Following our forum in Bethel on proposed changes to DEP’s site law, Main-Land Development’s President/Owner Darryl Brown sent a letter to the editor of the Bethel Citizen, expressing thanks for the outpouring of support we received at the forum, and continuing the call to challenge the MDEP proposal. It ran in the latest edition of the paper.

You can read his letter below, or link to it directly here on the Bethel Citizen’s website.

We will continue to write letters to our legislators and local media, and we encourage you to do the same. As we are already seeing, these efforts do make a major difference.

To the Editor,

On behalf of myself and my staff at Main-Land Development Consultants, we’d like to thank the 75 or so concerned citizens who attended our Feb. 25 forum co-sponsored by the Bethel Area Business Association on the Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s proposed revisions to the Site Location of Development Law and its related rules.

As I stressed during our presentation, never in my 37 years as a land use consultant have I been more concerned about the consequences of a piece of planning legislation than I am now. Based on our deep understanding of the current site law and our careful review of the proposed changes to it, I truly believe if these new initiatives are implemented, development in Maine will come to a standstill. In these trying economic times, our state leaders must be encouraging thoughtful, responsible growth in our communities, not outlawing it.

Many of the developers our firm works with throughout western Maine also live and recreate in the region, largely because they have a deep appreciation and respect for the area’s natural resources. Given this, they care just as much as the good folks at the Maine DEP do about protecting what makes western Maine so special. Recent growth in the greater Bethel area that has attracted many visitors and the important job and revenue opportunities that are created as a result while concurrently preserving the region’s resources is a testament to this. It also illustrates the effectiveness of the development laws already on the books. Sadly, many of the very projects that have been such a boom to the Bethel area in the past five years would have been flat-out prohibited under the proposed law and rule changes, without ever having been given a chance for review by the town’s planners.

Micromanaging a developer’s contractor list or requiring evidence of a loan or line of credit before a project is even approved doesn’t fulfill the Maine DEP’s stated mission to “protect and enhance the public’s right to use and enjoy the State’s natural resources.” Instead, it ties the hands of those looking to invest in our towns and robs local government of the control over their communities.

The fact that so many greater Bethel area citizens — from bankers to builders to Planning Board members — attended our forum speaks to the region’s clear commitment to its future and the smart growth that will ensure that future is a prosperous one. It is we the people who are the strongest stewards of our communities and as long as we continue to speak up, it will hopefully remain that way.

Darryl Brown
President/Owner Main-Land Development Consultants