by Cathy Johnson, NRCM North Woods Project Director
Good afternoon Sen. Nutting, Rep. Pieh and members of the Committee. My name is Cathy Johnson. I am the North Woods Project Director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine. I am here today on behalf of the 12,000 members and supporters of the Natural Resources Council of Maine in opposition to L.D. 558.
This bill would require notification to every landowner within the 10.4 million acres of LURC jurisdiction about proposed revisions to the Commission’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan. The Commission already provides extensive notification to landowners through their tax bills and through public notification processes. Additionally, any landowner can be asked to be notified through email or regular mail.
To the extent that this bill is requiring notification beyond what LURC already does, it will have a significant impact on LURC’s budget. In these times of severe and repeated budget cuts, we believe that requiring notification beyond what already takes places is not a wise allocation of scarce resources.
A very similar bill was proposed in 1999. L.D. 1420 was defeated by the Maine Legislature on May 14, 1999. The Legislature found that the costly notification requirements were not necessary. Since that time LURC has continued to provide notice of its activities to landowners and the public alike in a variety of ways.
Now, as then, this proposed legislation is unnecessary and costly. We urge you to vote Ought Not To Pass on L.D. 558.
Thank you for your attention.
