MADRID TOWNSHIP — The Maine Land Use Planning Commission will decide whether to reconsider a request by area residents to hold a public hearing before granting an operating permit to a local gravel pit owner.

Recently, Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife reviewed and approved Mark Beauregard Inc.’s application to operate his pit on Reeds Mill Road in the township.

Franklin County commissioners also gave their approval to Beauregard.

At their April meeting, the Land Use Planning Commission, part of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, voted not to hold a public hearing for the project. The commission is not obligated to revisit the issue, according to Jean Flannery, the manager of the LUPC’s Division of Permitting and Compliance, but it may choose to reconsider the issue at their Wednesday meeting in Millinockett.

The public may attend the meeting, but commissioners will not request statements from supporters or opponents of the gravel pit, she said.

“No one will be speaking from either side,” Flannery said. “The only thing that’s being decided is whether there’s going to be a public hearing.”

The commission serves as the planning and zoning authority for Maine’s unorganized townships and plantations. The Division of Permitting and Compliance processes and reviews development and rezoning applications and provides reports and other information for commissioners at their monthly meetings.

“We don’t have rules that specifically say how to handle this situation,”  Flannery said. “So, wanting to be as open with the public as we can, we said we’ll take it back to the commission and just present it to them, and let them make that decision.”