust, May 22, 2000 (Cumberland County Registry of Deeds, Book 15567, Page 105): approximately 150 acres of the Town Farm, protected “for a term of fifty (50) years” (i.e., through 2050). Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  7. Housing Diversity Study Committee minutes, June 26, 2023: on reconsideration, the committee voted 7–0 to keep the Town Farm “for consideration to build housing in the future.” Three weeks earlier it had removed the farm because it “is not available until 2050.” Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  8. Conservation Committee minutes, Feb 11, 2025: the Land Trust's executive director confirmed the Town Farm easement “expires in 2050” and asked that “the next step … be to make the easement permanent.” No follow-up appears in the record through September 2026. Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  9. Town Council packet, Sept 21, 2026, item 9.A: “The current balance of that fund is $174,770.” The Land Acquisition Fund has no ordinance behind it; the Council can redirect it. In April 2026 a councilor remarked, “I didn't even know we had a land fund.” Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  10. FY2025 proposed budget (Finance Committee packet, Mar 18, 2024, p. 165): the annual “Pennies for Open Space” transfer to the Land Acquisition Fund ($32,914 in most years since FY2015, $16,457 in FY2021) was reduced to $0. No written rationale appears in the budget transmittal or the minutes; the line is absent from the FY2026 and FY2027 budgets. Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  11. Town Clerk, results, June 10, 2025: revised $86.5M middle school and Pond Cove project: Yes 2,479 / No 2,171. Bids in July 2026 came in $6–8 million under budget (Council report, July 13, 2026). Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  12. Cape Elizabeth Comprehensive Plan (2019), build-out analysis (p. 213): excluding land already owned by the town, the land trust or the state, “over 1000 new housing units could potentially be accommodated on the remaining undeveloped land in Cape Elizabeth” (about 700 excluding the two largest private holdings). Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  13. Cape Elizabeth Land Trust, Strategic Plan FY2023–27, Goal 1 (Conserve Priority Lands): “Cumberland County's population continues to grow and land values are dramatically increasing. We must conserve priority lands while they are still available.” Full plan: celt_strategic-plan-fy23-27_full.pdf. Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  14. Maine Conserved Lands database (Maine Office of GIS / Bureau of Parks and Lands), Cape Elizabeth extract: 22 parcels carry a conservation easement; 21 are rated permanent (GAP 2 or 3) and one, the Town Farm, is rated “unsecured” because its easement expires. Campaign analysis of the state layer with the parcel export attached (…_parcels.csv). Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  15. Gull Crest housing feasibility study (Nov 13, 2024 Council packet, p. 369): concept-level site-work estimates of $15,621 per home for one 46-home building versus $105,742 per home for 20 spread-out townhouses on the same town land. Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  16. Cape Elizabeth Comprehensive Plan (2019), p. 213: from 2008 to 2017, 38% of new homes were built in the rural district, and on current lot sizes “three times more land will potentially be developed in the rural areas to accommodate one-third of the total anticipated growth” (about 200 acres for 46 homes, versus 65 acres for 74 homes in the growth areas). Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  17. Town Clerk unofficial results, June 10, 2025 (hosted copy is the campaign's text transcription of the Clerk's page): voters upheld the Council's Town Center multifamily rezoning 2,688–1,919 (58%). Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  18. Cape Elizabeth Council–Manager Charter, Article VIII §2 (as amended Nov 6, 2012): any single capital expenditure or improvement exceeding $1,000,000 requires a town-wide referendum. Approved 4,157–1,372. Full charter: town-charter_as-amended-2012_full.pdf. Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  19. Sept 9, 2024 Council packet, Town Center intersection: resident survey: Peanut Roundabout 139 (48.8%) vs. Squaring-up 69 (24.2%); staff memo: “Any expenditure in excess of one million dollars requires voter approval through the referendum process”; Aug 21, 2024 forum minutes. Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  20. Sept 9, 2024 Council minutes, Item #145-2024: advance Option 1, squaring up the Shore Road / Route 77 / Scott Dyer intersection, $400,000 PACTS grant + $425,000 TIF = $825,000. 7–0. Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  21. Scarborough Town Charter §907.1.1: bonds for “streets, sidewalks, or storm or sanitary sewers or other public utilities” are exempt from its automatic capital-borrowing referendum. Document (PDF) Original ↩ back
  22. Town road priorities memo (2015) covering FY2017–FY2021: 22 named roads and projects. Eleven were done on time or early, seven late, four not found done; Shore Road work slid from FY2019 to FY2029. Document (PDF) Original ↩ back