Great news!!! After months of hard work to fight LD 1268: An Act to Update the Site Location of Development Laws, we here at Main-Land Development Consultants can happily report that the Joint Standing Committee on Natural Resources has moved forward with a bill that ensures rural Maine will remain open to responsible development.
Following dozens of very thoughtful and persuasive testimonies at the LD 1268 public hearing in mid-April, the Natural Resources Committee held two work sessions on the bill- one on April 28 and the other on May 8. Main-Land Development Consultants owner Darryl Brown, who has led the challenge to this bill from the beginning, was invited by the committee to participate in both sessions, and was there last Friday when the committee voted unanimously to pass a completely modified version of LD 1268 which had every single aspect of the bill that we at Main-Land and other opponents from around the state found disagreeable removed
Specifically, the following provisions were eliminated from the legislation.
-Everything relating to the location elements – this is in reference to the piece that would have restricted DEP approved projects to only those areas where towns had identified designated growth areas;
-the definition of “significant groundwater aquifer” and changed the groundwater standard. Basically, the existing language in the law stays as is;
-the exceptions for a lot of 40 acres or more in the definition of “subdivision.” Again, the 40 acre exception remains as is;
-the low-density subdivision exemption. We are still able to create a “low density subdivision” without triggering the Site Law;
-and,all of the additional bonding requirements that the legislation tried to do.
Also, the new legislation
-changed the exception for a sale or lease of a lot to an abutter in the definition of “subdivision”. Existing language in the law remains unchanged in relation to transfers to abutters;
-and changed the exception for a common lot created with a conservation easement in the definition of “subdivision.”
The new bill, which actually contains some potentially positive provisions for the development community (issues relating to long-term construction, providing broader permitting authority to MDOT projects and providing municipalities a method to substitute local stormwater permits for state permits) now moves to the House and then to the Senate, where it is expected to be passed in both places without discussion.
In the meantime, please know how grateful all of us at Main-Land Development Consultants are for your continued contributions, support and encouragement throughout this process. Whether you attended one of our seven forums around Western Maine, or bravely told the committee how LD 1268 would hurt your community, you were an invaluable part of the process that helped protect rural Maine and its future. Thank you
