BANGOR – State regulators have granted intervenor status to three groups and individuals seeking input on a proposal to build a $65 million ecotourism resort near Millinocket.

The Land Use Regulation Commission is expected to hold a work session and a public hearing on March 28 in Millinocket on local businessman Matthew Polstein’s petition to rezone 244 acres on Hammond Ridge.

On Wednesday, LURC board members granted intervenor status to Millinocket Town Manager Gene Conlogue and the Natural Resources Council of Maine. The Millinocket Area Growth and Investment Council, Millinocket Regional Hospital, and the Katahdin Area Chamber of Commerce were also named as intervenors under a group calling itself “Millinocket Business Interests.”

As intervenors, the groups will be entitled to offer testimony and evidence as well as cross-examine other parties during the March 28 work session. The general public will have an opportunity to comment on the project during the public hearing held that evening.

Polstein, a Millinocket town councilor who also owns New England Outdoor Center and River Driver’s Restaurant, hopes to construct an 80-room resort and adventure lodge, a conference center and agricultural center near Millinocket Lake.

Polstein’s Ktaadn Resorts proposal also includes 35 residential lots, 12 mixed-use townhouses and clustered family compounds. Polstein has said he designed the project to blend in or hide behind the natural landscape.

Dean Beaupain, who represented Millinocket Business Interests at Wednesday’s LURC meeting in Bangor, said the group’s members are in favor of the resort project.

Diano Circo, NRCM’s North Woods Policy Advocate, said his organization is still reviewing the application and has yet to take a position on the proposal.

LURC board members gave staff the tentative go-ahead to schedule the work session from 2 to 5 p.m. March 28 followed by the public hearing at 6 p.m.

For more information on the Ktaadn Resorts project, go to www.maine.gov/doc/lurc/ and click on the “Hammond Ridge Project” link.