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Changes in Municipal Shoreland Zoning Guidelines
The Maine Board of Environmental Protection has adopted changes to the Guidelines for Municipal Shoreland Zoning Ordinances (“Guidelines”). The Guidelines, which become effective on May 1, 2006, will provide municipalities with model shoreland zoning ordinance provisions, and also establish programmatic benchmarks for municipalities that either seek to enact requirements more stringent of the model provisions or to implement different standards that respond to special local conditions.
The revised Guidelines usher in several key changes, including:
Timber Harvesting – The Guidelines offer towns three approaches to regulating timber harvesting within the shoreland zone while the state moves toward statewide timber harvesting standards in shoreland areas:
- A town may completely repeal timber harvesting provisions from its shoreland zoning ordinance, effective as of the date the new statewide standards become effective. Thereafter, the Bureau of Forestry within the Department of Conservation would regulate and enforce such activities in the shoreland zone for such towns.
- A town may adopt timber harvesting standards within the shoreland zoning ordinance that are identical to the statewide standards. For those municipalities that choose this option, the Guidelines contain timber harvesting standards that are identical to the new statewide standards and can be adopted prospectively. Towns opting for this approach can also request the director of the Bureau of Forestry to administer and enforce the ordinance or to participate in the joint administration and enforcement with the municipality beginning on the effective date of the statewide standards. Towns adopting this approach will be eligible to receive the assistance and expertise of the staff of the Bureau of Forestry while retaining local control over the administration and enforcement of timber harvesting in the shoreland zone.
- A town may retain its current timber harvesting standards. However, after the effective date of the statewide standards for timber harvesting, a town will not be able to amend its ordinance regulating timber harvesting activities in a manner that is less stringent or conflicts with the statewide standards.
The standards for timber harvesting will apply statewide beginning on the first day of January on the 2nd year following certification by the Commissioner of Conservation that a specified number of communities have adopted the standards.
Changes to General Development District – The Guidelines rename the General Development District as a “General Development I District” which will include “existing, intensely developed areas,” and creates a new “General Development II District” that will include the same types of areas as the General Development I District, but will be applied to newly established General Development Districts where the pattern of development at the time of adoption is either undeveloped or not as intensely developed as that of the General Development I District.
Changes to the Administrative Procedures – The Guidelines incorporate several important changes to the administration of a shoreland zoning ordinance, including:
- Making explicit that appeals from a decision of a Planning Board to a Board of Appeals are conducted on a “purely appellate” basis, while appeals from a decision of a Code Enforcement Officer to the Board of Appeals are conducted on a “de novo” basis, and spelling out what those distinctions mean and how such hearings should be conducted;
- Providing new or modified definitions for agriculture, canopy, cross-sectional area, development, disruption of shoreline integrity, forest stand, ground cover, harvest area, institutional, land management road, minimum lot width, normal high-water line, recreational trail, residual basal area, residual stand, shoreline, skid road or skid trail, tidal waters, timber harvesting, tributary system, upland edge of wetland, windfirm, and woody vegetation.
Municipalities in Maine are required to update their respective municipal shoreland zoning ordinances to be consistent with the new Guidelines. Expert in both timberlands law, municipal law, and land use, Eaton Peabody attorneys are available to assist individuals, businesses, and communities with understanding the complexities of the new Guidelines. Attorneys are available to review current ordinances and assist in drafting ordinance provisions that are consistent with the new Guidelines and fit into an overall strategy for managing future development and other activities within the shoreland zone.
This document was prepared by Michael R. Clisham, Esq. For further information, contact Michael R. Clisham, Esq. at mclisham@eatonpeabody.com
This paper is provided as general information, and is not a substitute for legal or other professional advice.