AUGUSTA – Four hundred and fifty municipalities in Maine would be affected by proposed amendments to the state’s shoreland zoning ordinances.
A public hearing on the rule-making changes is to be held at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, at the Holiday Inn/Ground Round restaurant in Augusta.
Maine Department of Environmental Protection Shoreland Zoning Coordinator Richard P. Baker said Friday afternoon that the amendments are not as imposing as the 1990 changes.
“These new changes aren’t dramatic, but virtually every town will have to do something to their shoreland zoning ordinances,” he said.
Should the proposals become law later this year, the fiscal impact would be the cost of amending those locally adopted ordinances.
After the hearing and a deadline of 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 19, to submit written comments, Baker said the agency would return to the Maine Board of Environmental Protection on Nov. 17 to get the amendments adopted.
If adopted, the changes then go to the Secretary of State to become law this winter.
But, Baker said, the DEP would have to give affected towns two spring town meetings to change and adopt revised local ordinances.
While many of the changes are minor clarifications, Baker said, some are expected to have more significance.
The document includes the establishment of a new General Development District with a 75-foot setback requirement, new statewide timber harvesting standards for shoreland areas and proposed recreational trail standards.
A paper mill like NewPage Corp. in Rumford would be allowed in a General Development District, Baker said.
The new district would apply if the area within 75 feet of a water body or wetland isn’t significantly developed at the time the district is created, he said.
Baker said an entirely new section has been created to regulate development of new recreational trails, from primitive to motorized. Towns like Bethel and Newry are in the process of creating trails to link the two towns.
One such trail follows the Androscoggin River in Bethel, and is to cross the river over the largest recreational bridge in the state, now under construction.
Maine’s Mandatory Shoreland Zoning Act requires the Board of Environmental Protection to adopt, update and amend, minimum guidelines for municipal zoning and land use controls that are designed to carry out legislative purposes of the act.
The guidelines were last comprehensively reviewed and amended in 1990, Baker said.
The 96-page document of proposed amendment may be found at www.maine.gov/dep/blwq/rule.htm under the topic, Amend Chapter 1000, Guidelines for Municipal Shoreland Zoning Ordinances.
Written comments are to be addressed to Richard Baker, Shoreland Zoning Coordinator, Department of Environmental Protection, State House Station 17, Augusta, ME 04333.
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