Today I had to give in to the need to get some office work done. While many of NRCM’s staff are hard at work at the intervener sessions I’m back at the office returning calls and planning for this weekends public hearings in Portland (Saturday, Holiday Inn By the Bay) and Greenville (Sunday, Greenville High School). I hope you all will take some time to come to the hearings. NRCM will be having an open house at each location where you can ask questions, pick up some food, and chat with NRCM staff. While at the office I’m continuing to follow the live action via the live web audio offered on the Land Use Regulation Commission website www.maine.gov/doc/lurc/webcast.html.
Over the past several days of testimony the proposed resorts at Lily Bay and Moose Mountain have drawn a lot of attention. NRCM has repeatedly pointed out that there is no certainty in Plum Creek’s proposal as to what a “resort” might actually look like. The proposal actually does not give any detail as to what the resorts my look like, it simply says that all sorts of uses would be allowed in the resort zone. The current resort zones would actually allow single family home subdivisions. We are concerned that the resorts will simply become gated communities and not true resorts. For example Plum Creek would only be required to have 15 transient accommodations at the Lily Bay resort. Many of Plum Creek’s supporters and witnesses have pointed to the potential resorts as the linchpin to the plan, yet it has been made clear in the past few days that there is no guarantee that a true resort will actually be built. Also of interest yesterday was hearing the attorney representing the Maine Professional Guides Association, Maine Snowmobile Association, ATV Maine, and Maine Bow Hunters Association attack the idea that the Moosehead region has wilderness.
NRCM’s tourism expert Costas Christ, who has worked all over the world, strongly stated that this region is the last remaining undeveloped forest east of the Mississippi and certainly meets the definition of wilderness. Costas went on to strongly encourage the Commission to require Plum Creek to include internationally recognized standards for sustainable resort development in their proposal. He highlighted some examples where resort developers have adopted these standards and also talked about places in the world where these standards have not been adopted and the local communities have been left to deal with poorly planed development. Costas also revealed that at one point Plum Creek had attempted to put him on retainer, but that he had decided not to accept that offer and instead thinks that what is being proposed to much too large and runs the risk of destroying what would attract people to the region.
-Diano Circo North Woods Policy Advocate and Outreach Coordinator
