AUGUSTA, Maine — Proposed changes to the Land Use Regulation Commission would strip needed protections from much of the state, environmental groups charged Thursday.
Conservation Commissioner Bill Beardsley, who chaired the study group that drafted the bill to change LURC, says that is not true.
“These rollbacks threaten to destroy the North Woods as we know it, and once they’re gone, they’re lost forever,” said Alexandra Fields, preservation associate at Environment Maine. “Anyone who has been to the North Woods knows what is at risk.”
The group delivered 17,000 messages they had gathered from Mainers with concerns about the legislation and they said the messages originated from every legislative district. They included postcards, signatures on an online petition and a few handwritten letters.
“It would roll back the protections that discourage reckless development by undermining the Land Use Regulation Commission,” she said. “For 40 years, LURC has aimed to balance the interest of landowners with the public value of protecting Maine’s treasured wild places. The bill would change all of that.”
Commissioner Beardsley said the laws protecting the unorganized territories would not be repealed by the proposed legislation. He said making sure that those who live in the areas under the jurisdiction of LURC have representation on the commission simply makes sense.
“I get really ripped at the elitist element that creeps into why it is we don’t want local people to have some influence over LURC,” he said. “The underlying objective was how do we get people that have skin in the game involved on the commission.”
Beardsley said the folks that live in the area and the landowners should have the right to be involved in LURC as it regulates development.
“I get very disillusioned with people that think that local people and county people don’t know enough to do this,” he said.
Rep. Jeff McCabe, D-Skowhegan, said the legislation would “roll back” protection for land and waterways. He charged allowing counties to opt out of LURC oversight of the unorganized territories in the county would undermine oversight. He is the Democratic lead on the Legislature’s Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee that will consider the legislation.
“Changing the makeup of LURC to allow county commissioners to appoint themselves would reduce oversight and compromise the commission’s ability to make sound land use decisions due to the inevitable conflict of interest involved,” he said.
Beardsley said the proposed legislation does not abolish LURC, does not abolish the LURC staff and does not repeal the comprehensive plan that governs development in the unorganized territories. He said he does not see how its adoption would weaken oversight.
“My feeling is that this legislation is not a condemnation of LURC or its process,” he said, “it is fine-tuning it.”
Beardsley said he does not support the efforts to take the privately owned lands in northern Maine and turn the land into a national park as is the goal of some of those criticizing the LURC legislation. He said those who live in the unorganized territories want to see the opportunity for jobs to be created that can exist in harmony with the environment.
“This is the group that doesn’t believe in private property,” he said. “They are the ones that say the only way to solve the problem in northern Maine, I think I got it right, is we have to have a public taking and turn this into a national park.”
Jym St. Pierre, Maine Director of RESTORE: the North Woods, said the panel Beardsley chaired did not make a recommendation to abolish LURC, but the proposed changes could prevent the agency from doing its job.
“Taken together the panels’ recommendations would emasculate the agency,” he said. “Abolishing LURC slowly, rather than quickly.”
The legislation is scheduled for a public hearing by the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee on Thursday, February 16.
You can read the final report from the LURC Reform Commission here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/75865239/LURC-Reform-Commission-Final-Document
And read more on why the LURC Reform Commission drafted actual legislation, which it was not tasked to do, here:
http://www.dirigoblue.com/2011/12/why-did-the-lurc-reform-commission-draft-actual-legislation/
And listen to an interview with Rep. Jeff McCabe on what’s happening in the ACF committee regarding this bill here:
http://www.cyberears.com/index.php/Browse/playaudio/14861
“reckless development” and the “roll back”!! He seriously need to speak with all of the folks that have been involved with Plum Creek, in Greenville. Reckless development ? just as any investor wants, they got what they wanted. LURC is a joke, in my opinion. Land Use Regulatory Commission….equals, who can make the most money, and how fast can we get away from the locals!! ? And hell, after 10 years, Plum Creek is STILL in court. It’s like taking a whiz with a jock on, …it’s painful, but the investors will prevail.
Of course he doesn’t want progress or change. Change includes the inability for investors to buy up land and make money! I’m curious, how is he going to deal with Roxanne,?
I’ll say this, she won’t sweat him, I wouldn’t be suprised if she told him to &%uck off! And the reason being?, because it’s a federal issue, she doesn’t need his imput. And the very last thing she will do is compromise her principles.
Once again Rusjan,.. you have not checked your facts,… you run your mouth based on whatever comes into your pumpkin…. you really need to read up before you talk. The park is not a national issue,.. LURC is not a national issue. LURC did what it was supposed to do in the case of Plum Creek. What NRCOM and RESTORE are complaining about is , according to them, LURC actually helped Plum Creek create the submittal. and in a way they did.
Consider LURC as being your local town planner,… if you had a project you wanted town approval on, then you would need to meet with and work with the town planner,… Plum Creek did that,.. and now the environmental extremists are taking exception.
The opposition to repeal LURC is from the same Environmental Extremist, barking again,… most of their money, to fight, to lobby, to bring suit,.. comes from out of state…. and is another reason any company finds it hard to do business in Maine.
So. Woods?……….have you lived in the area and dealt with the crap for 10 years? Or are you just reading what you research, based upon an opinion that you know nothing about. And then when you are finished answering this one, hopefully truthfully, then I’ll ask if you were at ANY of the numerous meetings. And then when you get done with that one, I’ll again state, that LURC is a useless, industry oriented, “we need to make a buck one way or the other” agency.
Then, when we are done with that, I’ll ask you what is the non-tourist based economy in the area? And then, when you are done making up answers on that one, I’ll explain to you that the same people who don’t want the national park, are the same types of people that didn’t want Plum Creek!!
Begin….with your answers. I’m waiting. Let me know when you are finished Googleing your response, and then we can talk about Luke Muzzy. You know, that guy that used to be Plum Creeks “spokesman” who also has: a real estate and investment agency in town, and that guy that used to own Indian Hill Trading Post, and still owns rights and land and businesses around town. ??
lol,.. are you a comedy writer for the extremist organizations?
I happen to deal with LURC on a fairly regular basis,.. I understand the intent of Lurc, and while I do not know every last detail of the statutes, administers, workers and so on,… I do have a working knowledge of their system.
I can agree that some overseeing needs to be in place, but I do not think it needs to come from an overly expensive, overly expansive monstrous department the likes of which it has become.
The Natural Resources Council of Maine is really nothing but a PAC attached at the hip of LURC.
You think you are pretty clever,.. but in reality,.. you have big ideas with no sense of local reality.
I have grown up in Piscataquis and Penobscot Counties, I have lived and worked all over this great State of Maine. I am as honest an individual as you will ever meet. I honestly despise the type of jiberish that comes from your type.
I have not attended any recent LURC meetings,.. I have a job, I work during the day.
Your opinion of LURC is actually quite hilarious.
I don’t want a National Park.
I don’t mind Plum Creek having a development plan as long as it is well thought out and abided by. They at least will let the local citizens onto their property in order to help support the community.
If you got out of your hammock you’d see there still is some manufacturing going on in Maine,… it has dwindled, no doubt, but there is still some,.. and there is enough to keep fighting for.
You might as well be typing racial slurs and hate speeches, the way you speak of Maine people.
You assume way too much and you appear to be way off plumb.
40 years and lots of meetings. Countless hours of research to understand and be informed. Try it yourself sometime. You simply don’t know what you’re talking about.
Confusions of fact can be corrected with normal people, it’s his motives that are the more fundamental threat.
Roxanne Quimby has no principles. She is a power-seeking viro who wants to impose her 60s counter culture ideology on other people. She wants to impose Federal control over rural people who want nothing to do with her or her control agenda, and do not want to be displaced for her stated goals of Big Park wilderness to eliminate private property, industry, and civilization since the original European settlement of America.
This rushjan viro is just as bad. He admits he thinks reverting to wilderness is “progress” and wants to squash the economy using the Federal power to prohibit buying land or making money. These people are unconscionable power-seeking tyrants out of the 1930s opposing individual freedom, property rights, a civilized economy, and locally accountable representative self government. They want millions of acres of other people’s land under Federal control and they don’t care what they do to people to get it. It’s no wonder that they are so despised in the UT.
The viro pressure groups tried for a decade to impose LURC as a Federal Greenline agency prohibiting use of private property across 10 million acres and failed. We will never forget Audubon VP and Restore Board member Brock Evan’s infamous “take it all speech” to viro leaders at Tufts University in Massachusetts. They have since tried to progressively increase LURC power over private property owners to tie it up until they can force a Federal takeover. They are apoplectic about the prospect of reform against the tyranny of their viro dictatorship and have declared war against the people in their way. It’s rare that we see such ugly power-seeking openly displayed in public.
Wow, you know what you’re talking about. Refreshing.
I think Rusjan received his education from the Woodrow Wilson Institute….
You may be right.
I thought he was a Phoenix!
Keep commenting, you’re good for a laugh once one realizes how little you know. Speaking as if you know it is a federal issue only shows that you don’t know what you’re talking about.
LURC is not a Federal issue but for the viros all of it is. They have sought to make LURC a Federally empowered Greenline agency for decades and are trying to exploit the state regulatory power of LURC to tie up the land until they can get the Federal government to take it over.
where do those 17000 messages come from coastal and southern maine? I have met a lot of these people , they have their camps or second homes up north but they dont want anyone else . we need an economy in the upper half of our state . Its not just vacationland for all its where we live.
I’m one of them. I don’t live on the coast. I don’t live in southern Maine. I do live in central Maine. My family comes from Patten on my father’s side and Fort Kent on my mother’s.
These well-heeled reactionaries have been spending money gathering signatures against reform without knowing what the recommendations would be. They don’t want any reform; they want power over other people.
I wonder what percentage are registered Maine voters? We have a lot of outofstaters who own property here. Perhaps promoting ourselves as ‘Vactionland’ is what got us into this kind of trouble.
“Elitist?”
The “common man” isn’t the answer to everything. He’s common for a reason. Doesn’t necessarily make him “bad.”
I like the idea of people who “know things” making decisions.
This is yet another illustration of the viros’ arrogant political elitism posturing as if they “know things” better then the rest of us mere “commoners”. Every dictatorial political philosophy has been rationalized with the claim that ordinary people are too stupid or ignorant to manage their own affairs and make decisions and choices in their own lives based on their own thinking. These power seekers don’t belong in this country at all, let alone controlling other people. Americans are not going to put up with this arrogant war on our freedom and rights.
In a country where nearly 50% of the people think George W. Bush would be a good President (twice), I’d say it’s fair to question the judgement of the “common man.”
Tyranny of the masses.
Sometimes regular folks know what’s going on, but sometimes they don’t.
I think that’s why we have a Constitutional Republic…and not a Democracy.
This is another example of a screamer from the right wing engaging in vilifying and name-calling to instill anger and fear in the uninformed. If you want anarchy, you’re on the right path. How well did the paper mills manage their own affairs back in the 50s and 60s, when you could walk on top of the water all the way across the river in Livermore and Rumford? You don’t think that was a problem? You think removing all regulation is a great idea, so that they can build a wind tower ten feet from your house? The only ones who want to control other people are the religious nutjobs who want to turn this country into a theocracy. Environmental regulations are necessary, because people refuse to look at effects beyond their property line and corporations refuse to look at effects beyond their bottom line. If you can’t understand that actions you take in your yard can affect someone else in the next yard, then you have a serious mental deficiency.
So environmental theocracy is okay, right? Because that is what people like you are essentially proposing.
No, I’m saying that a person’s rights to do what they want on their property end when they affect my ability to do what I want on my property. You think it’s OK for me to dam up a stream on my property and flood you out? Because that’s exactly what you’re saying.
Earthling3, you need to speak to Roxanne. She thinks it’s OK.
Earth to Earthling. 1950 was 50 years ago. Mr. Muskie, God bless him, along with many local citizens cleaned up the Andro. Are you aware of the current regulations and health status? I prefer to live by today’s standards and tomorrow’s opportunities using existing knowledge, and today’s data. You?
Why do you want to get rid of all the environmental regulations and enforcement agencies then? Do you think that corporations and individuals will somehow police themselves, and out of the goodness of their hearts decide to be altruistic instead of completely self-serving? You’re not calling from Earth, you’re on the back side of Mars somewhere. People cannot see past their own property lines and corporations cannot see past their own bottom lines. Without regulations and enforcement things would be back to the pre-Muskie days in less than ten years.
Who is trying to get rid of regulations and policies? It’s a sad day when a group collects signatures to block the inclusion of local commissioners in a democratic planning process. Just like everything else in life, we must adapt to current standards and status quo. Citing a 1950 statistic and standard long before citizens had the data and knowledge as we have now, and subsequently changing our behavior, demonstrates a lack of understanding of environmental policy and ecological dynamics. You are in a dream world to even state that we would be back to pre-Muskie days in less than ten years. Get Real.
They are not trying to “block
the inclusion of local commissioners in a democratic planning process.” The way the law is set up, there would be nothing democratic about the county commissioners putting themselves on the LURC commission. No review by the legislature, no minimum qualifications, nothing. If you had ever dealt with the general public, you wouldn’t attempt to claim anything about citizens having data and knowledge. People are ignorant, and most of them are determined to stay that way. They have no idea that what they do in the river affects everyone downstream. They have no idea that it’s bad for the lake to cut down all the trees and plant a lawn. They angrily re-stock bass into ponds that the IFW has spent thousands of taxpayer dollars removing invasive bass from. People are most emphatically determined to do whatever they feel like, without the slightest regard for consequences. You tell me to get real – I’ve been dealing with the public for decades. You need to take off your blinders.
Reading this I was getting all confused about who’s supposed to be on which side of the conservatives’ dreaded class war ?
The ugly class warfare of resentment and envy comes from the left. They are the power seekers out to destroy people.
The corporate elite controlled right wing only call their SOP class warfare THAT when middle class fights back.
Does the Bible tell you so, or do you have some kind of direct line
to some other SOURCE ?
I only ask that because you say it is if it is a defining faith based belief,
principle upon which you would not, could not, compromise.
While I support your personal freedom to abuse faith
and to turn principles into ignorant dogma,
I need not pretend to respect it, do I ?
Then you like the idea of returning democracy to the UT in the form of local control. The people who live here and have their feet on the ground “know things”, and their rights to self determination have been usurped by others who feel they know better for the last 40 years by LURC. Return to local control seems only right.
The people who live there know how to hunt and fish, and how to cut timber. They have no idea about soils science and wetlands significance. They look at wetlands as an inconvenience, with no idea that they are the ultimate source of clean water. They do not even know what biodiversity is, much less understand its importance. A few of them know about erosion, but they only care about it if it’s threatening their house or their road. They could care less about erosion that damages a lake or stream. They don’t have the time or the resources to administer local planning. You want every man for himself? That’s what leads to unplanned development, unavailability of necessary public amenities, poorly designed and maintained roads, etc. Who are you going to give local control to in a place like Bowmantown? Nobody lives there, so that makes it OK for the japanese or chinese based logging company to do whatever they feel like? THERE ARE NO LOCAL PEOPLE FOR RUNNING A TOWN. Central planning is the ONLY thing that makes sense.
I don’t think Mr. Beardsley has read the bill.
No, he helped craft it.
But did he read it?
Are you serious he helped draft the bill , he was on the committee that drafted it. He isn’t like Liberal Maine Democrats who draft & write bills they don’t even read (tax increase bills) and rush them through passing them at the middle of the night with no hearings, no debates etc…
He wrote what the governor told him to write. He didn’t necessarily read it.
Your comment doesn’t come close to passing the staight face test.
Sorry about your face.
I spent an hour with Commissioner Beardsley after the LURC Reform Commission had submitted its report and the proposed legislation. He had a thorough knowledge of it then, and my guess he has kept abreast of current developments. Not that I agree with him on all counts.
Reforms I support as a start… * Shifting some of the traditional responsibilities for reviewing major site developments in the unorganized territory to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and forest management activities to the Maine Forest Service.
* More predictability and consistency in rules and standards and more formalized communication about the board rulings.
* Increasing the accessibility of the board to those living in the unorganized territories, including holding meetings in or close to the unorganized territory and locating staff there. These practical solutions likely would go a long way to improving communications and relations between the agency and the people living in the unorganized territory.
LURC is a central planing and control bureau that should not exist. What started as a stand-in for the lack of local zoning was deliberately transformed into an instrument of power for radical viros out to control other people’s private property.
I hope you come to testify
Jeff, the people in the UT don’t want “good communications”, they want their land and their lives back.
Something that Liberal Democrats refuse to see. They think the Maine people that we should be to be nice with these folks. No we shouldn’t be nice to these enviros. It was ok when King, Baldacci and Democrats in Augusta when they were running things to give tens to hundreds of millions of our tax dollars to these folks to buy land. So they can create their park to protect their environment they claim to love. All these folks are is nothing more than job destroyers. They want to do everything to drive businesses and the Maine people off of their land. It is time for these folks to go find some other folks down south to scam.
How do YOU propose to protect the environment? Like it or not, “the environment” here is what brings dollars to Maine. Destroy it at your peril.
We will “protect the environment” in the same way it’s protected where you live.
I disagree with you on major developments, but do support the call for “permit by rule” applications for very small projects. Increasing accessibility to both the commission and staff is also important.
I oppose allowing counties to opt out of LURC.
I oppose allowing county commissioners to appoint themselves to LURC, and would rather see counties hold elections to fill their seat on the commission.
County government in Maine is very weak compared to that in other states. There are those that would like to see county government made stronger, about which I have no opinion. If that is to be proposed, I think Maine must create more counties by subdividing the very large ones that currently exist.
Gerald – what better opportunity to change course….
GEORGE SMITH: Battle about opt-out provision in LURC plan gets partisan, ugly
http://www.onlinesentinel.com/opinion/columnists/battle-about-opt-out-provision-in-lurc-plan-gets-partisan-ugly_2012-02-07.html
Is this the same George Smith that has been seen schmoozing it up at Roxanne Quimby’s “retreats” throughout the summer?
How much do you suppose he was bought for?
Beardsley calling someone an elitist? Pot…meet kettle…Just a different form of elitism.
A lot of us who live in Unorganized Territory signed that petition.
We know LURC brought the same thoughtful, legal, planning and zoning services to our remote lands for 40 years that every town and city uses to direct development.
We also know that some of our finest Maine citizens, dedicated to the welfare of the North Woods and its people, served on the Commission through those years.
We really resent this attempt by inexperienced, unqualified County Commissioners elected by downtown voters, to take over our planning, zoning and permitting and to tell us how our lands are going to be used.
The new Commission is not going closer to the people and landowners of Unorganized Territory as Commissioner Beardsley asserts. That’s a false ruse. It is going to Downtown Bangor, Skowhegan and Millinocket and the other big towns and cities.
And it is going to those who subscribe to opening the floodgates of development in our rural communities and remote regions.
That’s what the resistance is all about.
Allowing other people to use their own land is “telling us how are lands are going to be used”? It isn’t your land. This represents the keep others out crowd who will give up their own rights and freedom to “preserve” other people’s private property. “Resenting” locally elected representatives like County Commissioners is a call begging to be ruled by an elite.
Amen we got these enviornmental extremists telling us we can’t use this land. They have had a grip on Augusta for 40 years and have had folks like King and Baldacci giving them our tax dollars to buy even more land which is ignorant and outrageous. Now that we have people with common reasoning in office the Liberals are now trying to throw their weight around . With this stupid goofy petition not worth the paper its printed on. We folks in rural towns in Maine want our rights to waterways etc. back. We are tired of these folks trying to impose this stupid park on us. Them imposing these stupid ugly wind turbines that do absolutely nothing but destroy beautiful land. It is time they go back to the Left Coast where they belong and take their ignorant attitude and impose their ignorant views to those folks. We are taking our state back and we don’t want you anymore.
Well said darkcat33 !! I cant like it enough !!!
oh yeah , the stupid park again. the mills arent coming back, get a clue
you’re lucky I’m not quimby, I would hire enough guards and close all my property off.
The mills are coming back. GNP is also diversifying into renewable energy (bio-coal). You’re lucky you’re not Quimby.Otherwise you would face the prospect of a negative legacy and be remembered as a villain.
the mills aren’t coming back, it isnt happening. if you think we are going back to the glory days of papermills every where it just isnt going to happen
Why aren’t the County Commissioners the power hungry ruling class ?
They are the real political Party power elite wanna be’s, aren’t they ?
Who are open for any kind of monkey business and so ready to sell out the State’s environment for a dollar, if not for them, too, then for The County coffers ?
Calling names and casting groundless aspersions just like the conservatives do is easy.
See?
Even I can do it.
And if it is what it takes to take Maine back, let’s do it… and do it better than your common Neo-Know Nothing, Tea Party attending, big talking, but do nothing, more woodsy and fly bitten than Paul Bunyan’s ox, cracker barrel tough guys.
To heck with worrying about showing the old fahts any respect … at least not anymore than they have shown here for 17,000 other loyal Mainers.
Did you mean Royal Mainers? I think that is what you meant with your 1% petition. 17,000 signers over 1.3 million is 1% or so. That is royally maxxed out….
Do you think it is respectful to put words in my mouth,
or worthy of any respect that you would try such low blows ? 17,000 signers is what it is.It represents many more than that , and it is worthy of our respect .But I only not support your right to be disrespectful of 17, ooo loyal Mainers, I encourage both it and your acting as if your personal position: speaking for all conservatives we oppose any conservation, … no compromise… is the only right one .I ESPECIALLY like you doing that when the topic is who are really the elitists, now ? Good nite.
A campaign of postcards organized and executed by the likes of Jym St. Pierre and his elitist friends around the country will do little to slow down the return to democracy in the UT that has been usurped by LURC, which has been nothing but a tool for said elitists.
Let’s do a survey of residents in the UT and you will see that the current post card campaign is nothing more than a smattering of signers from the UT, padded with signers from other areas with no vested interest that could compete with the rights of self-determination of people who live here.
Let’s WHO ?
You go right ahead.
That is just what the conservationists have done.
Isn’t it ?
Oh, …. or might he mean WE , our conservative, open for big business, State, minority led,
big government should …
Locally elected officials protecting freedom and property rights are not “ruling” anyone. “Ruling” and obsession with “class” comes from the left.
“Ruling” and obsession with “class” comes from the left.”
Oh, I guess there is no sense in questioning your convictions
on that conservative, faith based, elitist belief.
So very well, sir.
But just to clear about the topic, who brought up… so is who is most likely really obsessed with elitism , HERE ?
Was it Conservation Commissioner Bill Beardsley …
or the 17,000 loyal Maine signers in opposition to the short sighted,international corporatist backed, opportunistic, reactionary, anti- proper planning, rush to bottom, industrialists and out of State developers….
…. who is calling all their political opposition
… and anyone else, at all like that, elitist ?
lol
how did you determine all 17,000 signers were loyal? Loyal to what exactly and how did they all come to agreementunswerving in allegiance: as a : faithful in allegiance to one’s lawful sovereign or government b : faithful to a private person to whom fidelity is due c : faithful to a cause, ideal, custom, institution, or product 2: showing loyalty
3obsolete : lawful, legitimate
Who are you ?
Are you an elitist of some sort, who is entitled by your elitism , somehow,
to question the “loyaly” ( to what ??????) of 17,000 people ?
because so many of the local conservatives are lower class and seem to enjoy it
Actually, resistance is resisting people like you “onOurWatch”. Watch this 1969 film called “the Hand” and learn what left wing socialists do to people they disagree with.
http://onlineshortfilms.net/watch/ruka-the-hand-video_d14c9e624.html
This is probably one of the most powerful political films ever made.
One of the most fiction-based films ever. Glad I am “an elite”.
The symbolism presented in this film would not be clear to a simple mind. Put on your thinking cap and watch again. It’s powerful to those who can interpret it.
conservative filter”** conservative filter: the ability of conservatives to only notice things negative concerning conservatives and positive concerning liberals in the media or in discussion, creating a false sense of bias. Positive conservative news/discussion or negative liberal news/discussion is ignored and filtered out from the conservative brain, further enhancing the conservative sense of perpetual victimhood.
wah wahwah
Quite telling, by ending your comment with “wah wahwah”. Your intellect is on display. If you had a reasonable comment to make, rather than the tired old liberal vs.conservative diatribe so often put on display here, you might be taken seriously. When you sidestep the topic to spout as you have, It’s a clear indication that you have run out of grey matter.
no, i’m not a conservative,I use my brain versus parroting right wing talking points.
”
People with a low I.Q tend to have conservative beliefs, a study has found.
Less intelligent people are possibly drawn to conservative ideologies because such beliefs feature “structure and order,” which make it easier to comprehend a complicated world. Conservative ideologies tend to stress resistance to change and this can lead to prejudice, an experts saysThe study from Brock University in Ontario, published in Psychological Science, showed that people who score low on I.Q. tests in childhood are more likely to develop prejudiced beliefs and socially conservative politics in adulthood.”
The topic of this article, LURC and a bill which could lead to local control, happens to cross party lines. In response to your comment above, I would respond by pointing out that in my considerable life experience, I have found moderates to be the most intelligent and free-thinking.
“conservative filter”** conservative filter: the ability of conservatives to only notice things negative concerning conservatives and positive concerning liberals in the media or in discussion, creating a false sense of bias. Positive conservative news/discussion or negative liberal news/”
You mean as all the wedge issues are reported BY THE CORPORATE OWNED MEDIA ? Please !
But I guess if your glass is half full … it would be good that you do feel as if,
(know even, that …) your voice is not being heard and that you are not being respected , and/or
if you are not being used, outright, then at least you know that you are being manipulated by someone. That much is good.
Too bad you are too closely involved and committed to be able to see the deal
you have made, nor the real best interests of devils you have made it with.
But look, anyway you slice it, they use all of you faith based/politically reactionary,
social conservatives and your popular faith based votes, by promising you action on their manipulative wedge issues, but do they ever deliver ?
No, not even when they control the whole government, like under Bush,
or LePage.
That would be crazy of them, the faith based , conservative “values” voters,
the Party faithful need their wedge issues.
So politically speaking, solutions to any of them, are not ever really in best interest of the GOP.
Take the corporate owned media log out of your eye, * and you would see that they talk about your conservative social issues, sure, and even make them required political touchstone.
There is a dogma, that all conservative candidates must recite just like a good altar-boy could HIS Catholic Catechism, too.
But in once in office, in power, in control of Big Government they make it all
about the Big Business and the political interests of the Eastern Establishment’s,
old money, corporatist big business and/or ( the mostly West Coast) Military /Industrial Complex.
The whole point of all the wedge issues is to keep the Party Faithful in line.
They need to keep you thinking the divide in America are the social conservative “values” issues, not all the money going to the top, at the expense if the American class.
In the real class war, if you are not among the top 1%,
which side are you on ?
*So if: A) all corporate controlled media broadcast news is too damn liberal,
?
B) then, FOX News is too liberal, too, OR it not really broadcasting the news.
So if B-2, what is the purpose of Fox Network News, in reality ?
Read more at: http://thepoliticalbrigade.yuku.com/topic/11294
At a LURC meeting in Millinocket, someone asked the LURC people present to identify themselves and tell where they were from. Not one was from Maine. None of our finest citizens were there.
The six members of the Land Use Regulatory Commission (there is one open seat) all reside in Maine:
Starks
Naples
Big Lake Township
Embden
Beaver Cove
Medford
http://www.maine.gov/doc/lurc/staff.shtml
How many of them were elected by the people they govern? ZERO.
when was Bill Beardsley elected?
When was Bill Beardsley a member of the Land Use Regulatory Commission?
There, fixed it for ya.
LURC has outlived its useful life. When it was created there were some environmental issues and some shortcomings in problem solving. However, out of the blocks, it became an aggressive organization with people working to take out retribution against anyone violating the new laws (instead of working with people for the betterment of all). Though over time, there was some degree of moderation, it currently represents a centralized planning and control process. There was an entire empire that collapsed about twenty years who used this process…if I could only remember its name….but I digress.
What should happen is for counties to be allowed to vote to take over the UT and counties should get one cent out of the five cent state sales tax directly given to them off the top to help fund management and oversight. Towns should be allowed to annex adjoining UT townships if they can demonstrate technical and financial capacity. If there are any UT townships left, then and only then should the state perform any management. And that management should be done solely by UT residents or residents of adjoining UT townships with the goal being how to get those townships into organized or county control. Local control is one of the best ways to protect ourselves, our homes, our families, and to sustain our free nation.
Currently, we have a culture where average people routinely make market decisions based on corporate behavior. Isn’t that what the environmentalists always used to lobby people to do when they sat in the middle of the road and carried banners in front of government offices? Environmentalists honestly thought corporations (okay, they prayed to gaia) would remain the evil empire and that the rest of us would remain unresponsive. I think the environmentalists biggest concern is becoming rebels without a cause.
Now, average people are awake; they realize the left is out to take away our individual liberty – we now have the internet and we communicate to each other and to companies when they don’t make efforts to conform to what most of us find acceptable (there are a few of you who will believe you are getting screwed no matter how good things get). We will take our country back. We will rule based on our original constitution and you will live by the rule of laws, facts, and liberty. You will no longer be able to live by favoritism, emotions, and control. Get used it.
In summary, GO Mr. Beardsley! Thank-you Gov. LePage and Thank-you Maine State Legislature for being brave enough to set the example our country needs to follow. You are true patriots!
It appears to me that you are a patriot yourself, Eric. Excellent comment.
Thank-you, sir!
Why should the rest of the state pay for county takeover of LURC functions?
Why should the rest of the state pay for LURC control of county functions?
There, fixed it for ya.
I’m not stupid by any means. This is a topic is new to me. With all the abbreviations, I’m not understanding the problem or the the fight. You seem to be very well Educated on this. I understand the fight to get our Freedoms back. I’m all for it. Please help me understand the rest. What is the purpose of this group? What Rights and power do they have? How are they able to manipulate Counties, State, Gov’t, etc… ? What is their goal Financially or other wise? Thank you for your help.
http://www.maine.gov/doc/lurc/ you can read the government site for the official/legal overview. In the early 1970’s, Maine, was the final frontier for the east coast and had little government oversight and regulation by modern standards and even by standards of the time. LURC and Maine Shoreland Zoning came into play as did the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
The Land Use Regulatory Commission provides planning, oversight, and regulatory enforcement to the Unorganized Territories (UT) of Maine. The UT consists of townships without local government (Select Board/Town Council/etc). [correction from OnOurWatch: There are 8 Organized Towns and 32 Plantations in LURC jurisdiction. They contain the majority of the voters in the UT. Each of these municipalities have been able to leave LURC jurisdiction and take their planning, zoning and permitting into their own hands.
10 Plantations did so in the early years. Thank-you] These towns are either very thinly populated or have no residents in many cases. On the other hand, organized towns (those with some form of government structure) come under their own jurisdiction and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection for land use laws and planning.
Development in the UT has been much more difficult than development in the organized towns. For example, Sunday River and Sugarloaf Ski areas have been able to follow predictable rules with predictable outcomes and have thrived. Saddleback Ski area has had great difficulty due to the laborious labyrinth of procedures put in place by the LURC Board and all the rules and regulations since it is in the UT.
It has been part of the divide splitting people in northern Maine and southern Maine in terms of attitude. lifestyle, economic growth, liberty, etc. The UT is not exactly like the Australian Outback but that is a rough concept, if you will.
In recent years LURC with its central control by a few at the state level and the state being dominated by a more liberal facing government has become associated by many with RESTORE – a group proposing to create a 3.2 million acre park; Roxanne Quimby, a woman who became wealthy by developing a nature base cosmetics company at precisely the right time who is a huge National Park proponent; and people considered to be “from away” who merely vacation here and are not true stakeholders. You can Google search and find all kinds of other issues including pro and con park groups and people of all political persuasions with an opinion.
In a nutshell, with all the information technology available; the knowledge people have relative to years ago; access to government, each other, and corporations to effect change, it’s time for people to let go and give the counties and towns a chance to develop Maine regionally – there are many cultures in Maine and it is amazing to me that liberals would not see this as an opportunity to embrace diversity across our state.
I apologize for this lengthy response that you may never read since you posted 12 hours ago….but to those that do, I think it is informative and minimally biased.
There are 8 Organized Towns and 32 Plantations in LURC jurisdiction. They contain the majority of the voters in the UT. Each of these municipalities have been able to leave LURC jurisdiction and take their planning, zoning and permitting into their own hands. 10 Plantations did so in the early years.
We submit it speaks volumes that 4 civil divisions have joined LURC and only 10 civil divisions have left LURC in 40 years. 40 towns and plantations have chosen to keep the agency all through these 4 decades.
Satisfaction with LURC on the part of those inhabitants of Unorganized Territory who have had the choice of leaving through the years is greater than 80% when measured this way.
Developers and subdividers have a different view of course, and there are always some resentments by most of us everywhere about regulation, but on balance, those of us who live, work and recreate in the UT, treasure the combination of economic activity, development and preservation of the features that make our parts of Maine special. We recognize that in large part it is the result of the existence of LURC.
Many of us would be eager to select the LURC Commissioners by our own vote.
Absent that opportunity, we would opt to have members of the Commission be required to have some qualifications or experience to perform the difficult task. Our votes don’t hardly count in electing County Commissioners – the big towns and cities make those choices.
Developers will have a field day dealing with an inexperienced Board of County Commissioners with no qualifications, drawn from the urban areas where rapid growth and development are the way of life.
Let County Commissioners nominate qualified individuals in the same way that the Governor’s appointees must be qualified. And let our elected Legislature make the appointments.
Thanks for the correction – I made it above.
Not a bad compromise. Disband LURC in favor of County nominated Commissioners in each County approved by the Legislature. Commissioners must reside in the UT. Counties make their own rules meeting minimum state standards just like towns do today.
In a related topic, our County Commissioners may not at the moment be as sharp as you would like them to be, however, if they were given the authority and funding, I believe we would be able to work through the qualification issues over time. I don’t quite share the same level of jade as you regarding being over run by developers. I believe if this started they could easily be reminded of LURC V1.0.
Thank you. This was very helpful.
You are welcome!
why just these counties get 1 cent, why not every county or town?
I’d be OK with splitting the state sales tax out to the counties (20%) is a fair start. This would fund the counties with money no longer needed by the state by disbanding LURC and enable the counties to have some fiscal capacity in addition to receiving the land taxes.
The people who do not live in unorganized areas want to deprieve rights from those who do, usually for their own do-gooder motives, hiding behind regulatory agencies. Did I just define a commie?
Rule by a bureaucracy of so-called “scientists” on behalf of preservationism and enviro-chondria comes from 19th century German philosophy. The founder of the ecology movement was Ernst Haeckel, an Hegelian biologist who reified the abstraction of “ecosystem” as if it were a living thing. 19th century Germany was the anti-Enlightenment that had previously led to the founding of this country based on political freedom and the rights of the individual. German philosophy was the root of the rise of totalitarianism in forms such as the Nazis — national socialism — and Marxism. I wouldn’t call any of this authoritarianism “do-gooder”; there is nothing idealistic about their motives. It’s no surprise that they have become so openly totalitarian in their denouncing property rights and representative self-government with local accountability in the UT.
Keep it up. In no time at all you will have New Jersey up there.
Ybrad, where is the long line of investors looking to invest in and develop northern Maine? Nobody here wants the development you allude to. Is this the way you respond to a comment you don’t understand? Perfect nonsense.
no, since you dont know what a commie is– look under your bed for any?
Didn’t think it was possible but we may have some that’s more of an ignoramus than lepage
Mirror?
He’s fine-tuning LURC all right, right into impotency.
Interesting Rep. Jeff McCabe would be worried about conflict of interest. He is the lead D on a committee that oversees State owned lands and parks. He is executive director of the Lake George Association, a private nonprofit organization that manages the Lake George Park. Lake George property was bought with funds from the Land for Maine’s Future program, and is owned by the Department of Conservation’s Bureau of Parks an Lands, whose legislative oversight committee is Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.
Do you question about this? Happy to answer. jeffmccabe4me@gmail.com
It isn’t just a matter of protecting the environment. LURC should be keeping developments clustered, not allowing them to be dispersed all over the place because we can’t afford the taxes for more road upkeep, plowing, more school districts, more sheriff beats, etc. The days of unorganized, willy nilly development should be over! I think this legislation will undermine that. Anyone who doesn’t like tax increases should not be advocating for uncontrolled development in the north woods or any remote areas of Maine.
Better is for groups to create comprehensive plans for their local area, much as was done around Rangeley Lakes:
http://www.theirregular.com/news/2011-07-27/Front_Page/Economy_tourism_top_new_comprehensive_plan_goals.html
Rather than reacting to proposed development, residents can create a plan (that can be modified over time) in which the residents determine what they would like to see. From everything I’ve heard, the process in Rangeley Lakes worked very well with strong support of locals, as well as groups like NRCM and Commissioner Beardsley.
LURC did exactly that with the area around Rangeley. I went to some of the hearings. They tried to take everyones ideas into account and design the zoning with that in mind. Then people came back years later and changed their minds – land they had said they never wanted to develop they suddenly wanted to subdivide, and they got all upset when the zoning wouldn’t allow it, and blamed LURC. Typical of this whole debate. Set up a system that everyone says they want, and that addresses all the needs it’s designed to address. Let it work for years, then decide you want something different, that the system you set up doesn’t allow. Blame the employees you hired to do the job you described, and throw out the baby with the bathwater. People are so short-sighted it makes me sick. I’m just glad I’m old enough that I’ll most likely be dead before they finish making a huge mess out of the area I have loved for the past half-century.
There is nothing to suggest that development would be irresponsible. Sprawl like you describe is not wanted here, but ecomomic development would be desireableas would the jobs that come with it.
40,000 folks in the heart of ground zero for LuRC control are on LiHEAp, food stamps, and section 8 housing voutures because there is no more decent jobs. From paper mill jobs to shoe shop jobs as well as the supporting stores, restauraunts, schools, motels, etc., that closed, as the cost to operate and maintain these jobs vanished too with the anchor industries dimise.
Rural, but mostly northern Maine, has become a place to sooth the conscience of the folks looking to pretend Maine was ever a pristine and untouched vast wilderness that needs to be restored to such. The dimise any economic iniatives to save those jobs 0f say Dickey Linclon or Basin Mills type projects that put environment regulations out of control that out “trees and animals above people”. They’ d rather hug a tree then let a logger make a living. They sip coctails on million dollar decks in Portland harbor, and drive to rural Maine, thier “entitled” recreation hideaways, on private but public acessable land. We maintain the roads and bridges, fire departments and police, that lead to thier entitlement destinations. We are supposed to be greatfull to thier visits and the crumbs of thier left over Whole Foods lunches they bring with to enjoy the day.
Wish I’d said that!
2000 likes.
LURC is not needed, they trip over themselves with their rules and i know of examples where they actually have resulted in more environmental damage and loss of public access because they adhere to silly rule interpretations or fail to make an interpretation
Good for you Commissioner. It is a long awaited need for those of us that live in “The other Maine”, to have a say on how our home area will be developed. The Tree Huggers have done enough damage to our economy! Change the Rules for sure!!!
The good people in and near the UTs deserve to have THEIR OWN local planning boards, just as the nearly 500 towns and cities in the rest of the state.
It’s time to replace the elitist, double latte extra cream expresso with the local regular cup o joe resident.
Abolish LURC.
Do it now.
you can always tell when the conservatives start calling people elitist, they are just afraid of being shown for the slack jawed yokels they are.
get a clue, those mills are gone and they aint coming back
Oh but let’s pretend they will come back to get that government handout.
The good people in the UT can always organize into a municipality and then have their own planning boards. They’ll then need to raise taxes to pay for it, just like the nearly 500 other towns do.
They will be supported by retaining the tax revenue generated by the lands and property within their jurisdiction, rather than sending it to Augusta, where it is turned around and sent back in the form of welfare. The welfare brings poverty. Responsible development would bring jobs and prosperity currently being denied by those with a long range plan to depopulate northern Maine and return it to the wild. LURC has been used as the tool. It’s original purpose has been perverted and is being used against us.
The organized towns in northern Maine can not foster much in the way of development and in general are losing the jobs they have and their population — what makes you think that the UT will fair better without LURC ? I do not have the answer but abolishing LURC and divorcing nothern Maine from the rest of the state is not the answer to promoting job development in the area
Abolishing LURC does not equal divorcing northern Maine from the rest of the state. If anything, creation of LURC was the start of the divorce and the State failed to provide the promised alimony or the required child support. That, in part is why we have the problem of today.
Allowing control to revert to local people (especially now that we’ve experienced the alternative) will unite Maine because we will share in our community destinies. We will have a shared experience. Trying to work with Augusta and Southern Mainers and people from outside the state hell bent on keeping us in economic purgatory is not serving us well.
Why should it take Saddleback (unorganized town) millions of consulting dollars and years to build new chair lifts versus Sugarloaf (organized town) one year a few hundred thousand consulting dollars? The enviros have been screwing Saddleback for years: Check out this 1987 newspaper article.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1928&dat=19871230&id=azwpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=e2UFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1223,6058575
And this is why we do not need another Park in Maine!!!!!!!!
http://www.aldha.org/saddlebk.htm#chrono
40 years of LURC control has brought us to where we are. Your metaphor of divorce is not accurate if you read the bill. It’s time for local control and some level of responsible development.
I also think that LURC, which was accepted as well-intentioned, has been perverted and used as a tool for RESTORE. Jym St. Pierre’s appearance on the scene is confirmation of that perception
And then they can go out and buy their own plow trucks, and hire town workers, and build municipal offices, and collect local taxes — let’s see. With most of the land in tree growth, and half the properties in foreclosure (due to the worldwide real estate bubble collapse, not LURC as you probably believe), they ought to be able to buy about next to nothing at all to get started. Most of the townships in the UT have virtually NO population and NO tax base. Who is going to run it? Central planning is the only thing that makes sense. Paranoid delusions about a “long range plan to depopulate northern Maine” are completely absurd. You have been brainwashed by the same RW lunacy that believes the FBI is coming to take our guns away. Try a dose of reality once in a while.
Very easily done with a minimum amount of county taxes.
You forget that the rural parts of the state have ben doing something quite foreign to most urbanites;……..making do.
most of the UT do not have enough people to form a planning board let alone finance it — how well would that work when a large coporation came in with a plan the citizens in an area did not want — can you just see how well a group of working people with limited financial backing would against a group of Philidelphia lawyers
It kind of sounds like you think we should do away with all regulations and let the development begin
A word of caution on that mentality — that being the case Ms Quimby can build that park any time she wants
Where did I say that?
There are towns and cities all over this state that have been inundated by corporations that will try to force their will on the local populace.
I served on our local planning board when one such entity tried to steamroll their agenda over the local “turnips”.
It didn’t work.
Your elitist attitude that assumes that there is nobody in the county arena that has the intelligence and the will to assume the duties of LURC is THE reason that we want it (LURC) GONE.
THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE up there to staff and run planning locally. How many TxxRyy townships are there with one or fewer full time residents? How many of the county commissioners have any idea even how to get there, never mind have any knowledge at all about what they might find? Central planning was established because there is NO local government in the UT. THAT’S WHY IT’S CALLED UNORGANIZED. The people that live in the UT are too busy scratching out a living to take their time and energy up with running planning boards, zoning boards, local code enforcement, site inspections, permitting, and all the rest of it. Central planning and code administration is the only thing that makes sense.
“Up there”?
Enough said!
As you know from previous discussions with me, I have owned property in the UT for over 40 years. Don’t try to paint me as an outsider just because I live down by Waterville.
Change for the better and the lapage mis-administration are mutually exclusive terms.
Another Republican oligarch who uses denigration to make his case. Commissioner Beardsly, you calling those in opposition to you plan to give away Maine’s natural resources to the highest bidder “elitists” does not make them so any more than does my calling you a jack-booted, neo-fascist oligarch.
Mr Beardsley — being a construction worker who 1) owns property in the UT and 2) who in general supports the LURC I take offense to your elitist comment — I believe overall the LURC has served us well — land in the UT needs to be utilized and developed in a reasonable manner just as it is in the municipalities of our state — uncontroled utilization of the lands in the UT has the potential to affect abutting land owners, the overall economic health of our state and cause unnecessary harm to the natural resouces that belong to the citizens of Maine
Could the LURC use a tune up? Undoubtedly. Any organization, public or private, requires adjustments over time so they remain current and functional. Does this require a complete dismantling? NO.
Inclusion of citizens from the counties most affected would be a positive move. But the exclusion of those from central and southern Maine is unreasonable. As citizens of Maine they have equal ownership of the public natural resources.
Give control of the UT and / or LURC to the county commissioners ? No, they do not have the staff and / or resouces to manage this. We do not need another layer of bureaurcy.
Much of the testimony at the public hearing for the bill that eventually came to create the LURC Reform Commission echoes your statement. For those interested, two examples:
Steve Mason: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyu7RnQJzkg
Matt Polstein: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSNqThtF_wM
We all know anything Matt Polstein wants is COMPLETELY IN HIS OWN SELF INTEREST. He abused his position on the Milli town council for years including costing the town a lawsuit for actions -in his own self interest. Like Roxy, once he got what he wanted out of the town he moved his business out of the town. LURC needs to go along with the special favors Polstein gets from them. If you notice, he gets all the permits he wants when others are denied. It is a sham and a scam what this guy does.
Beardsly take after his bossman Laplague. Starts out with name calling, devisive rhetoric, and ends up gutting another body that protects all Mainers from the excess of mindless development that would turn Maine into a wastland as long as they showed a profit.
I thought that the Commissioner works for all the people of the State of Maine and not just the Washington County Commissioners. Agreed change needs to happen but, to dismiss 17,ooo signatures and claim they are a special interest group defies even common sense. I hope that all 17, 000 people show up at the public hearing and have their day questioning the Commissioner.
“opt out”
“appoint themselves”
“fine tuning”
Welcome to Chicago-style corruption, people!
This Beardsley is one character. Check your wallets. It will be a bumpy ride.
Hooray for Pres. Beardsley!!!!!!!!!!
Go Beardsley. I hope your tune up of LURC leaves a better legacy than the struggles that confront your former employer, Husson University. But I doubt it.
LURC needs to go…!
Currently, tax revenues generated by the UT land in private ownership go to Augusta and come back as a pittance in the form of welfare. That would change if those revenues stayed in the counties where they came from and were used to promote responsible development, attracting jobs and reasonable prosperity. Opponents to a bill that would take us in that direction should do some research.
Make sure your brain is engaged before you put your mouth into gear. It’s an embarrassing stall when you don’t and you resort to name-calling and partisan slurs.
Bill Beardsley, Poobah of Conservation, had but to run for governor and secure his position among the GOP elites in order to get his job. Using the E word to castigate those with different views ought to be beneath his dignity, but alas….
As long as we get a National Park up there somewhere before it’s too late.