Joint committee confirms two nominees to Maine Land Use Planning Commission

The Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry voted to recommend confirmation of Jenny Lee Ward of Hartford's Point and Donald A. Tardy of Ashland to the Maine Land Use Planning Commission. The committee took the two confirmation votes after public testimony, presentations from county commissioners who nominated each candidate and questions from members.

The confirmations matter because the Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC) sets land-use policy for Maine's unorganized and deorganized territories, the large tracts of forest, lake and river lands where local municipal government does not operate.

Jenny Lee Ward described her background in community-driven, landscape-scale economic development and conservation during her testimony. "Maine's unorganized territories are some of the most ecologically significant and economically vital landscapes in the Northeast," Ward said, highlighting work on recreation and community planning in the Moosehead Lake region. Piscataquis County Commissioner Paul Davis introduced Ward and said she was the county's nominee following interviews.

Don Tardy, nominated by the Aroostook County Commissioners, emphasized his forestry and rural economic development experience. Tardy said his interest is “primarily driven by my passion for economic development in rural Maine,” and described a project at an old mill site in Ashland where his local development corporation purchased 94 acres to support a combined heat-and-power project. He told the committee his organization has a purchase power agreement for “15 megawatts of net generating capacity” and is negotiating signatures with a developer and investor.

Several supporters appeared to endorse each nominee. Testifiers for Tardy included county commissioners and industry leaders who cited forestry and economic-development experience; testifiers for Ward included planning board members and economic development representatives who cited multi‑stakeholder planning and recreation-based projects.

The committee followed statutory confirmation procedure under Title 3, section 157 of the Maine Revised Statutes, taking recorded roll-call votes. For Ward, nine members voted yes and none voted no; the clerk recorded Senators Ingorsen and Black and Representative Hepler as absent. For Tardy, the committee again recorded nine yes votes and none no, with three members absent. The chairs said they will forward the committee's recommendations in writing to the president of the Senate as required by statute.

The hearing record and written statements submitted to the committee will be made available to the nominees and retained in committee archives; the committee noted that the vote must be taken within 35 days of the committee's notice as required by statute.

(Procedure note: the committee held public testimony and allowed questions of each nominee before voting.)