Courtesy / LinkedIn
Judy East
November 20, 2019
Maine Land Use Planning Commission names new executive director
By Staff
The Maine Land Use Planning Commission, which oversees planning and zoning for rural areas covering over half the state, has a new executive director.
Judy East, a Washington County resident who most recently worked for that county’s Council of Governments, will become the commission’s top executive in mid-December, according to a news release Tuesday.
East was executive director at the Council of Governments, where she served for 17 years. Previously, she worked with the Nature Conservancy in East Hampton, N.Y., as director of land protection.
She also has served on statewide and regional boards including the St. Croix International Waterway Commission and the Maine Sea Grant Policy Advisory Committee.
East has been engaged in land use planning since earning her master of science degree from the University of British Columbia's School of Community and Regional Planning. She also holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto, where she majored in environmental studies and minored in economics.
Everett Worcester, chair of the LUPC, said in the release, “Judy’s extensive experience with complex zoning decisions has positioned her perfectly to lead our commission. I am confident that we have chosen an exceptional individual and I am enthusiastic about this next step for the commission.”
East succeeds Nicholas Livesay of Brunswick, who served as executive director of the commission from the time of its reorganization in 2012 until last June, and Samantha Horn, who then served as acting director until recently taking a job at the Nature Conservancy’s Maine chapter.
The Land Use Planning Commission serves the unorganized and deorganized territories of Maine, guiding land use across 10.4 million acres — more than half the state’s geographic size, and the largest contiguous undeveloped parcel in the northeast. The commission is the planning and zoning authority for the areas, including townships and plantations, which either have no local government or have chosen not to administer local land use controls.
The commission, a nine-member group of appointees chosen by counties and the governor, has ruled in recent months on several high-profile land use proposals. In September, it approved a rezoning that allowed Irving Woodlands LLC to open 1,900 acres in northeastern Aroostook County to residential and commercial development, while preserving another 16,800 acres as conservation land.
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments