by the Associated Press
Maine Sunday Telegram news story
BANGOR – A developer has submitted a rezoning request for a 31-lot subdivision on Moosehead Lake’s eastern shore seven months after state officials denied his request to rezone nearby property for a 70-lot subdivision.
Hank McPherson of Burnt Jacket LLC submitted the rezoning request to the Land Use Regulation Commission for a plan for 21 lakefront lots and 10 inland lots near the town of Beaver Cove.
LURC officials last June rejected McPherson’s proposal to rezone 246 acres on Burnt Jacket peninsula that called for lakefront and hillside lots.
At the time, the commission said the proposal was too far from existing development and failed to conserve the area’s natural, unspoiled qualities.
The new proposal is closer to town and contains less than half the number of lots as the plan that was rejected.
“We are trying to satisfy LURC and some of the other people who had concerns about the original application,” McPherson said. “So we changed the location and reduced the size.”>/p>
The commission needs additional information from McPherson before the staff can begin the formal review process, said Scott Rollins, manager of LURC’s permitting and compliance division.
Rollins said staff members have worked with McPherson to develop a proposal that meets LURC expectations. Besides having fewer house lots, some of the revised plan’s lots are next to an existing residential zone and close to Lily Bay Road.
The new application addresses many of the commission’s earlier concerns, Rollins said. “We are pleased with what we have before us right now,” he said.
McPherson’s first proposal drew criticism from environmental organizations for its size and location.
Diano Circo, North Woods policy advocate for the Natural Resources Council of Maine, said he had not seen the plan.
The resources council in principle would support clustered development near existing homes, but it also want wants to ensure that McPherson’s second application is not merely a steppingstone toward the larger development, Circo said.
