GREENVILLE (AP) – Maine Land Use Regulation commissioners have rejected a moratorium on development in the Moosehead Lake region.

The next step appears to be a review of a plan for development and conservation of nearly 500,000 acres owned by Plum Creek Timber Co.

“Let’s move forward. It’s not a perfect world and it never will be,” Commissioner Edward Laverty said Wednesday.

The proposed moratorium would apply to developments of five lots or more within the 41 townships that border the lake.

“The magnitude of this proposal is perhaps 10 times the size of anything that LURC has considered previously,” said petitioner Jon Lund of Hallowell, a former state attorney general who now publishes “The Maine Sportsman.”

Jim Lehner of Plum Creek said people are responding to misunderstandings of his company’s plan, which includes conservation as well as development.

“We live here,” Lehner said. “We want to do this right.”

Greenville Town Manager John Simko urged the commission to consider Plum Creek’s proposal as a potential comprehensive plan for the land it encompasses.

“I don’t think you should reinvent the wheel. You should work with them,” Simko said.

The commission staff is expected to start a formal review of the Plum Creek plan this summer.

Plum Creek first announced its development intentions in December. As outlined last month, the project would include 975 house lots, four sporting camps, two resorts and a golf course.

As part of the plan, Plum Creek proposed setting aside 89 percent of the total acreage as working forestland.

Most of the development would occur in the next 10 to 15 years, according to Plum Creek.

The project is the largest subdivision ever proposed in the 10.5 million acres of unorganized territory that the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission oversees.

AP-ES-05-05-05 0215EDT