For Immediate Release
September
27, 2016
Contact: Nick
Livesay, 207-287-2622
Community-guided planning and
zoning in Aroostook County’s unorganized territories awarded Planning Project
of the Year
Economic development and job creation supported by
removing regulatory hurdles to small business owners and rural entrepreneurs
Caribou,
Aroostook County – The Maine Association of Planners awarded
“Planning Project of the Year” to the Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC) and Northern
Maine Development Commission (NMDC) for work to produce new zoning rules in
Aroostook County. The changes provide
opportunity for rural businesses to locate and grow in new areas of Aroostook
County. Project partners, including representatives of the citizen steering
committee, the LUPC, NMDC, and the County Commissioners were on-hand to accept
the award at the offices of NMDC in Caribou on Tuesday, September 27, 2016.
The rule changes, which became effective May 9th,
2016, are a product of the LUPC’s Community Guided Planning and Zoning (CGPZ)
initiative. This initiative joins state
planning staff with local partners to help regions identify their land use
needs and plan for the region’s future. The rule changes establish a rural
business development zone that can be used by businesses and property owners to
accommodate business development in 30 towns, townships, and plantations across
Aroostook County that are part of the unorganized and deorganized areas of the
state.
“This is an example of how state government can
work with local communities in an effort to strengthen rural economies,” said Department
of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Commissioner Walt Whitcomb. “This
project was led by the people who live and work in Aroostook County, with our
assistance, and resulted in a product that supports economic development and
job creation by removing regulatory hurdles to small business owners and rural
entrepreneurs.”
In Aroostook County, LUPC worked with NMDC and a
citizen steering committee to develop new zoning opportunities and to improve
the business climate in the county.
“We recognize that rural businesses are an
important part of the economy in Aroostook County,” said Everett Worcester, Chair
of the Land Use Planning Commission. “A responsibility of the Commission
is to help regions plan for and incentivize development in the right
places. The residents and other
stakeholders who served on the steering committee, with support from NMDC and
the Commission, have developed regulatory changes that give new opportunity for
business growth in rural northern Maine. All of this was done while respecting the qualities of Aroostook County those
in the region want to continue.”
The rule changes developed in Aroostook County are
the first to come out of the LUPC’s CGPZ initiative. Efforts to improve
the effectiveness of land use planning and provide for economic development
opportunities in the unorganized and deorganized areas of Maine have focused,
in part, on the need for more locally guided and proactive planning for these
areas. This is a result of 2012 legislation that called for more
prospective zoning and emphasized the LUPC’s role in honoring the rights and
participation of residents and property owners in the areas of the state that
it serves.
“We are pleased that this first CGPZ project was a
success and that it has been recognized by the Maine Association of Planners as
‘Planning Project of the Year’,” said Nick Livesay, Director of the LUPC. The
LUPC will continue to work with partners in Aroostook County to plan for future
land use needs, and is working with local and regional partners on similar
collaborative planning projects in other regions including, in Franklin,
Somerset, and Washington counties.
 Photo (from left to right):
Robert Clark, Northern Maine Development Commission (NMDC) Executive Director
Paul Underwood, Aroostook County and LUPC Commissioner
Mark Draper, Chair of the Citizen Steering Committee for the project
Nick Livesay, Executive Director of the LUPC
Jay Kamm, Senior Planner at NMDC
Web resources:
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