LUPC monthly meeting rescheduled for March 26 in Bangor

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    BANGOR — The Maine Land Use Planning Commission has rescheduled its monthly meeting to Wednesday, March 26 at the Penobscot County Courthouse in Bangor.
    The session starts at 9 a.m. and is open to the public.

    Several new items have also been added to the agenda since the original meeting on March 12 in Monson was postponed.
    One of the major topics is a request by a Big Moose Township landowner to rezone part of their property from general management to residential development.
    An original application filed by C&E Real Estate LLC asked LUPC to rezone the entire parcel of 50.9 acres, but the staff recommended that it not be approved at its February meeting. The new filing asks for only 18.8 acres to be rezoned for seven lots instead of the entire parcel which could have contained 13 lots.
    Esther and Charles Wagenheim of Pittsford, Vt., the principals of C&E Real Estate LLC, own 46.1 acres while Adam Moskovitz of Bangor owns an adjacent 4.8-acre lot.
    The couple is being represented locally by real estate agent Rodney Folsom.
    The commission will also discuss a prospective zoning plan for the Rangeley region and how well it is serving the area.
    LUPC staff contacted 20 stakeholders in the Rangeley area, representing a broad range of interests, and all were given a common set of questions and asked to respond. According to a staff memorandum, 14 provided written responses and two others sent brief comments.
    The commission might consider a number of options including taking no immediate action, conducting a more formal review of the plan, considering some of the subdivision concerns during the review of the subdivision rules, or undertaking a complete update of the plan.
    LUPC will also discuss revisions in the commission’s draft concept plans as recommended by Planning Manager Samantha Horn Olsen.
    Olsen and two other staffers have pointed out that LUPC “currently has a concept planning guidance document developed in 2003 that is substantially out of date.”
    The staff originally presented a revised version of the statute in March 2013 and is now asking the LUPC to “move forward (with) adoption of a new document that reflects the commission’s learning over the past decade.”
    Some of the key changes between the old and revised documents include updates to reflect law and rule changes since 2003; additional explanation of a number of topics; and distinguishing which information should be included in the petition versus the plan.
    The staff also recommends changes that “more appropriately recognizes that flexibility is needed because plans can vary widely in size and complexity.”