New Moosehead Lake plan submitted

A developer whose petition to rezone land on Moosehead Lake was denied by state regulators last year is back again with a scaled-down housing plan.

Hank McPherson of Burnt Jacket LLC has submitted what he is calling a “draft” rezoning request to the Land Use Regulation Commission for a 31-lot subdivision near the town of Beaver Cove on Moosehead Lake’s eastern shore.

In June, LURC officials rejected McPherson’s request to rezone 246 acres on Burnt Jacket peninsula for a 70-lot subdivision featuring both lakefront and hillside houses.

The commission cited a variety of factors in turning down the request. Two primary reasons, however, were that the proposed subdivision was deemed too far from existing development and that McPherson’s plans failed to conserve and protect the natural, unspoiled qualities of the area.

After extensive discussions with LURC staff, McPherson more than halved the number of proposed lots and relocated the development envelope closer to town. McPherson’s new application proposes 21 lakefront lots and 10 nonwaterfront lots.

“We are trying to satisfy LURC and some of the other people who had concerns about the original application,” said McPherson. “So we changed the location and reduced the size.”

Scott Rollins, manager of LURC’s permitting and compliance division, said the commission needs additional information from McPherson before staff can begin the formal review process.

Rollins said staff have been working with McPherson to develop a proposal that meets commission expectations. In addition to reducing the number of house lots, some of the lots are adjacent to an existing residential zone and are close to Lily Bay Road. McPherson said he expects to make more changes to accommodate LURC suggestions.

While not guaranteed to receive approval, the new application addresses many of the commission’s earlier concerns, Rollins said. “We are pleased with what we have before us right now,” Rollins said.

The first Burnt Jacket proposal drew considerable attention from environmental organizations for a variety of reasons, some of them outside of McPherson’s control.

During February 2006 hearings, critics said the developers had failed to provide more information on how the subdivision would affect Moosehead Lake, local wildlife and the nature-based tourism industry.

McPherson and his attorney said at the time that those issues would be addressed during the subsequent subdivision review process.

But McPherson’s application became entangled – at least in public debate – in the much larger controversy over Plum Creek Timber Co.’s development plans near Moosehead.

Intervenors and residents who spoke against the Burnt Jacket proposal frequently referred to Plum Creek’s plan to sell off 975 house lots and land for two resorts. Plum Creek’s plan also includes more than 400,000 acres of conservation land.

Many said the Moosehead region needs a comprehensive growth plan, not piecemeal development. Some intervenors optimistically interpreted the ruling against the Burnt Jacket application as a bad omen for Plum Creek’s massive proposal.

LURC staff insist they once again will review the Burnt Jacket proposal on its own merits. The public review portion of Plum Creek’s development concept plan also is expected to begin this spring or summer.

Meanwhile, groups involved in the review of McPherson’s first proposal will be watching closely.

Diano Circo, the North Woods policy advocate for the Natural Resources Council of Maine, said he had not seen the new plans yet. While NRCM would, in principle, support clustering new development near existing homes, the group wants to ensure the second-round application is not merely a steppingstone toward the larger development planned in the first proposal, Circo said.

McPherson, who originally hoped to sell 150 lots on the Burnt Jacket peninsula, said Friday that it is too early to say whether he would seek to develop more of the roughly 2,000 acres he owns on the peninsula. That will depend on how his second rezoning application fares with LURC, he said.