AUGUSTA – The Land Use Regulation Commission staff has recommended that a requested zone change be denied for a proposed 70-lot subdivision in Beaver Cove.

Hank McPherson of Burnt Jacket LLC filed an application with LURC to rezone about 246 acres of a 1,720-acre parcel in order to develop two residential subdivisions – 30 shorefront lots on Moosehead Lake and 40 hillside lots.

In its recommendation to LURC, the staff noted that the proposed development the zone change would bring would not be consistent with the state’s rules and regulations.

LURC will act on McPherson’s application during the second day of a two-day meeting scheduled for Tuesday, June 6, and Wednesday, June 7, at the Penquis Higher Learning Center in Dover-Foxcroft. Tuesday’s session will begin at 10:30 a.m., and Wednesday’s meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m.

The commission may or may not choose to follow the staff’s recommendation.

“We’re more than surprised,” McPherson, the project developer and landowner, said Thursday of the staff’s recommendation. “I can tell you we had no idea that would happen.” He said the state agency has known all of the company’s intentions since last July.

Catherine Carroll, LURC director, said she and staff members had offered McPherson advice more than a year ago on ways to design the project, but his application did not reflect the suggestions made for the design and location.

“I feel very confident in this recommendation that what is being proposed on the table is not consistent with the commission’s review criteria,” Carroll said Thursday. “The record will show that the commission often will go with the staff recommendation.”

The staff did a long and thorough review of the request, she said. “You’ve got to look at these proposals on their own merits.”

The Natural Resources Council of Maine, one of the intervenors in the application process, was pleased with the staff’s recommendation.

“We think the staff has done an excellent job in identifying the failures of the proposed development,” Pete Didisheim, NRCM advocacy director, said Thursday. “If the recommendation is accepted by the commission, it would be a triumph for anybody working to protect Moosehead Lake from badly designed development.”

He suggested that the “strong language” in the staff’s recommendation has significant implications for the Plum Creek proposal, another subdivision proposal for the Moosehead Lake region now under review by LURC.

Plum Creek has filed for a zone change to allow the phased-in development of 975 house lots and two resorts in the Moosehead Lake region. As part of its proposal, the company plans to permanently conserve more than 400,000 acres.

Regarding McPherson’s proposal, the staff noted the following problems:

. It does not promote orderly growth because the proposed location of the subdivision is not adjacent to any development of similar size, scale or intensity of use.

. A demonstrated need for the development has not been shown.

. The location of the proposed development does not conserve and protect the natural beauty and unspoiled qualities of the natural resources.

. The development would likely have an adverse impact on traditional uses, especially water recreation on the southern portion of Moosehead Lake, and on timber harvesting.

. Adequate provisions have not been made to maintain the natural character of the shore land.

McPherson said he had met several times with the commission and the staff since he filed the application on July 1, 2005.

“We got no input from anybody at LURC that this was going to happen,” he said. “I thought we were in compliance with the rules.”

If the commission votes to support the staff’s recommendation, McPherson can appeal the decision in Superior Court. He said he would decide his next move after the commission votes on the matter next week.

“This land is in a fringe area where the comprehensive plan says that if there’s going to development, that’s where it should take place, not out in the middle of the jurisdiction,” McPherson said. “If there is no place that you could develop on this land, there isn’t any place in the jurisdiction where they would allow development no matter what they say.”