TOWNSHIP C – A power company’s proposed development of Middle Dam is to be discussed this month at a public hearing.

That Land Use Regulation Commission hearing is to be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 13, at the Rangeley Inn in Rangeley.

Middle Dam is located on the outlet of Lower Richardson Lake at the Rapid River, a remote, pristine stream nationally renowned for brook trout and landlocked salmon.

Lower Richardson Lake, a 22,000-acre water body with 21 miles of shoreline, is in the scenic Rangeley Lakes Region of western Maine.

The area is famous for its lake trout, brook trout and salmon fishing, and for deer and ruffed grouse hunting.

Union Water Power Co. is proposing to create three shorefront lots on a 12 acres south of the dam off Black Cat Dike Road.

Lots would be 3.35 acres, 2.96 acres and 5.76 acres, with the latter two lots sharing a 12-foot-wide driveway off Black Cat Dike Road.

Marcia Spencer Famous, a LURC spokeswoman, said Friday that Union Water is requesting that the area be rezoned for residential development, which would allow the subdivision.

According to the Upper Androscoggin River Storage Project Settlement Agreement of Aug. 28, 1998, which Union Water signed, the development is to be limited to seasonal residences. No commercial development is allowed.

Buildings must have a maximum height of 25 feet (one-and-a-half stories), and exteriors are to be of rustic materials like wood siding, and must blend with natural surroundings.

Existing development at Middle Dam includes the dam with associated buildings, Lakewood Camps, a pre-LURC sporting camp, and a privately owned camp.

According to LURC, the settlement agreement was a product of negotiations over several years by several parties interested in recreation, preservation and protection of the scenic and natural beauty of Richardson Lake and its environs.

The agreement was designed to protect the natural and scenic beauty of the Middle Dam area, while allowing limited development of up to 12 new seasonal camps on 18 acres of Union Water’s 129-acre parcel at the dam.

In 2003, Union Water proposed rezoning the 18 acres in two parcels abutting the dam, one along Lower Richardson Lake, the other along Rapid River.

At that time, in addition to the current three-lot proposal, the company sought a subdivision permit for nine clustered lots to be located 400 feet from Rapid River and 630 feet from Richardson Lake, and north of the dam off Carry Road.

Stiff opposition to that plan from Friends of Richardson Lake, Trout Unlimited, camp owners and Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust, forced LURC to agree to conduct a public hearing. That hearing is set for Oct. 13.

But now, Famous said, Union Water has scuttled the controversial nine-lot proposal, favoring instead the three-lot project.

“There are still concerns over the three lots,” she said.

Friends of Richardson Lake and the Appalachian Mountain Club have both requested intervenor status for the Oct. 13 hearing, which gives them the right to cross-examine, Famous said.

Pullout box:

What: Land Use Regulation Commission public hearing on Union Water-Power Co.’s proposed rezoning and subdivision permit for 12 acres fronting the upper western end of Lower Richardson Lake

When: 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 13

Where: Rangeley Inn, Rangeley