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BY JOHN RICHARDSON
MaineToday Media, Inc. 09/21/2008

BY JOHN RICHARDSON

MaineToday Media, Inc.

The future of the Moosehead Lake region could soon look a lot clearer.

Maine's Land Use Regulation Commission will meet in Bangor on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss Plum Creek Timber Co.'s historic rezoning plans for the area. While a final vote is still months away, the commission members are expected to tell Plum Creek, and everyone else, what parts of the overall plan they will support, and what parts they want changed.

"By the end of the deliberative sessions, the world will have a very, very good sense of whether this concept plan is heading for approval or denial," said Catherine Carroll, director of the commission.

Plum Creek wants to rezone about 16,000 acres in the Moosehead region for 975 house lots and two resorts, which could add another 1,050 units ranging from homes to hotel rooms. The plan also includes more than 400,000 acres of land to be conserved through sales and easements that limit future development.

A big focus of the meeting this week is sure to be Lily Bay, a prized wildlife and recreational area on the lake's western shore, where Plum Creek wants to put a resort and house lots.

The state's land use commission received more than 1,500 letters since June opposing development at Lily Bay.

However, it's staff planners and consultants for the commission recommended last week the Lily Bay piece of the plan be allowed to move forward, in part because there already are about 140 camps and cottages there. And, while the agency's staff had told Plum Creek to reduce the size of the development zone there, it agreed last week to a 1,800-acre development area the company said was needed to ensure room for the resort, homes, a golf course, marina and other elements of the project.

"There's a great deal of opposition that's been voiced regarding development at Lily Bay," Carroll said. "Our recommendation to the commission is solely based on the evidence in the record, and there's evidence in the record that supports development at Lily Bay. ... We could not find hard evidence that would allow the staff to make a recommendation to not allow development at Lily Bay."

Opponents of Lily Bay have said the plan for development there threatens important habitat for Canada lynx and jeopardizes the primitive recreational value of the area, which is near Lily Bay State Park.

Cathy Johnson, North Woods project director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine, said the letters from Maine residents are evidence in their own right. The land can only be rezoned if there is a demonstrated need and community support, she said.

"It seems like they are completely dismissing public comments as evidence and yet public comments are evidence. There is a legal requirement that they be taken into account," she said.

"We certainly will be encouraging the commission to exercise their independent judgement and consider the evidence presented by the public."

Plum Creek's project manager for the Moosehead plan, Luke Muzzy, said last week he and others were sorting through the latest recommendations, including those related to Lily Bay.

"Lily Bay, as we've said from day one, is extremely important to us for the viability of this plan," Muzzy said. "For the most part, it (Lily Bay) looks workable for us. However, there are still some questions."

Muzzy said he could not be specific, or react to the entire set of recommendations covered in a 358-page document.

In addition to the Lily Bay dispute, critics of the plan also submitted letters this summer calling for the land use commission to not grant rezoning approval based on a private side deal by Plum Creek to sell land and conservation easements to The Nature Conservancy. Plum Creek has said the deal will only happen if the rezoning application is approved.

Although opponents said the deal should be kept out of the official review, the commission's staff is recommending that it effectively be made part of the plan, and that the commission set a deadline for its completion.

Jym St. Pierre, a former staff member for the land use commission and now Maine director for RESTORE: The North Woods, said opponents have been hoping the commission will debate whether or not Plum Creek's plan meets the legal standards for rezoning the timberlands.

But instead, St. Pierre said, the commission is reshaping the company's plan into a version it wants to approve.

"I'm not convinced all the details are going to be worked out," he said. "But, absent some big surprise, LURC seems determined to move forward with approval of some version of this proposal, whether Plum Creek or the rest of us like it or not."

The two-day meeting this week will begin with closing statements from Plum Creek as well as the conservation groups and others who are official parties in the review. Then the commissioners are expected to discuss their views and, ultimately, make their own recommendations on the future of the plan.

Plum Creek will then have about two weeks to respond and tell the commission whether it willing to go along with the changes, according to Carroll.

The staff will then begin preparing for a final yes or no vote sometime this winter, she said.

Staff Writer John Richardson can be contacted at 791-6324 or at: jrichardson@pressherald.com

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