BYRON – Planning Board Chairman David Duguay said Tuesday that members will meet July 6 to discuss the next step in establishing a moratorium on expanding or developing campgrounds.
Residents voted 29-22 this month to ban such activities for at least six months so the Planning Board can develop a campground ordinance. If the board needs more time, the moratorium can be extended for another six months.
With more than 90 percent of the land in Byron once owned by paper companies and now by private investors and developers, town officials believe development rules must be written.
“The current guidelines (in the 1974 comprehensive plan) weren’t sufficient for the town,” he said.
Duguay also chairs the Comprehensive Plan Committee and helped develop a new subdivision ordinance that residents recently adopted.
The town, spearheaded by selectmen’s Chairman Steve Duguay, acquired the nine acres surrounding the popular picnic site at Coos Canyon on the Swift River next to Route 17. That action ensured continued public access. The land had been owned by a developer, who bought it from a paper company.
“We have to get ahead of the developers. Byron is being discovered,” said David Duguay. “We just want to make sure things are done right, are regulated, and aren’t a free-for-all.”
Until about three years ago, most of the town’s 52 square miles was owned by International Paper or MeadWestvaco.
Rosie Susbury, a Planning Board member and town clerk, said the town had been stable because large paper companies owned it. But Selectman Bruce Simmons said the huge amounts of land being sold was “scaring us real bad.”
The campground ordinance is one step toward regulation.
“We need an ordinance that is clear on what we can and can’t do,” said Susbury. “Too many questions needed answering.”
Those who objected to the moratorium were concerned that greater campground regulation could mean that families couldn’t set up tents in their backyard. Some also objected to more regulation in their town, said White and Simmons.
Steve Duguay said he voted for the moratorium because the Planning Board needs time to develop an ordinance, and he has seen other town with problems with campgrounds, particularly when temporary camping areas have become permanent residences.
David Duguay said he hopes the Planning Board will have a proposed campground ordinance ready for a public vote before the March annual town meeting. He said a special town meeting for public action prior to the annual event would be held only if selectmen believe it is sufficiently important to warrant such action.
A revised comprehensive plan also could go before voters in March. The Comprehensive Plan Committee has been working on the document with the help of Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments and the Maine Municipal Association for more than a year.
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