SEARSPORT – The Sears Island Joint Use Planning Committee will meet Friday to review a proposal for a conservation easement holder for 600 acres of Sears Island.

The committee will meet from noon to 2 p.m. Dec. 7 at the SAD 56 superintendent’s building next door to the public safety building.

“We’re working on land use for the island,” Duane Scott, support team project manager of the Maine Department of Transportation, said Monday. “A little more than 300 acres will be used for a port facility on the island, and the remaining 600 acres will be set aside for a conservation easement that will include recreation.”

At a Nov. 15 committee meeting in Searsport, members discussed easement drafting preparation, pointing out that easements can take months to draft, and the committee feels it has only a few months left for the project.

Basic draft guidelines were developed on questions of who would hold the easement and what criteria should be followed to make that decision.

Scott Dickerson of Coastal Mountains Land Trust in Camden offered to draft the criteria. It was recommended Nov. 15 that the committee members review the criteria and share their comments with one another before the next meeting in December. All information was sent through Dickerson for review and comments.

The following 11 criteria were drafted by Dickerson and edited by members of the committee. The committee also drafted the last two points.

According to the proposed criteria:

. An easement holder should be a qualified holder of conservation easements.

. The holder’s scope of service should include Maine’s coastal region, and the holder should be familiar with coastal issues.

. The holder should have substantial experience in drafting and holding conservation easements, particularly those that are primarily for the purposes of ecological protection, sustainable public access and environmental education.

. The holder should have a good understanding of the interests of the local community, the region and the state.

. Having a well-demonstrated capability and capacity in land protection, stewardship staff, funding support, legal defense fund and the like, would give a holder skills to monitor and enforce the conservation easement in perpetuity.

. The holder also should have a history of effective collaboration with other organizations to bring about management of conservation properties that have high public use.

. Having a history of working effectively with government agencies would be an important asset for a holder.

. The holder should be soundly established owing to a long history of conservation work.

. The holder must be willing and able to partner with the state as grantor and landowner, and to enforce a conservation easement it holds on land owned by the state.

. The holder should be qualified and willing to deal with commercial operations, such as a port operator, on adjacent property.

. The holder must demonstrate it possesses the financial wherewithal and track record, along with the requisite management structure, to execute its responsibilities, as outlined in any final conservation easement, in an effective and professional manner.

The committee also will look at dredge and trail information provided by Deane VanDusen of the Maine DOT and review the committee’s position in the legal process for the easement.

George Chappell may be reached at gchappell@bangor

dailynews.net or 236-4598.