Longtime regional planner in southern Maine will step down this summer
Courtesy photo
Paul Schumacher has announced that he will step down as executive director of the Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission this summer.
Paul Schumacher has announced that he will step down as executive director of the Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission this summer.
The board is conducting a nationwide search for his replacement. The agency was founded in 1964 to provide planning and economic development services to municipalities located in southern Maine, offering a coordinated effort for land use, smart growth, resource management, environmental sustainability, and transportation planning.
Schumacher says the nonprofit is thriving and he feels confident about its future.
“We have some of the most highly skilled, diverse and energetic people I have ever seen at any organization, along with the resources to help them flourish," he said. "It is a wonderful confluence of personalities and talent and I am gratified to have been a part of it over the years. For me, it’s particularly rewarding to see the impact on our member communities in York County and parts of southern Oxford County.”
The Saco-based Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission has grown substantially under Schumacher’s leadership.
There are now 15 employees working out of the Saco office, up from just seven at the start of 2020.
The nonprofit's brownfields revolving loan program grew from a $200,000 grant in 2005, to now having received over $15 million in funds, which have been invested in underutilized and hazardous sites across the region. In some cases, the funding has fostered dramatic redevelopment, as with Biddeford’s revival.
Until 2013, the region’s economic development planning was housed outside of the agency. After several years of Schumacher’s advocacy, the nonprofit was designated as its own Economic Development District by the U.S. Economic Development Administration, establishing a consistent source of economic development funds for the region.
Most recently, the creation of the Regional Sustainability and Resilience program in 2020 and the addition of expert staff to lead it, has led to nearly $6 million in leveraged funds for addressing resilience and climate change in the region. The program has become a model for other regional planning organizations seeking to support their communities facing climate change.
“Providing land use planning assistance to municipalities has been a mainstay of the agency’s focus for decades but now that effort includes sharing expertise on affordable housing, broadband expansion, and transportation improvements," Schumacher said.
Amy Landry has worked with Schumacher for over 25 years, first as an economic development planner at the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, including seven years as executive director. She says, “Paul Schumacher’s leadership and historic knowledge of the economic development efforts in Maine will be missed. But for me personally, it will be a tremendous loss: Paul is a one-of-a-kind colleague who is always supportive, generous, and affable. He’s the rare leader who takes the work seriously but is always good humored while doing so.”
Both Landry and Schumacher also served consecutive terms as president of the Economic Development Council of Maine.
The nonprofit is actively recruiting for a new executive director. For more information, visit the job page.
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