Land once slated for a controversial development in the Moosehead Lake region has come a step closer to being preserved.
Weyerhaeuser, which owns the 400,000-plus acres, submitted a petition to terminate the Moosehead Region Concept Plan in September, and on March 9, the Land Use Planning Commission determined that the petition is complete for processing. The LUPC announced the decision Thursday. Those who want to submit comments or request a public hearing must do so by May 15.
Weyerhaeuser is asking that the parcel be returned to a general management subdistrict and resource protection subdistricts, which would allow for agricultural and forestry use.
The LUPC, which oversees zoning and development permitting in the state’s unorganized territory, must designate replacement zoning for all of the plan area land before it approves termination.
The Moosehead Region Concept Plan by Plum Creek, which owned the land at the time, set 390,000 acres as permanent conservation and another 16,910 for development of up to 2,025 year-round and seasonal residential units, including two resorts. Rezoning that allowed the development was approved in 2009 after years of opposition by conservation advocates and others who didn’t want a major development in the Moosehead Lake region of western Piscataquis County. In 2012 the rezoning was upheld by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
Seattle-based Weyerhaeuser (NYSE: WY) acquired Plum Creek in 2016. It’s one of the world’s biggest timber companies, owning about 900,000 acres in Maine and 13 million acres in total.
Forestry, agriculture and a sporting camp
The purpose of the M-GN Subdistrict, which the land would be returned to, is to permit forestry and agricultural management activities, with minimal interference from unrelated development, according to the LUPC. Resource protection subdistricts are established to protect resources like lakes, streams, wildlife and plant habitat, floodplains and other sensitive areas.
In light of that, timber harvesting and some recreational uses will remain the dominant activities. Weyerhaeuser’s petition would return the 16,910 acres that were to be developed to management and protection zoning, similar to most of the LUPC service area.
The one area proposed as a development zone is a sports camp approximately four acres in size in Big Moose Township, near the east outlet of Moosehead Lake. The area has been proposed as a Recreation Facility Development Subdistrict, consistent with its current use, the LUPC said.
Weyerhaeuser said in its September LUPC filing, made 10 years to the day after the zoning was approved, that changes in the economy since the zoning was approved have prompted the move.
“The impact of the 2008-09 recession forever changed the United States development landscape,” the company said in a letter to the LUPC in September. “As a result, and despite our best efforts, the development components under the Concept Plan have not been implemented and no development has occurred.”
