Sportsmen have little luck curbing LURC Agency unscathed despite legislative efforts to limit its authority

loading...

When the legislative session began in January, the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine declared war on the Land Use Regulation Commission, the planning board for the state’s vast Unorganized Territories.

SAM supported measures aimed at limiting LURC’s authority and dumping its chairman. Former House Speaker and current state Sen. John Martin and other influential lawmakers lined up to offer support for SAM initiatives.

Now the dust has settled and LURC has emerged relatively unscathed.

Six months ago, bills were submitted to abolish LURC, to take away its authority to regulate the construction of boat ramps in the Unorganized Territories and to remove the agency from decisions about the management of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. None passed.

SAM vehemently objected to the governor’s renomination of Steve Wight to serve another term on LURC. SAM Executive Director George Smith vowed to defeat the cross-country ski center owner from Newry. Despite the opposition, Wight easily gained the Senate’s confirmation to another term on the seven-member commission.

Smith doesn’t view the recent legislative action as a defeat.

“We’re speeding full speed ahead, but you need to fall back every once in a while,” he said Thursday.

Smith said he was never a proponent of abolishing the agency, which supervises development on the 10 million acres, predominantly in northern Maine, that fall under no municipal ordinances. He just wanted to ensure that hunters and fishermen have more access to water.

He and other SAM members were upset that LURC had denied a boat launch on Spencer Lake, northwest of Moosehead Lake. The lake subsequently was bought up by a billionaire.

SAM also was upset by the commission’s flip-flop on John’s Bridge on the Allagash. LURC members first voted to deny a permit for the state Bureau of Parks and Lands to build a hand-carry canoe launch at the bridge, located between Eagle and Churchill lakes. Later, the commissioners approved the launch, a move that has been appealed to Superior Court by the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

Because of these decisions, Smith said he thought LURC’s reach should be limited, not destroyed.

But others wanted to take things further.

A bill titled “An act to eliminate the Land Use Regulation Commission,” was introduced by Rep. Joe Clark, D-Millinocket.

Other failed bills would have required LURC members to be elected from the counties they represent – they are now appointed by the governor – and would have mandated that the commission hold its monthly meetings in the areas affected by the items on its agenda. The John’s Bridge votes were taken in Rangeley and Rockland.

While there were numerous other measures that tinkered with LURC’s permitting process, some of which were enacted, the major skirmishes involved water access.

Initially, there were a number of bills that concerned the commission and its staff, LURC Director John Williams said Thursday. But in the end, he said, “LURC came out ahead.”

He said all the attention focused on the commission turned out to be a good thing because lawmakers were forced to learn a lot about its mission. This allowed them to kill unwarranted bills and to amend others to make them augment LURC’s role, he said.

For example, lawmakers rejected a bill sponsored by Martin, D-Eagle Lake, that would have removed LURC from the permitting process for boat launches. Under Martin’s proposal, decisions on where to build public boat launches would have been left to the departments of Conservation and Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Instead, lawmakers approved a resolve directing the Department of Conservation “as opportunities arise” to work with other state agencies to secure public access to Class 2 lakes, which include about 30 pristine water bodies, including Spencer Lake.

Smith admits that this is only a pared-down version of what he initially sought. But, he said, the “loss of Spencer Lake” and the recent purchase of 20,000 acres along Moosehead Lake by a Massachusetts couple who have canceled leases there have alerted people to the importance of ensuring public access to important waterways.

Another disappointment for SAM was the Legislature’s defeat of the Allagash bill, also sponsored by Martin. As originally written, it sought to remove LURC from all decisions about development and management of the scenic waterway.

At a public hearing this spring where wilderness advocates packed the room, Martin said he was modifying his proposal to call for the formation of a commission to study the Allagash to determine how it should be managed.

Lawmakers rejected that proposal, but Smith said he is encouraging the Department of Conservation to undertake such a study on its own.

The battle over Wight’s nomination also was about water access. In vitriolic editorials and postings on SAM’s Web site, Smith criticized Wight’s votes on the Spencer Lake and Allagash issues, and said he was out of step with most Mainers.

Wight repeatedly has said that access to some places should be limited to ensure that some lakes and ponds remain quiet and remote. Early this year, Smith boasted that Wight’s nomination surely would be defeated.

Smith said Thursday that he wouldn’t characterize Wight’s appointment for another term on the commission as a defeat.

“We would have liked to have someone different and he got back on,” Smith said.

However, he added: “Aside from the few things we didn’t like, he had an outstanding record for LURC.”

Wight has been on the board for 13 years.