LURC OKs new fees for development

Landowners in Maine’s vast Unorganized Territory may soon have to open their wallets wider to develop their property under a proposal that received preliminary approval from state regulators on Wednesday.

Members of Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission voted 5-1 to increase the fees the agency charges to process applications for everything from new homes to roads, power lines and quarries in the Unorganized Territory.

The proposal now heads to the Legislature for review.

LURC staff first proposed changing the fee schedule several months ago as a way for the state to recoup more of the costs of reviewing development applications. Commission staff are hoping to move away from the current flat fee schedule and, instead, tie the amount of fees to the size of the application.

For instance, the current LURC fee for a building permit is $75 regardless of whether the application is for an addition to a modest home or for a new, multi-million-dollar vacation house.

Under the fee schedule given provisional approval Wednesday, applicants for building permits would pay a $50 base fee plus 20 cents per square foot of the structure’s “footprint” on the ground. The fee would be capped at $1,000.

The cost of processing a subdivision application would jump from a flat fee of $300 per lot to a base fee of $1,000 plus $500 per lot. Would-be road builders would face a base fee of $200 plus additional charges of between 10 cents and 30 cents per linear foot, depending on the type of road. The maximum fee for the largest road projects would be $5,000.

“We feel these fees are very reasonable based on what it takes for us to do our job,” LURC staffer Scott Rollins told members of the commission. “We have become very efficient.”

The proposal also includes a $5,000 base fee for concept plans plus $25 per acre of development and a $100 fee for advisory ruling requests.

Commissioners agreed on most of the fees, though they split over a proposal to force applicants to pay the costs of holding a public hearing on their application.

Commissioner Steve Schaefer expressed concern that applicants for smaller projects may be unable to pay the estimated $3,000 cost of a typical one-day hearing. Those costs include advertisements placed in five newspapers around the state, renting the meeting space, hiring a stenographer and other expenses.

While several of Schaefer’s colleagues said they agreed with his concerns about smaller projects, they said it was also important to offset the costs of these hearings, which put a strain on LURC’s already limited resources.

LURC is required to hold a public hearing if the agency receives five letters requesting one. Otherwise, the commission has discretion about whether to hold public hearings.

“Philosophically I agree with you, but practically I don’t think we have any other choice,” said Edward Laverty.

In the end, the commissioners voted to charge applicants for the costs of public hearings with the understanding that the LURC director can waive the charges if deemed to be an undue financial burden.