DALLAS PLANTATION – A Rangeley group plans to appeal a Franklin County Superior Court justice’s ruling upholding a state commission’s decision to allow Poland Spring Water Co.’s pumping station here in northern Franklin County.

“We are going to appeal the ruling to Maine Supreme Court,” said Cathryn Thorup, a founding member of nonprofit Rangeley Crossroads Coalition. The group and individuals have formed an alliance that includes Rangeley Lakes Chamber of Commerce.

The coalition works with government, business and nonprofit organizations to preserve and promote the beauty, resources and prosperity of the Rangeley region. It lost its appeal of Maine Land Use Regulation Commission’s 2006 decision to issue a permit to Nestle Waters North America Inc. and its subsidiary Poland Spring to build and operate a commercial water extraction station off Redington Road in Dallas Plantation.

They argued that LURC’s decision was erroneous and the zoning regulation upon which LURC based its decision is unconstitutionally vague.

LURC’s permit allows Poland Spring to extract up to 184 million gallons of water annually from Rangeley Water District’s aquifers and to use 100 tanker trucks a day in and out of the station using portions of Route 4 and Route 16.

Superior Court Justice Joseph Jabar’s May 29 ruling upheld LURC’s permit decision stating that “because LURC authorized the proposed water extraction facility based on reasonable interpretations of its own zoning law and reached the decision based on substantial evidence in the record, the court affirms the decision.”

“Our concern is that LURC can allow any project in any district,” Thorup of Sandy River Plantation said.

“We were surprised to see they were going to appeal beyond this,” Poland Spring Resource Manager Mark Dubois said. He learned about the appeal Monday morning, he said.

The coalition is concerned about the potential threat on economics and tourism industry in the region, Thorup said.

“We have to pursue this. We feel it’s important … We will be able to say we did everything we could to protect the Rangeley area,” she said.

Tourists don’t leave traffic congested areas to come to other congested areas to relax, she said.

Thorup shared one of the coalition’s attorney’s reasoning for pursuing an appeal to the state’s highest court.

“This case is important for reasons that go entirely beyond Nestle and the specific issue of water extraction. It will determine whether the LURC commissioners are free to subvert the carefully-considered land use plan governing the 10 million acres within LURC jurisdiction, by reviewing projects on an ad hoc basis,” coalition attorney John Bannon wrote.

“If LURC’s reasoning were to prevail, then any use that is not specifically addressed within a given zoning subdistrict will be permitted in that subdistrict so long as a majority of the commissioners feel it is somehow similar to, or has even a tenuous connection with, an expressly-permitted use. If LURC can allow any project, in any zoning subdistrict, so long as it feels the project would be ‘consistent with the purposes of this subdistrict and of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan and…not detrimental to the resources or uses they protect,’ then LURC’s zoning scheme would be effectively nullified. Whether uses are permitted or prohibited must by governed by the regulations and not by the personal views of the individual commissioners on the day the decision is made.”

Maine Deputy Attorney General Jeff Pidot, who represents LURC, was not available for comment Monday.

“We have not yet reviewed the appeal document, but believe that the Superior Court decision was a carefully considered and thorough decision,” Dubois said.