PORTLAND — The Maine Real Estate and Development Association presented its annual recognition awards at the organization’s annual forecast conference on Jan. 28 in Portland.

Darryl Brown, president/owner of the Livermore Falls-based land
planning firm Main-Land Development Consultants, was given the Public
Policy Award. It is given each year to a member whose efforts have had a significant impact on public policy decisions for the benefit of the real estate industry in Maine. Brown organized opposition to proposed drastic reforms to Maine development law.

Last winter, Brown, who founded Main-Land in 1974 and is a former state
legislator, learned of the Maine Department of Environmental
Protection’s plan to update the Site Location of Development Law in a
way he believed would drastically decelerate development in the state.

Had the revisions been enacted as proposed, they would have limited
large-scale, nonresidential development to designated zones or
districts served by public sewer systems; mandated preservation of at
least 55 percent of the land area in residential developments over 30
acres; prohibited the disturbances of slopes 20 percent or greater,
severely slowing projects in Maine’s mountainous regions; and given the
state the authority to review proposed project contractors.

Fearing the impact these restrictions would have on attracting and
retaining growth in the state, Brown and his staff rapidly rallied to
educate Mainers and their elected representatives about the effect of
the proposed changes through a seven-stop series of informational
forums around central and western Maine, media outreach and a statewide
letters to legislators campaign.

Their efforts resulted in a turnout of more than 100 concerned citizens
packing a public hearing last April when the bill arrived in Augusta as
LD 1268: The Act to Update the Site Location of Development Law.  As a
result of testimony heard that day and in subsequent work sessions that
Brown and Main-Land staffers participated in, the version of the bill
eventually approved eliminated many of its most limiting laws and
ensured Maine would remain open to responsible development and the jobs
and revenue it brings.

Founded in 1985 and celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2010, MEREDA is
an organization of commercial real estate owners, developers and
related service providers, whose mission is to promote an environment
for responsible development and ownership of real estate throughout the
state of Maine.