Fred Todd edits

Maine Land Use Regulation Commission Department of Conservation 22 State House Station - Augusta, Maine 04333-0022 TEL (207) 287-2631 FAX (207) 287-7439
MINUTES
Of the Commission’s Regular Monthly Meeting
Meeting Date:	April 5, 2006
Meeting Time:	9:30 a.m.
Meeting Location:	Bangor Motor Inn 701 Hogan Rd Bangor, Maine
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT
E. Bart Harvey, Chair		Ed Laverty
Steve Wight, Co-Chair		James Nadeau
Rebecca Kurtz
Gwen Hilton
STAFF PRESENT
Catherine M. Carroll, Director		Aga Pinette, Senior Planner
Scott Rollins, Division Manager		Sue Burns, Senior Planner
Fred Todd, Division Manager		Sarah Giffen, Senior Planner
Jeremy Pare, Senior Planner		Caroline Eliott, Senior Planner
Marcia Spencer- Famous, Senior Planner		Melissa Macaluso, Data and Document Specialist
OTHERS PRESENT
Sonja Belanger, Preti Flaherty		Mike Sockelexis, Penobscot Nation
Pat Strauch, Maine Forest Products Council		Christine Cinnamon, Transcanada
Jeff Selser, Verrill Dana		Lyn Gresock, Transcanada
Sarah Medina, Seven Islands		John Cashwell, Pingree Associates
Matt Miller, McPherson Timberlands		Ken Lamont, McPherson Timberlands
Ralph Webber		Bill Patterson
Steve Clark		Steven Clark, MATC
Edith Leary, Eaton Peabody Consulting		Nick Didomerico, Transcanada
Juliet Brown, Verrill Dana		Ray Kramer, FBM
Chip Aherns, Pierce Atwood		Bill Hardwood, Verrill Dana
Harley Lee, Endless Energy		Jason Huckabee
Kevin Miller, Bangor Dailey News		Steve Schaefer, Grand Lakes Stream Plt
Kurt Adams, PUC		Bob Grace, Sustainable Energy
Chris Herter, Linekin		Beth Nagusky, Maine Office of Energy
Roberta Hill, MVLM		Jody Jones, Maine Audubon
Note: Commission votes are recorded in the following order: number voting in favor of a motion – number voting against a motion – number abstaining – number absent
ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS
Introductions Introductions were made by members of the Commission, the staff and the public.
Minutes of Previous Commission Meeting The Commission voted 6-0-0-1 to accept the March minutes. The motion was made by Ed Laverty and seconded by Gwen Hilton. Carol Murtaugh was absent. Director’s Report Catherine announced the Governor’s nomination for Steve Schaefer to replace Carol Murtaugh on the Commission. She said that the Steve’s confirmation hearing would likely be scheduled for the end of the month. UT Study Committee A final public hearing held by the UT study committee in Dovor-Foxcroft was attended by state representatives, town managers and county commissioners for a discussion on providing governmental services to those residing in the unorganized territories. Questions raised by the audience were on carrying capacity, and the overall infrastructure being consolidated to meet people’s needs. Catherine spoke to those attending the public hearing about LURC, in general, and the need for public input on the 2007 CLUP . Scheduling Catherine and the Commission discussed logistics for upcoming meetings for policy discussion surrounding the 2007 CLUP, a visit to a windpower development in Vermont, and a tour of the proposed Redington windpower development site. Other Matters Catherine said the requests made by the towns of Drew and Cooper to deorganize had been denied by the legislature sending the message that deorganazation is not the solution to lowering taxes and that perhaps small communities should be sharing services or annex with neighboring towns. Whitneyville voted 26-21 to continue the process of deorganizing in which the town now has to submit a deorganization plan within 90 days of the vote. Whitneyville has a small land base with 262 residents of which 38 are students going to schools in Machias.
Planning Matters
2007 CLUP Exempt Lots Sarah Giffen gave background information on the request of the ACF Committee, resulting from the Department’s testimony on LD 1547, to examine the “2 in 5” subdivision exemption. She stated that the report resulting from this request summarizes the number, location and impact of divisions created via subdivision exemptions in LURC jurisdiction between 1985 and 2005. Sarah stated that the majority of the data in the report was obtained from Maine Revenue Service tax records. Sarah also stated that the most significant use of subdivision exemptions occurred in townships located on the fringe of the jurisdiction. These townships experienced 40-140 exempt lot creations over this time period. Areas experiencing this number of exempt lot creations may be under represented due to the fact that towns and plantations were not included in this study. The Commission discussed with Sarah the impact of the study and the importance of addressing subdivision exemptions in the 2007 CLUP. Catherine stated the report is valuable and will be presented to the ACF Committee. Ed asked if the data revealed any trends regarding an increase or decrease in exempt lot creations over the twenty year period. Sarah stated the data didn’t cover trends but that trends could be looked at in the future. Fred stated that with the advancements in technology with GIS they could track trends in the future but that exempt divisions will still be hard to characterize. Sarah stated that she worked with Pat Strauch in order to get landowner review of the data. Pat thanked Sarah for the information she provided and spoke to the Commission regarding the feedback that he had received from various landowners. He stated that errors exist in the data as a result of the fact that MRS was unaware of existing lots, sugar leases, conservation easements and family transfers. Pat suggested using the transfer tax form which indicates which exemption was used in a land division. Steve asked Pat to define the primary use of the 2 in 5. Pat stated that uses included dividing common and undivided interest in townships in order to separate liabilities, creating conservation easements, and creating lots for fire towers. The Commission then discussed large landowner exemptions with Sarah Medina from Seven Islands. Jeff Selzer spoke on subdivision and subdivision exemptions as addressed in statute. The Commission thanked everyone for a great discussion. 2007 CLUP Aquatic Invasive Species Roberta Hill provided background on the Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program (VLMP), stating the program has one of the largest citizen lake monitoring programs in the U.S. Their volunteers collect most of the lake water quality data in Maine. VLMP has formed collaborative partnerships with numerous agencies and organizations throughout Maine and their lake water quality information is used by Maine’s DEP as well as private organizations and research groups. The initial purpose of VLMP’s work was to control phosphorus in lakes, but their work has since expanded to include monitoring for invasive aquatic species. Invasive aquatic species have destructive impacts on aquatic ecosystems. They are the primary cause of freshwater species extinctions and they contribute to other water quality issues, such as eutrophication. Solutions to the problem of infestation tend to be short term and costly. Solutions include manual removal (for small infestations, benthic barriers, aquatic herbicides, and biological controls. She displayed information on existing infestations in Maine, which includes some lakes fairly close to LURC jurisdiction. She explained that there has been discussion of whether infested waterbodies should be quarantined to prevent further spread of the invasive species. The authority to quarantine lakes is given to DEP and IF&W, who make the decision in a public process. No lakes in Maine have yet been quarantined. The state’s budget for control of invasive aquatics is currently heavily weighted toward prevention and protection, but as the problem spreads, the money may shift more toward clean-up of infested waterbodies.She mentioned the Interagency Task Force which discusses issues related to invasives and suggested that LURC may wish to be involved with it. Maine’s Action Plan for Managing Invasive Species is on DEP’s website.Alert and informed citizens have been the “Early Detectors” for almost every documented infestation. These volunteers are trained and help with the boat inspection program. Roberta offered some things for LURC to consider regarding invasive aquatics. She pointed out that DEP has adopted a permit-by-rule process for manual control measures related to new infestations. The Maine Center for Invasive Aquatic Plants, which she directs, will be holding upcoming workshops on identification of invasive aquatics and diver training on manual removal. Some of these will be in LURC jurisdiction. Of the 300 lakes which have been screened for invasive aquatics, 42 are in LURC jurisdiction. Rebecca asked what LURC should look for in a boat launch proposal. Roberta noted that some places are more conducive to plant growth than others, especially areas that are shallow, quiet, and protected. These areas should be avoided as boat launch sites. She commented that IFW is very involved with this issue and is a good partner to work with. 2007 CLUP Preliminary Draft Geological Resource Jeremy Pare presented the preliminary draft of the geological resources section of the 2007 plan and explained the similarities and distinctions between the language in the 1997 plan and the preliminary draft. Jeremy solicited comments and feedback from state agencies regarding policies and information that could be incorporated for revision. Jeremy summarized the changes to the characteristic soils and surficial resources sections. A significant change since 1997 is the advent of development as the most significant use of soil resources. Special Natural Resources is a new section that has been added to clarify that Unusual Area Protection (P-UA) Subdistricts are appropriate for protection of geologic resources. The commission discussed in detail criteria for areas to be zoned P-UA, and how the zoning is implemented. Ed stated he would like to continue to see cross references throughout the CLUP. Jeremy also noted the change in wording under the policy section to clarify the need for site specific soil suitability surveys. Mountain Resources was reviewed. Fred stated that specific Mountain Resources language regarding wind power would be addressed in the energy resource sections when asked by Rebecca. 2007 CLUP Preliminary Draft Wetland Resources Caroline Eliot gave background on the preliminary wetlands draft. Wetlands occupy 25% of Maine’s land area. In recent decades, public awareness of the values of wetlands has grown, along with recognition of the need for better information. New tools for gathering and managing wetland information continue to evolve and will be vital to effective efforts to protect critical wetland functions. Caroline stated that LURC’s program is designed to be similar to DEP’s. Based on information in the National Wetland Inventory maps, LURC has placed about 900,000 acres of wetland in three wetland zones. Given the inherent limitations of the NWI maps, LURC requires wetland delineation whenever more than 1 acre of land is disturbed. Avoidance and minimization and compensation are addressed in the “Wetland Alteration” section of the LURC Standards. Overlapping jurisdiction of state and federal agencies has been an issue, but much progress has been made in reducing duplicative review and streamlining the permitting process. Consistency of regulation is also an issue. Absolute consistency across different regulatory entities is not always possible, given different mandates and laws. Caroline used vernal pools and shoreland zoning as examples, saying that sometimes differences are unavoidable, but they are generally minor. Fred stated the wording on vernal pools is intended to be general to allow flexibility in developing rules. Ed asked whether we would be able to conform to the Army Corps of Engineer’s review of wetlands. The Commission further discussed how to address vernal pools in the CLUP and acknowledge their value. Caroline described the other issues discussed in the draft, including the continuing evolution of wetland information, the expanded scope and complexity of the wetland program (and importance of staff training), and regulatory gaps. The draft included a set of new wetland policies for the Commission to consider. The new policies were designed to reflect current objectives for wetlands, encourage consistency with others while acknowledging LURC’s unique role, and affirm the importance of training. The Commission expressed a preference for the new policy language. 2007 CLUP Windpower Beth Nagusky, Director of Maine’s Office of Energy Independence and Security, discussed how renewable power fits in to the State’s energy policy. Beth spoke about laws, policies and action plans that have been implemented over the past 5 years in Maine and New England to deal with climate issues such as reducing greenhouse gases to levels that the environment can support long term. In 1997, generation of electricity was restructured in Maine with the emphasis on energy conservation, fuel diversity, reduced price volatility, and increasing renewable power to 10% of the State’s energy mix by 2017. Because society is so dependent on energy, controlling energy costs depends heavily on alternative energy resources such as windpower. Tidal power is in the process of being looked at, in particular because the Downeast area of Maine has a first class resource. Tidal energy is predictable because it is based on the rise and fall of the tide.Kurt Adams, Director of the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC), presented an overview of the PUC’s role in transmission and interconnection by advocating for consumers at a regional and national level. The increasing dependence on natural gas to produce energy sets the price of electricity more than 90% of the time. This makes electricity prices a direct effect of fossil fuel markets. Windpower and hydropower would ultimately help to bring electricity costs down. The Commission discussed with Kurt long-term contracts financing, tax incentives, realistic goals, and siting of wind power facilities. William Harwood, of Verrill Dana, LLC, stated that large quantities of electricity cannot be stored in a cost effectively manner. He gave an overview of the agreements governing the terms and conditions of utilities and generators. Generators that sell energy are subject to limited PUC regulation. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approves regional transmission rates, the PUC approves local distribution rates, and all customers in New England pay the same FERC transmission rate. Each utilitys’ service area pays the PUC distribution rate. The Commission discussed in detail open access and transition upgrades with Mr. Harwood. Bob Grace, of Sustainable Energy Advantage, gave a presentation, stating that windpower is a main-stream technology and is the fastest growing power source in the U.S. and the world. Windpower technology is being built by both private and public entities. Mr. Grace detailed capacity and operating requirements when windpower is implemented in the grid. The economics of wind power are project-specific. Tax incentives for windpower established by the federal government allow for 10 years of credits for production. At this time, new generators coming on-line will be eligible as long as commercial operation is reached by December 31, 2007. Developers are looking into the future. The windiest locations are best, but not all will be developed. Larger scale sites could benefit from additional data collection and research. Financing wind is tied to developers creating a development asset, which then secures power sales agreements. Mr. Grace felt that LURC should not require evidence of financial capacity because financing would be secured before the application is submitted. Mr. Grace answered questions in detail regarding cost, wind speed, and financial capacity. 2007 CLUP Windpower Developments Fred presented a draft siting guidance jointly developed by LURC, DEP, and OEIS to describe the factors considered in reviewing windpower developments for feedback in upcoming meetings. Marcia updated the Commission on the stakeholder workgroup assembled by the Maine Audubon which has been developing avian and bat motoring protocols for windpower development.
Other Matters
Ray Cramer a board member of Friends of the Boundary Mountains spoke regarding concerns about Windpower. The Commission asked Mr. Cramer to provide data documentation regarding his position.
Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 5:17pm.
Respectfully submitted by Melissa Macaluso, Data and Document Control