Comprehensive+Planning

Comprehensive Planning: Up North and Right Here.

==LURC' Plum Creek Decision and how it will affect Maine's North Woods:== On September 23, 2009, LURC, Maine's Land Use Regulation Commission, decided to endorse Plum Creek's plan to rezone 407,000 acres. Since 2005, when Plum Creek first announced their plan to LURC, there have been many changes. Depending on which way one looks at it, this rezoning plan can be either good or bad. Plum Creek owns a lot of rural areas up in Northern Maine, and according to the final zoning plan, not all of the land will be changed. 43,320 acres that Plum Creek owns will not be used for now. The plan that LURC approved guarantees that much of the unorganized land Plum Creek owns cannot be touched for 20-30 years. After that time, however, they can start developing on that land.

LURC’s decision will greatly affect the Moosehead region in Maine. Plum Creek’s plan was to build a few resorts that include over 2,000 homes and other structures. In addition they also plan to build homes and other structures near Greenville. Many people have been opposed to it and have gone as far as protesting. Others support the plan and think that it will bring jobs for people and might even encourage people to move into that part of Maine.

The reason why it took LURC so long to decide on the plan was because they wanted what was best for the people of Maine. Originally, the plan that Plum Creek proposed was going to rezone almost all of the unorganized area that they owned so that it could be developed into resorts and homes. LURC had to change the zoning plan over and over to help arrive at a consensus for both sides of the debate. Sadly, for protesters against Plum Creek, the “Maine’s-not-for-sale” group decided they didn’t like the plan at all. Earth First! for instance, protested the day of the announcement, causing a problem which ended with the small group being arrested. LURC is going to have a lot to handle within the next couple of decades. Earth First! and others are already trying to make it so that LURC’s decision will be overthrown so that Plum Creek won’t be able to do anything with their land. Many people don’t believe that the opposition will get very far, but you never know for the future.

LURC had to reconstruct the zoning plan time and time again. This was a struggle. LURC had to change Plum Creek's zoning plan because what Plum Creek was planning on doing wasn't what was in their plan originally. Once LURC had changed the zoning plan, it was time to vote. This was their biggest problem. Being on a committee like this is important, and any decision you make will affect certain people. Having Plum Creek push for what they wanted and having some Mainers protesting at every step, it had to have been a hard decision.

In the end, LURC did vote for Plum Creek's proposal but ended up being threatened by a protester who hollered "We will be fighting every step of the way!" LURC has many zones and areas to look out for; Plum Creek was just one of many companies who will seek change. Many people in Greenville are thankful for the vote, because some believe that it will bring people to Maine’s northern woods and bring jobs. Although it may take years for anything to be done up in the Northern woods because of LURC's plan, it will give Plum Creek a while to decide what they want to do with their land. It also gives time for other people to fight against what Plum Creek is planning on doing.

//__Miller, Kevin. "News." Bangor Daily News. 23/09/09. Bangor Daily News, Web. 7 Oct 2009. .__//

__//Miller, Kevin. "News." Bangor Daily News. 25/09/2008. Bangor Daily News, Web. 7 Oct 2009. .//__

__//Austin, Phyllis. "News." meepi.org. 10/02/2005. Maine Enviromental News, Web. 7 Oct 2009. .//__

__//"NCRM BLog: Plum Creek Update following LURC meeting last week." ncrm.org. 10/06/2009. NRCM, Web. 7 Oct 2009. .//__

Clarke Russ, John. "Bangor Daily News" September 23, 2009. .

Links: http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/122071.html http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/51467.html http://www.meepi.org/files05/pa021005.htm http://www.mainebiz.biz/news45142.html http://www.growsmartmaine.org/blog/?p=178 http://blog.nrcm.org/2009/06/plum-creek-update-following-lurc-meeting-yesterday.html http://www.fossilfoolsdayofaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/golfers-arrive.jpg

By, Jasmine Santee

=North Haven's Comprehensive Plan=

The North Haven Comprehensive plan is based on the views and opinions of the people who live in the town of North Haven, Maine, both year round and seasonal residents. These views and opinions were gathered by surveys and were complied by the Comprehensive Plan Committee in 2004. Some of the questions asked on the survey were: 1. Do you believe North Haven needs more affordable year-round housing? 2. Should the Town consider making some town-owned land available for purchase for affordable housing? 3. Do you feel that the town should allow smaller building lots in order to reduce the housing costs? 4. For future housing construction, which type(s) do you feel are needed on North Haven?

The answers to these and other questions were averaged and put into tables, charts, and graphs (shown below).



For questions pertaining to land usage and zoning, the mean opinion was composed into different maps. Some the question topics included: The results of these survey questions and all other survey questions can be found in the North Haven Comprehensive Plan. Without the years of work and surveys, North Haven would have no baseline from which most all building decisions are made. Without a Comprehensive Plan, there would be nothing governing where development can happen. For example, the new school could have been built at the end of Crabtree Point (the very tip of the island about six miles from town). The grocery store also could have been placed in the center of the island, down a two mile long drive on the edge of Purgatory Swamp (the biggest swamp in the center of the island). Technically speaking, there is nothing wrong with these two locations, though they are very inconvenient.
 * Agricultural Land
 * Forested Land
 * Fresh Pond Watershed Area
 * Groundwater Sources
 * Historic Sites
 * Natural Resources
 * Open Spaces

If those two projects had been constructed out of what is now known as the commercial district it could given way to bigger developments; for example, a super shopping center could be constructed in any big field on the back side of the island. There is nothing wrong with development, but rules need to be in place so that the citizens of the town have a say in the development. That is what a Comprehensive plan does, it gives landowners the chance to speak their minds.

It's the difference between planned and unplanned development. Without a comprehensive plan a maximum build out could happen with no way of controlling it. With the plan, though, maximum build out is still a possibility, but not without public meetings and scrutiny.

Sources: North Haven Comprehensive Plan

**Proposal for all of the land in Maine that is not owned by a town (Unorganized Territories).**
__//Sub-districts//__ Residential Development (D-RS) General Development (D-GN) Maritime Development (D-MT) Commercial Industrial (D-CI) Planned Development (D-PD) __//Sub-districts//__ Mountain Area Protection (P-MA) Wetland Protection (P-WL) Soils and Geology Protection (P-SG) Recreation Protection (P-RR) __Sub-Districts__ General Management (M-GN)
 * Development**
 * Protection**
 * Management**

DEFINITIONS
 * -Development:** Having patterns of concentrated residential, recreational, commercial or industrial use and areas identified as appropriate for such development.
 * -Protection:** Areas where land use activities may jeopardize identified significant natural, recreational or historical resources.
 * -Management**: Areas identified as appropriate for commercial forest product agricultural uses and for which intensive future development is not anticipated.
 * -Parcels:** The sections of which a piece of property was split up into.
 * -MCD’s:** Minor Civil Divisions
 * -Service Centers:** Cities and towns that provide a majority of the states jobs, commercial activity, and social resources such as higher education and health care.

The first map shows more white than the second. In the first map there is more white because there were less houses. In the second map, there is less white because there are more houses there now.



By- Ann-Marie E. Beverage

North Haven and LURC have recently gone through some similar processes dealing with zoning ordinances and comprehensive planning and wind power. There have been proposals circulating around Maine's unorganized territories for wind power. On Vinalhaven some wind turbines have erected because there is a huge potential for energy production. North Haven and Vinalhaven have a co-op. The co-op built turbines in Vinalhaven to help pay for our new underwater cable to receive electricity from the mainland. In addition, right here on North Haven, Bill Parkerton wanted to build a small wind turbine on his property. He lives uptown. The issue is that the ordinace for any structure on North Haven could not exceed 35 feet. Due to the fact that he needed to have his turbine built higher than the trees, and North Haven didn’t have a small wind turbine ordinance in place, the students at North Haven Community School drafted up a new ordinance for small wind turbines and sent to the town where they held a special town meeting to approve it. LURC also has had to change their comprehensive plan and take opinions from the public in order to reshape Plum Creek’s zoning. This means adding new ordinances as well as reading through their comprehensive plan which basically states what they are going to do when the land is rezoned. Originally, the land was zoned for forest management, not for building houses and resorts. Thus, LURC took a long time on the proposal and the process was open to the public. The way North Haven developed a comprehensive plan was that the public was surveyed on everything and then took polls. Landowners took a vote on the ordinance for small wind turbines and set the rules for it. One example is that a turbine cannot exceed 70 feet including the length of the blades. North Haven then added that the ambient noise produced could not exceed the maximum permitted reading. What that means is that the ambient noise created by the spinning blades of the wind turbine cannot exceed a certain decibel. Depending on how fast the blades are rotating, the blades make noise and the sound can only be so loud or you will have to take down the turbine and fix it or get rid of it all together. It’s a big public process when trying to change or create something as big as a comprehensive plan. In the long run, even though sometimes it can take a long time because you have to listen to everyone's opinion you will have the best results and everyone will be happier.

cites sourced: http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/118762.html http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2008/05/nstar_customers_1.html http://www.foxislandswind.com/viewpoint.html I also used information from Mallory Brown and Jasmine Santee's small wind project.

By Jeremy Page

The Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) was created in 1971 and the purpose of LURC is to provide planning, zoning, and development of the approximate 10 million acres of Maine’s unorganized territory which does not have organized local government. Plum Creek is a company that owns and “farms” land. By “farms,” I mean that they use the natural resources like trees, rocks, sand, minerals, oil and gas from the land they own to make money. For Plum Creek to be able to develop resorts and housing in Maine’s unorganized territory, they had to get approval from LURC to change the zoning on the land. LURC had a lot of factors to consider when they were deciding whether or not they should allow Plum Creek to be able to rezone their unorganized territory. For one thing, there are a lot of different Maine residents with different feelings about how Maine should manage the forest. There are some people who look at the forest and want it to remain untouched. A good example of that position would be the organization Earth First!. They are a group of people who are very passionate about the forest and protested at least one of the LURC meetings. They also have a nickname for Plum Creek, “Scum Creek.” There are also other people who look at the forest and all they see is money. A good example of that position would be the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine which is a large organization located in Augusta. What the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine does is fairly self explanatory. They participate in outdoor sports such as hunting and fishing.

For everyone to be happy, there had to be a middle ground established between the two possible scenarios, conservation and building resorts or private houses. One thing that Plum Creek had to change if they ever wanted the majority of people in Maine to support them is the amount of land being zoned for permanent conservation. For example, in Plum Creek’s original concept plan, the approximately 431,000 acres of land around Moosehead Lake included only 11,000 acres of permanently conserved land. In the current Plum Creek proposal 431,000 acres of the land is being permanently conserved. Plus, that 431,000 acres of permanently preserved land connects with existing conservation projects which become a two million acre network of conserved land across Maine’s north woods (Hutchinson). Even with this much land permanently protected, we are still going to see changes in the Moosehead region, because some resorts and houses will be built.

431,000 acres of land may sound like a lot, but compared to the approximate 10 million acres of land in Lurc’s jurisdiction, it’s a small chunk. Since Plum Creek is changing zoning for a lot of the unorganized territory, there are going to be some undesirable changes, but that’s to be expected. Some of the land is going to be “farmed” for resources, some of the land is going to be leveled for resorts or housing, and some of the land is going to be preserved.

LURC understands how important this ten million acres of unorganized territory is to people. With ten million acres you can do a lot. For example there are more than 2,600 lakes and ponds that could be used for fishing or swimming, roughly 100 mountain peaks over 3,000 feet high for rock climbing, over 21,000 miles of rivers and streams for various recreational activities, 5 significant whitewater river segments for whitewater rafting and 268 miles of the Appalachian trail is within that land (Giffen). Such land is so significant, there is no other place on this side of the country that is so wide open and (basically) uncivilized. Works Cited

Hutchinson, Alan. "Significant Changes to Plum Creek Proposal offer Exceptional Conservation Opportunity." Forest Society of Maine. 14 Oct 2009 .

Giffen, Sarah, Diana McKenzie, Sue Burns, Samantha Horn-Olsen, Tim Beaucage and Aga Pinette. Maine Land Use Regulation Commission. Department of Conservation Hearing Draft Comprehensive Land Use Plan. By. September 02 2009. .

By Andrew Murphy