Maine Lawmaker Moves to Abolish LURC

A Maine lawmaker says the Land Use Regulation Commission is due for an overhaul. but Representative Paul Davis' proposal to abolish the commission is raising concerns from Maine's largest environmental group and from county governments which would have to take over planning, permitting and zoning in the unorganized territories. County officials are worried about what that could mean for them in terms of workload and cost.


Listen at:
http://www.mpbn.net/News/MPBNNews/tabid/1159/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3762/ItemId/14786/Default.aspx

LURC is responsible for overseeing development and conservation across ten million acres in Maine's North Woods, the largest undeveloped forest east of the Mississippi River. Just last year a bill to abolish the state's largest planning board failed to make it out of committee. Cathy Johnson of the Natural Resources Council of Maine says last year's bill was a bad idea then and it's still a bad idea.

"Transferring this responsibility of LURC to eight different counties would be more expensive, less efficient and less predictable for developers," said Johnson. "To me, it's a lose-lose proposition: bad for the forest, bad for Maine people, bad for developers, bad for everybody."

LURC's five-year process to approve the Plum Creek timber company's plans for hundreds of houselots and two large-scale resorts on Moosehead Lake along with a massive conservation easement has raised objections from some observers, including Governor Paul LePage and Republican Representative Paul Davis of Sangerville. Davis thinks counties should have more of a say in the permitting process. His latest bill would require LURC itself to develop a detailed plan to transfer authority over land use planning in the unorganized territories by July of next year.

"And I'm sure there will be people that won't like this idea but I don't think there's many people that won't say that there are changes that are needed," said Davis. "And that's what we need. We need to make some structural changes. It may be what I have for an idea here. It may be other things."

Eric Ward is a Piscataquis County commissioner from Greenville at the base of Moosehead Lake. Piscataquis County is one of the poorest and least populated in the state. Ward had a front-row seat watching LURC's approval of the Plum Creek comprehensive plan and he wonders how his local government could have managed that task.

"This legislation was proposed and we weren't asked," Ward said. "It was a huge undertaking for the LURC staff as it was so it's hard to say what it would have been for a smaller entity to try to take that on."

Piscataquis County Commission Chair Tom Lizotte says his board hasn't taken a formal position on the legislation but, like Ward, he worries most about workload, who would carry it out and how would it be funded. Lizotte says commissioners would have to have alot of questions answered before they could warm up to the idea.

"Let's improve what we have first before we abolish LURC and dump the task in the laps of the counties who may not be prepared to handle that," said Lizotte.

In Maine's largest county, Aroostook, commissioners have not yet taken a formal position on the bill to abolish LURC either. County Administrator Doug Beaulieu says his board has a lot of questions especially about financing.

"I think as the bill's sponsor pointed out - basically handing the powers over to the county may not be the best option," Beaulieu said.

Tom Lizotte of Piscataquis County says one thing LURC is able to provide the state are consistent standards and approaches to development. He questions how that might look if eight cash-strapped counties are given the job. A public hearing on the bill has not yet been scheduled.