Service Area

Landscaping & site work in Gray, Maine.

Gray is lake country on the inland side of our service area. The town has shore on Little Sebago Lake, Crystal Lake and Forest Lake, it is drained by Collyer Brook, and the Pleasant River starts here before flowing through Windham to the Presumpscot. Villages include Gray itself, Dry Mills and East, North, South and West Gray, tied together by Routes 4, 26, 100, 115 and 202 and the Turnpike.

About 8,300 people live in Gray; the median home dates to 1983 and 82% are owner-occupied. Outside the village, lots are big and run on wells and septic, and the lake lots come with some of the tightest vegetation rules in the state.

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Gray at a glance

Lakes: Little Sebago (~2,000 acres), Crystal Lake, Forest Lake (210 acres, shared with Windham and Cumberland)
Lots: Rural Residential/Agricultural: 80,000 sq ft and 200 ft frontage; Village Center: 20,000 sq ft
Water & sewer: Wells and septic across the rural districts; wellhead and aquifer protection districts in town
Housing: Median home built 1983; ~82% owner-occupied
Hardiness zone: 5b (2023 USDA map)
Winter parking: No street parking midnight–6 am, Nov 15 to Apr 15, and during declared storms

Building near Gray's lakes

Gray's Shoreland Zoning Ordinance (Chapter 403) covers land within 250 feet of great ponds and rivers and 75 feet of streams. Buildings sit 100 feet back from great ponds, and a vegetated buffer runs 100 feet from the most protected ponds. Inside that buffer, no cleared opening may exceed 250 square feet, one footpath up to six feet wide is allowed, and trees are scored plot-by-plot. Beyond the buffer, clearing for development is capped at 25% of the lot or 10,000 square feet, whichever is greater. The Code Enforcement Officer administers it.

Those rules exist because of phosphorus. Little Sebago is on the state's list of lakes at risk of algal blooms, and Forest Lake is listed as most at risk from new development; about 40 erosion sites around Forest Lake have been fixed since 2002. Every lakeside patio, path and planting here is designed to slow water down and keep soil out of the lake.

Big lots, wells and aquifers

Gray's zoning says its rural district extends beyond any area that could reasonably get public water and sewer, so wells and septic systems are the norm. The town also protects wellheads and aquifer recharge areas with their own districts and four-acre minimums. On these lots, a new septic field, driveway or house site starts with clearing and excavation — and the lawn over the field has to come back without heavy feeding near the well.

A colder zone for lawns and plants

The 2023 USDA map puts Gray in zone 5b, a half-zone colder than the coast. UMaine Extension's lawn guidance fits: fine fescues handle the dry, acidic, lower-fertility soils common inland and are the only turf grass native to Maine, blended with Kentucky bluegrass where the ground is sunny and well drained. The Maine Forest Service lists Gray inside its quarantines for emerald ash borer, hemlock woolly adelgid and spongy moth.

What we do in Gray