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LUPC staff outline outreach, early findings for five-year review of 2019 adjacency and subdivision rules
Summary
Staff told the Land Use Planning Commission they have surveyed 37 of 39 rural hubs, attended six MMA forums and reached more than 130 people while collecting permit and subdivision data; staff aim to finish a five-year report in the spring and will continue focused outreach and case studies.
Staff for the Land Use Planning Commission briefed commissioners on progress toward a five-year review of the agency's 2019 adjacency and subdivision rule changes, saying outreach and preliminary data collection point to limited new subdivision activity but growing cost and staffing pressures for rural service providers.
The update, delivered by Senior Planner Tim Carr and Senior Planner Eric Sanderson, summarized outreach to municipal officials, a survey of rural hubs and early field work. "We're providing an update on the staff's progress on the adjacency and subdivision 5 year report," Carr said, describing the report's purpose and the questions it seeks to answer about whether the rules are working as intended.
Why it matters: the 2019 rule changes were meant to direct certain development into and adjacent to existing developed areas, introduce more-flexible subdivision design standards and protect hillside character and wildlife passage. The commission authorized a 2021 work plan to assess implementation, and the five-year report is intended to test whether the rules produced their intended effects.
Staff described outreach and initial findings. Sanderson said staff attended "six forums of local government hosted by the Maine Municipal Association, or MMA for short," distributed a survey to 37 of the 39 rural hubs (including hubs nearest recent UT rezonings) and interviewed municipal officials, service providers and other stakeholders. He said the outreach reached over 130 people and that residential activity observed in many communities has been focused more on renovations than on creation of new dwelling units.
Staff also reported limited commercial development in the UT, frequent recreation-related projects and recurring concerns from towns about lack of land for sale. Sanderson said basic public-service issues are emerging: subdivision and housing activity has been limited in most towns over the last five years, rural service providers report sharply rising costs and staffing shortages, and emergency responders face added burdens tied to increased recreational use in remote areas.
On data work, staff said they completed a summer field survey of 18 hillside permits in the Rangeley area — about 30% of hillside permits issued since the rule — and are continuing to compile subdivision plans, permitting records and registry-of-deeds filings to look for trends near rural hubs adjacent to UT rezonings.
Commissioners pressed staff on the connection between the five-year review and the commission's comprehensive-plan update. Commissioner Gwen asked, "How do you see this... dovetailing with our comprehensive plan update?" Carr said the five-year report could act as a preview of issues that will arise in the broader planning process.
Next steps: staff said they plan additional outreach targeted to rural hubs nearest recent rezonings, follow-up interviews with survey respondents, outreach to applicants, conservation groups, realtors and state agencies, and more detailed case studies of permit and subdivision files to assess how the new standards have been implemented. They told commissioners they would aim to complete the report in the spring.
The commission then closed the meeting with an informal motion to adjourn.
