Piscataquis Officials Seek Intervenor Role in Plan

By DIANA BOWLEY; OF THE NEWS STAFF

DOVER-FOXCROFT – Piscataquis County commissioners agreed Tuesday to seek intervenor status on Plum Creek Timber Co.’s development plan for the Moosehead Lake region.

The Seattle-based company has filed an application with the Land Use Regulation Commission to rezone land it owns in the region to pave the way for a major development and conservation project.

Plum Creek’s proposed development project encompasses about 20,000 acres in the Moosehead Lake region, and includes land set aside for two resorts and the sale of 975 house lots. The company does not intend to develop the resorts, but hopes to find an investor willing to do so.

As an offset to the development, the company has proposed conserving more than 400,000 acres of forestland.

LURC, which serves as the planning and appeals boards for Unorganized Territory, has conditionally accepted the plan for processing. Public hearings are set tentatively in October on the matter.

“We really need to have our voices heard,” Commissioner Tom Lizotte said Tuesday. “We have a huge stake in the process.”

The intervenor status will allow county officials to rebut information provided by outside organizations.

Lizotte said it gets the county “totally looped” into the information cycle. By doing so, LURC will give more weight to the commissioners’ opinions as an intervenor than they would if the commissioners “just showed up as one the crowd,” he said.

While the commissioners threw their support to the first plan, they decided Tuesday to wait before endorsing the revised plan. That’s not because they don’t support the project, they just want to wait and see the final plan approved by LURC first before the hearings start. They also want to make sure some county issues are addressed in the plan. For example, they want to ensure that the roads in the proposed development will be maintained privately, and not depend on public services.

The county also is looking for Plum Creek’s help in finding suitable land in the Moosehead Lake region for septic waste and a regional transfer station.

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