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Committee backs resolve to allow Bureau of Parks and Lands to convey small parcels to towns and private owners
Summary
The Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry voted in work session to recommend LD 2006, a resolve authorizing the Bureau of Parks and Lands to convey or exchange small parcels in Aroostook and Somerset counties to clarify maintenance responsibilities and allow towns to access grant funds.
The Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry moved in work session to recommend LD 2006, a resolve authorizing the Director of the Bureau of Parks and Lands (BPL) to convey or exchange certain state interests in land in Aroostook and Somerset counties.
Senator Sue Bernard, sponsor of the resolve, told the committee the principal transaction would transfer roughly 7 acres along Little Madawaska Lake Road to the town of Westmanland so the town can maintain the road and qualify for maintenance grant funding. "If the town acquires the road as this bill directs, then the confusion on who is responsible for the maintenance of Little Madawaska Lake Road will be eliminated," Bernard said.
Andy Cutco, Director of the Bureau of Parks and Lands, described two additional items included in the resolve: a roughly one-quarter acre sale in Subumik Township to allow owners at 51 Seabee Lane to regularize an existing septic system, and a small land exchange in Presque Isle with Towers North, Inc. to correct a boundary where a communications tower encroaches on state land. Cutco said the bureau expects buyers to pay transactional costs and that the Westmanland conveyance would include a reverter clause so the land would return to state ownership if the town later sells it.
Committee members discussed statutory requirements and fiscal implications. The committee analyst noted a two-thirds preamble is required for conveyances of designated state lands, a procedural threshold that would require two-thirds approval in both legislative bodies. Representative Jim Dill moved to enter work session on LD 2006 and Representative Durette seconded; the roll call produced an 11–0 recorded favorable recommendation with one member absent.
The committee closed the work session on LD 2006 and reserved detailed drafting questions (for example, placement of the reverter clause) for amendment in work session.
Next steps: LD 2006 will move forward with the committee's "ought to pass" recommendation to the legislature, subject to any amendments to clarify transactional language and the statutory two‑thirds requirement for the conveyance of designated state land.
