RANGELEY – Representatives from a state land-use panel will be in Rangeley Wednesday night to involve the community in changes to subdivision rules.

The Maine Land Use Regulation Commission’s acting director, Catherine Carroll, will be on hand, as will Fred Todd, division manager, to present to the public the commission’s ideas for updating the rules.

The rule revisions, which include updates to the commission’s definition of a subdivision, new subdivision design standards and review criteria for residential and commercial development projects, is in response to a resolve by the Maine Legislature in 2001.

That resolve directed LURC to make its subdivision rules clearer to the public so that when a landowner applies for a subdivision permit, the process and the outcome will be more predictable.

According to Todd, anywhere from five to 10 subdivision permit applications are filed each year. More than 90 percent are approved, he noted, because LURC staff work closely with landowners during the process to make sure all necessary information is included in the application.

A subdivision, as defined by Todd, is a parcel of land that is broken up into smaller lots, a minimum size of one acre. LURC is tough, he said, on issuing subdivision permits and requires more information than in other applications because the impact of a subdivision on a community is far greater.

To prove how far-reaching a subdivision can be, Todd points out some figures from the 1990s. In 1990, 14 subdivision permits were approved, which affected 380 acres and created 90 lots. In a small community, breaking up long-standing plots of land into tiny, 1-acre parcels can have a major impact.

The 1990 numbers are extreme he said, but even in 1995, considered a low year for subdivision permits, the impact of just four permits was huge. Those four permits covered a combined 77 acres, which was divided into 29 lots.

The Rangeley workshop will be the second LURC has conducted. Earlier this week, a workshop was held in Bangor and attended by 10 people, said Todd.

LURC is coming to Rangeley, he said, because it’s an area that has seen a lot of development lately and even some requests for subdivision permits. “There is much more development in western Maine then there is up in the northern part of the state, or even in the Down East coastal regions,” he noted.

After their presentations about proposed changes to the rules, LURC staff will ask workshop participants for feedback, which will be factored in when they sit down at the table to write a draft of the new rules next month.

A public hearing will most likely be set for November, after which will be a 14-day public comment period. The commission should adopt the new set of rules in 2004, Todd predicted.

Any landowner, or anyone who anticipates putting a permit application of any kind, is encouraged to attend the workshop, which will be held at 6 p.m. at the Rangeley Inn on Main Street, Todd said.

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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