UNORGANIZED GROWTH

With an increasing number of people building homes, seasonal and year-round, in the Maine woods, the demand for services in these remote parts of the state will continue to increase. A legislative study committee has come up with some good suggestions – first, educate newcomers about what is and is not provided, and second, increase funding for state and county agencies to provide fire protection, planning and other services. Lawmakers, who will soon receive the group’s report, should use the suggestions to change state policy to ensure that the costs of future development in the territories are fairly allocated.

For Piscataquis County commissioners, concerns about development in the Unorganized Territory are immediate. Plum Creek Timber Co. has proposed to build nearly 1,000 house lots and two resorts around Moosehead Lake. The Land Use Regulation Commission, the agency that oversees the 10 million acres, mostly in northern Maine, is reviewing Plum Creek’s application. It has asked the county commissioners to develop a list of concerns that should be addressed by the Seattle-based company as part of the LURC review.

Concerns raised at a commission meeting last week included fire and police protection and responsibility for road maintenance.

Between 1990 and 2000, the population in the Unorganized Territory in Piscataquis County grew 20 percent, while the population of the county as a whole dropped 7 percent. The number of houses in the territory is also growing. In the 1970s, an average of 204 new houses were built yearly. In the 1990s, that grew to 298 homes per year. At the same time, the ratio of seasonal to permanent homes has dropped from 3.7 seasonal residences for every year-round home in the 1970s to 2.5 seasonal residences for every year-round home in the 1990s. That, too, means more demand for services as more people live in the territory all year.

One attraction of the Unorganized Territory is its low tax rate, which averages about half that of organized towns largely because school costs are shared equally among all the taxpayers in the territory, including large landowners that own most of the North Woods and require few services.

Growth in the Unorganized Territory is not unwelcome. New development means new taxes and customers, and in the case of a resort or manufacturing facility, new jobs and payroll. These benefits, however, bring with them additional traffic, trash, and demands for water, electricity and sewer services, as well as changing the distinct character of the region.

To ensure that newcomers understand what living in the Unorganized Territory really means, the legislative task force recommends education materials that explain the limited services available there. It also called for three more forest service helicopters for fire suppression, a restoration of five positions eliminated from LURC, and giving counties the authority to charge fees for services they provide to the territories.

Assessing new fees and creating new government positions will no doubt be contentious, but development in remote areas demands new ways to fairly pay for its consequences.