A bill that would limit citizens’ ability to stop development in their communities sits on Gov. Baldacci’s desk awaiting his signature.

It’s bad law, and we urge the governor to veto it.

The measure, formally named “An Act to Amend the Laws Governing the Enactment Procedures for Ordinances,” sounds innocuous. It isn’t.

It’s backed by a coalition of development groups and would overly interfere with Mainers’ proud tradition of citizen initiatives.

Developers certainly need to anticipate some outside time frame for projects to be blocked by citizen action, but the 75-day limit contained in the bill just isn’t time enough. If enacted, citizens would not have the time to organize a petition, gather signatures and schedule an election. A quick look back in time at just what it takes for this kind of process to unfold demonstrates how ridiculous a 75-day limit really is.

It’s simple: signing this bill would permit a glacially slow government to require citizens to be exceptionally fleet of foot in organizing opposition to a development project in their hometowns. It’s more than unreasonable, it’s a restrictive rule inflicted on citizens to quiet them.

That’s wrong. Worse, this is a supposed solution to a problem that simply doesn’t exist.

In recent years, citizen initiatives have protected more large development projects in Maine than they have interfered with. Prime examples of projects that benefited from citizen petitions are the Wal-Mart project in Farmington and the Island View low-income housing project in Portland, both in 2001.

As we have said before, developers who are prepared to spend millions on projects have too much invested to run the risk that a project will be blocked by an organized petition drive. They have an absolute right to expect a reasonable platform from which to plan. We want well-planned projects as much as developers do, but projects are often better planned with citizen input.

Rather than quieting citizens and locking them out of the process after final plans are drafted, the better solution here would be for developers to have more courage in pitching their projects to the public from the start and stop closed-door negotiations in favor of a more open process that invites citizens to participate.

The governor has already said he is hesitant to sign anything into law that would restrict the right of any Maine citizen to petition. Saying it isn’t enough. He must veto to measure to ensure our right to petition.