Also at the state regulatory hearings, held in Greenville over two days last week, developer Hank McPherson said his plan, revamped after a similar plan was rejected last year, meets all criteria outlined by the state Land Use Regulation Commission, and its implemenation would help the area with increased visitation and job creation, as well as an expanded tax base.

Many of those who spoke in opposition to the plan, both at the Wednesday night public comment session and in Thursday's testimony from intervenors, said McPherson, who has expressed his intention to build as many as 150 lots over the more than 1,700 acres he owns on Burnt Jacket, should create a concept plan for the area that shows the full scope of planned development.

"This is not just a piece," said a land use expert testifying on behalf of two seasonal residents of Snake Island. "It is a large area that should be looked at as a whole."

"Preventing piecemeal encroachment of development has been a primary concern of the Commission over the past several years," said testimony by the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM). "Allowing the applicant to subdivide in a piecemeal fashion over time has the potential to create a haphazard pattern of development."

Jim Glavine of Beaver Cove and the Moosehead Region Futures Committee, an intervenor in the proceedings, said the group wants a development plan in the area that features fewer, larger lots, and addresses concerns over habitat in the wildlife rich area. The plan should also be more specific about how it will implement and enforce covenant restrictions to protect the view of Burnt Jacket from Moosehead Lake and other surrounding areas.

A concept plan would accomplish just that, Glavine said, adding that he was told by a LURC staff member that McPherson was discouraged from creating a concept plan by the LURC staff because of the amount of work it would generate.

LURC commissioner Stephen Wright said the matter before them is a rezoning application, and the commission must only consider the criteria for that process. Since the rest of McPherson's holdings are outside of this approval process, they do not "have any bearing on this proceeding."

Moosehead Futures also testified that the plan would give no public benefit, includes no guarantee of public benefit, and failed to demonstrate a need for the new housing lots. The plan would harm the area's intent to retain its "north woods character," Glavine said. He suggested per lot impact fees to help maintain and build conservation areas.

LURC commissioner Edward Laverty said impact fees are an interesting suggestion, and something that can be requested locally. He wondered, if conservation lands and housing covenants are of such great concern to Beaver Cove residents, why residents had not taken more action to implement them. Glavine said Moosehead Futures members have discussed the possibility of helping to obtain and manage conservation lands as a future project for the group.

Glavine showed a slide of development in Greenville, with homes in view on a ridgeline, as an example of how not to develop. A barely-visible home disguised by the forest on Moosehead Lake was used as a good example. Commissioner Wight said the latter example adhered to LURC standards, just as would any lot development under McPherson's plan.

Diano Circo of the NRCM also testified that the location of the proposal was more appropriate than the first Burnt Jacket plan which placed lots further out on the peninsula, but that NRCM still had many concerns. Among the concerns are the lack of information regarding wetland analysis and lynx habitat in the area. Testimony from the group also states that McPherson has not shown that the plan will have an economic benefit or will not adversely impact the delivery of community services. The plan does not back up claims of demand for the housing lots, NRCM said, nor does it show how they will address scenic impacts.

In response, McPherson's representatives said the applicant has spent the last year working with LURC to assure that the Burnt Jacket application met their criteria.

Tim Pease, a lawyer representing McPherson at the hearing, said the proposal shows how recycling, solid waste, police and fire services will be delivered to the residents of any new development in Beaver Cove. The plan includes a letter from a septic waste disposal company in Hermon stating that the amount of waste expected to be created by a 31-lot subdivision could be handled without issue, Pease said.

Regarding traffic and wildlife habitat, IF&W and Maine DOT were both contacted and their opinions registered according to LURC statute, Pease said. IF&W said there was no record of special/critical habitat in the area, he said. "I am not sure what else an applicant can do," Pease said.

As for demonstrated need for the housing lots, Pease pointed to four lots out of 46 that have sold in the area in a month. "At that rate, they'll be gone in a year," he said. Nature-based tourism could get a boost from the plan, as it creats automatic visitors who will come back each year to their seasonal home, Pease said.

Most of the speakers at Wednesday's public comment session were against the plan, saying the costs of losing wilderness outweighs any benefits offered by the plan.

"I really don't feel there is any need for anymore development," said Christina Liros. If planning is not done correctly, the area would be "destroyed for everyone that wants to come here," she said.

A decision will come at an undetermined monthly LURC meeting in the near future.
"This content originally appeared as a copyrighted article in the Tuesday, August 07, 2007 edition of the Moosehead Messenger and is used here with permission."