AUGUSTA – A proposal to abolish Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission has been bypassed in favor of a study into the future of the commission, which oversees development in the state’s nearly 10 million acres of unorganized territory.

Gov. Paul LePage signed a bill Friday that sets an agenda to study the issue, which was debated at length during the past legislative session after bills were presented to abolish LURC.

Lawmakers ultimately killed those bills and passed one to establish a panel to review the way land use is governed in the territory.

The commission must issue a final report by Jan. 4, and the Legislature’s Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee must submit a bill during the 2012 session.

During last year’s gubernatorial campaign, LePage said he would abolish LURC, which is viewed by many people, especially in areas overseen by the agency, as an impediment to economic development. Others object to state oversight of the unorganized lands and would prefer to see land development decisions made more locally, by counties.

Environmentalists, however, do not want LURC abolished and believe the law signed by LePage is written to slant the 13-member study commission in that direction.

“Our concern is that the commission is rigged to come back with a recommendation to abolish LURC,” said Pete Didisheim of the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

The commission, for example, lacks slots for appointees who would likely bring diverse points of view to the discussion, Didisheim said Monday.


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