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Hearings on Moosehead Lake's development are pushed back to allow time to consider the changes.

By JOHN RICHARDSON Staff Writer October 11, 2007

A new round of changes to Plum Creek Timber Co.'s conservation and development plan in the Moosehead Lake region is delaying public hearings on the project.

Four hearings around the state had been scheduled for November but will now be pushed back a month or more to allow additional time for review. The Maine Land Use Regulation Commission voted for the delay Wednesday during a meeting in Orono.

Plum Creek is modifying and clarifying parts of its plan in response to written criticism submitted at the end of August by several state and federal agencies. The agencies argued, for example, that conservation easements included in the plan did not adequately protect recreational access to the forests and did not provide enough protection for wildlife habitats.

The changes are intended to ensure access and more clearly limit development in the proposed subdivision and resort zones, according to Plum Creek. The company issued a press release this afternoon announcing the modifications.

Changes include pledging land for future recreational needs, providing road easements to ensure public access and precluding additional development in residential and commercial zones by agreeing to place the remaining undeveloped land in a conservation easement.

Plum Creek officials have been meeting with state and federal agents in recent weeks, although it's not clear if the changes will satisfy the agencies. Wildlife agencies, for example, said certain development zones should be scaled back or dropped because of the threat to animal habitats, such as bald eagles, loons and Canada lynx.

It is the third time Plum Creek has made changes that postponed the review process, although the modifications this time are more minor and technical than previous revisions and are not expected to cause a substantial delay.

Plum Creek had asked that the public hearings be held as scheduled in November despite the latest changes, while some opponents of the plan called for more time to review the modifications. Members of the land use commission also decided they needed more time. They plan to set new hearing dates when they meet in early November.

Also at Wednesday's meeting, the commission voted to reject a legal motion filed last summer that called for the commission to drop Plum Creek's rezoning plan. The commission's staff recommended a denial of the motion.

Staff Writer John Richardson can be contacted at 791-6324 or at

jrichardson@pressherald.com