Landowners deserve equal treatment

In a recent OpEd piece (“Two bills threaten to hamstring LURC,” April 7), state Sen. John Martin and former Rep. Harrison Richardson suggested that two bills introduced by Sen. Peter Mills, LDs 472 and 473, are simply two more in a long line of “attempts to stifle the effectiveness of the [Land Use Regulation] commission.”

This is not the case. The goals of these two bills are simply to make LURC’s process more fairly representative of the people who live, work and own property in the Unorganized Territory, and to put that process on par with that of the organized towns in Maine.

LD 472 does two simple things: It requires LURC to hold public hearings when modifying the comprehensive land use plan, and it requires the Legislature to review and approve the plan. Far from adding “a layer of unnecessary bureaucratic review,” as Moosehead Region Futures Committee member Joan Wisher asserted (“Land use bills won’t help Maine,” April 6), the bill actually makes LURC more directly accountable to the people it is regulating through their elected officials.

It should be noted that LURC has always had public hearings and work sessions for the land use plan, and they have no intention of altering that process, knowing that it is both fair and productive. It makes sense that a process that has been successfully used for years should be required, not optional.

Unlike in organized towns throughout Maine, where the elected body, either at town meeting or town council, votes to approve land use planning documents, there is no such requirement in the Unorganized Territory. LD 472 simply creates the same rights and responsibilities for oversight by an elected body. In this case, given that there are no local officials, that elected body has to be the Legislature. It is a simple matter of fairness and parity for the residents and property owners of the Unorganized Territory.

As for LD 473, contrary to the assertions of Messrs. Richardson and Martin, it would not “give timber companies priority rights and neglect the legitimate rights of all of us to enjoy our unique natural heritage.” The bill, which can be accessed on the Legislature’s Web site, just acknowledges the importance of the Unorganized territory “to the continued vitality of the State and to local economies by supporting and promoting forest management and agricultural activities.” It also recognizes the existence of property owners and citizens in the region.

Maine residents and lawmakers should remember that, when it comes to policy deliberations concerning the Unorganized Territory, landowners are not a special interest but the primary community that is being regulated. While Maine’s residents own the state’s waterways and wildlife, the fact is that the vast majority of the land in the Unorganized Territory is privately owned.

Consequently, landowners are not asking for special consideration. They’re asking for the consideration that they are due as owners of private property, consideration that is provided in every organized town.

That’s not special treatment; that’s just simple fairness.

Peter Triandafillou is president of the Maine Forest Products Council.