BANGOR (AP) – Officials and conservationists have begun weighing in on the largest development project ever proposed for Maine North Woods that includes 975 house lots, four sporting camps, two resorts and a golf course.

Plum Creek Timber Co.’s proposal asks the Land Use Regulatory Commission to approve three decades of development on 426,000 acres in one fell swoop. Never before has LURC, which manages Maine’s unorganized territories, been asked to consider the simultaneous development of so much property.

Jim Lehner, Plum Creek’s regional manager, said the plan has “something in there for everybody.”

“We’re convinced that the more people know about the project, the more they’re going to support it,” he said.

Plum Creek first announced its development intentions in December. The details were made public this week when the Seattle-based company submitted a 570-page document to LURC.

As part of the plan, Plum Creek proposes setting aside 89 percent of the total acreage as working forestland, which it refers to as a “wood basket” for the region’s forest products industry.

An additional 10,891 acres of shorefront land would be set aside under permanent conservation easements, as would 71 miles of snowmobile trails and 55 miles of hiking trails. Conservation lands include 55 ponds that will be protected from development.

Those conservation measures aren’t enough to calm the fears of conservationists like Cathy Johnson of the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

The 575 shorefront homes and 400 homes in the woods proposed in the plan exceed the predictions made when the concept was first revealed in December. If approved, the project would increase available housing in the broadly defined Moosehead region by 20 percent.

The plan also proposes earmarking 80 acres for sporting camps, 600 acres for commercial campgrounds and 500 acres for a “tourist center” at Brassua Lake. Another 3,000 acres would accommodate a high-end resort at Lily Bay, on the southeastern corner of Moosehead Lake, that could include a marina, restaurants, a spa and fitness center, an indoor pool, tennis courts, and a golf course.

“I’m very concerned this will definitely change the character of the area,” Johnson said.

She also fears that the clientele drawn to the luxury resort at Lily Bay will be far from “average Mainers.” She noted that the plan may be just the start of Plum Creek’s intentions for Maine, and that the company’s other 500,000 acres of holding near Jackman are not mentioned in the document.

But Lehner said he expects the cost of most lots to be “a value that the normal Mainer could afford.”

The company’s comparatively small development along the shore of First Roach Pond provides a good model, he said. A majority of the properties are owned by Mainers who paid somewhere in the $60,000 to $100,000 range, he said.

John Simko, town manager for Greenville and one of the plan’s biggest supporters, said the Greenville region is changing so fast that locals can barely keep up with the new subdivisions sprouting along logging roads in nearby unorganized territories.

“There is tremendous demand here,” Simko said. “Just drive around. Places that not too long ago were stretches of undeveloped woods you see driveways, houses, for-sale signs.”

Plum Creek officials point out that no conservation is required and that they are choosing to preserve the majority of the property to work with the local community and ease worries about the company’s long-term goals.

Most of the development would occur in the next 10 to 15 years, according to Plum Creek. Nothing in the plan could be changed for 30 years, and any additional development could only occur with LURC approval.

If no further development is requested at the end of 30 years, the concept plan would automatically be renewed for another 20 years.

“People (would) know (these lands) are never going to be developed ever,” Lehner said. “The biggest benefit of this project is certainty.”

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Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com

AP-ES-04-07-05 0952EDT