AUGUSTA – State land use regulators approved a request Wednesday to reopen the public hearing record for two proposed lodging huts on Flagstaff Lake and Dead River.

The approval came with an amendment to a staff recommendation that the rebuttal time period be extended, Scott Rollins, a staff member of the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission, said after the agenda item was taken up.

Larry Warren, founder of Western Mountains Foundation, requested the record be reopened to include an agreement that was reached with the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to preserve more than 200 acres for winter deer yards. Warren and Maine Huts & Trails are planning to construct 12 huts along a planned 180-mile multiuse recreational trail through the Western Maine mountains.

They have already received approval for one hut, which is nearly completed, at Poplar Stream Falls in Carrabassett Valley, from that town’s Planning Board.

LURC is considering permit applications for two huts in its jurisdiction to be constructed on Flagstaff Lake in Carrying Place Township and Dead River in Spring Lake Township, both in Somerset County. A public hearing was held last year on those.

LURC’s decision to reopen the hearing record will allow people to file written statements with the commission regarding the deer wintering area until Monday, Jan. 14, and Monday, Jan. 27, to file written rebuttal to those statements.

The LURC meeting was canceled due to Tuesday’s storm but some agenda items couldn’t wait until the February meeting, Rollins said.The meeting was instead held later in the day Wednesday, he said, with interested parties notified beforehand.