ROCKLAND — The stretch of Route 1 between Rockland and Rockport, now a mix of old homes and big box stores, asphalt, traffic and sidewalks can be a better place to live, shop and travel along — and be a model for other strip developments — if a public-private collaboration that has been under way for several years moves design concepts forward. Several draft designs of that effort will be presented Aug. 29 at a public meeting of the Rockland Economic Development Advisory Committee.

“It is all conceptual,” said Jane Lafleur, executive director of Friends of Midcoast Maine, the nonprofit that obtained $70,000 in grant money from several private foundations to help REDAC and the city begin defining alternative landscapes for the strip. “This can be a 10 or 20-year plan. It’s important that people understand that. We are presenting concepts and it is up to the city to take them further.”

But, she said, the draft concepts "show that we can unlock the potential of that neighborhood," she said.

The meeting  will be held at the Breakwater Marketplace in Rockland, beginning at 4 p.m.

In September 2012, a group of citizens gathered at the Breakwater to help develop a community vision for the strip that runs along the northern end of Rockland Harbor toward the Rockport town line. The goal then was to assess their city and this particular section. Friends of Midcoast Maine facilitated that meeting, and subsequent gatherings, moving through a process that included a walking tour of the strip to the intersection of Route 17 (Maverick and Waldo streets).

Citizens collectively agreed they wanted a landscape that reflects the heritage and history of Rockland, "a place that they can be proud of," said Lafleur. And, she said, they wanted a walkable environment, one that promotes pedestrian and bicycle traffic, not just vehicular traffic.

The strip of highway alternatively referred to as Route 1 and Camden Street, extends from the Glen Cove neighborhood of Rockport to the Route 17 intersection, near Burger King and McDonald's. Once farmland, it has over the last 40 years become predominantly commercial. In the summer, it can be slow-going through the area, as tourists make their way to Rockland, and shoppers enter and exit Home Depot, Walmart, and a shopping plaza home to Shaw's, Staples and T.J. Maxx, among others. Still, it has a neighborhood feel to parts of it, as residential homes and sidewalks run alongside it.

Since last year, an economic analysis of tax revenue of downtown versus the commercial strip was conducted. Additionally, landscape architects and planners Terrence J. DeWan and Associates, with partners HNTB and C. Michael Lewis, were hired to produce conceptual designs. It is those designs that will be reviewed Thursday evening.

Part of the process included inviting property owners in Rockland and Rockport to submit their properties for redesigns.

"With every property, Terry is looking at street in front of it," said Lafleur. “They present a bird's-eye view of a couple of intersections and properties."

An anonymous donor from Rockland has also donated $10,000 to the effort, asking that each Rockland site have two designs produced.

The city also wanted to see a redesign of the Maverick-Route 1 intersection, said Lafleur.

She will be presenting draft designs for seven properties listed below and the intersection. At that same meeting, REDAC will be hearing a brownfields grant update, a report from Rockland Community Development Director John Holden, as well as reports from the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce and Rockland Maine Street, Inc.

The site designs under review include:

ROCKLAND

1. Bar Harbor Bank and Trust, 245 Camden Street

Residential property at 106 Camden Street

Residential property at 122 Camden Street

124 Camden Street, (old church)

92 Camden Street

Breakwater Marketplace at 91 Camden Street and vacant parcel to the north

Samoset Kiosk building and the intersection at Waldo Avenue

5. Intersection of Maverick and Camden streets, public spaces only

ROCKPORT

Claddagh Motel, 1044 Commercial Street

Willow Bakery, 1084 Commercial Street

Nicole's Hair Salon at 1088 Commercial Street

For more information, to get involved with the planning and to receive REDAC's e-newsletter, contact the Rockland Community Development Department, 594-0306; Joanne Billington REDAC chairwoman; or Jane Lafleur, jblafleur@friendsmidcoast.org, 236-1077.