An Act Regarding Working Waterfront Covenants Further amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and before the summary and inserting in its place the following: Sec. I. 33MRSAc.6-A is enacted to read: CHAPTER 6-A WORKING WATERFRONT COVENANTS S131. Definitions As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings. 1. Commercial fisheries businesses. Commercial fisheries businesses" means any enterprise directly or indirectly concerned with the commercial harvest of wild or aquacultured marine organisms, whose primary source of income is derived from these activities. Commercial fisheries businesses" includes without limitation: Page l-LR3031(2) COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Maine Legislature, Session 122, LD 1930
Committee Amendment CA_A_S556 (Senate)

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A" to S. P. 730, 
Act Regarding Working Waterfront Covenants 
Maine's Future Board" 
L.D. 1930, 
under the 
Bill, 
Land 
"An 
For 
Amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting 
the following: 
'An Act Regarding Working Waterfront Covenants' 
Further amend the bill by striking out everything after the 
enacting clause and before the summary and inserting in its place 
the following: 
'Sec. I. 33MRSAc.6-A is enacted to read: 
CHAPTER 6-A 
WORKING WATERFRONT COVENANTS 
S131. 
Definitions 
As 
used 
in this 
chapter, 
unless 
the 
context 
otherwise 
indicates, the following terms have the following meanings. 
1. 
Commercial fisheries businesses. 
"Commercial fisheries 
businesses" means any enterprise directly or indirectly concerned 
with 
the 
commercial 
harvest 
of 
wild 
or 
aquacultured marine 
organisms, whose primary source of income is derived from these 
activities. 
"Commercial fisheries businesses" includes without 
limitation: 
Page l-LR3031(2) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
~ 
.. fO. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT ,A" to s. P. 730, L.D. 1930 
A. 
Licensed 
commercial 
fishermen, 
aguaculturists 
and 
fishermen's cooperatives: 
B. 
Persons 
providing 
direct 
services 
to 
commercial 
fishermen and aguac'ulturists or fishermen's cooperatives, as 
long as provision of these direct services reguires the use 
of working waterfront real estate: and 
C. 
Municipal 
and private piers and wharves operated to 
provide 
waterfront 
access 
to 
commercial 
fishermen, 
aguaculturists or fishermen's cooperatives. 
2. 
Oualified holder. 
"Qualified holder" or "holder" means 
a 
governmental entity authorized to hold an interest in real 
property or a nonprofit organization organized under state law 
whose 
purposes 
include 
the 
permanent 
protection 
of 
working 
waterfront or the enlargement of working waterfront opportunities 
for commercial fisheries businesses. 
3. Third-party right of enforcement. "Third-party right of 
enforcement" 
means 
a 
right provided in a 
working waterfront 
covenant to enforce any of its terms granted by the grantor and 
holder of the covenant 
to 
a 
governmental 
body 
or nonprofit 
corporation that meets the gualifications of a holder. 
4. 
Working 
waterfront 
covenant. 
"Working 
waterfront 
covenant" means an agreement in recordable form between the owner 
of working waterfront real estate and one or more gualified 
holders 
that permits 
a 
gualified holder 
to 
control, 
either 
directly or indirectly, the use, ownership and sales price of 
working waterfront real estate for the primary purpose of making 
. and preserving the permanent availability and affordability of 
that real estate for commercial fisheries businesses. 
A working 
waterfront covenant may include a 3rd-party right of enforcement. 
5. 
Working waterfront real estate. 
"Working waterfront 
real estate" or "real estate" means land, legally filled lands , 
piers , wharves and other improvements to lands all adjacent to 
the navigable coastal waters of the State. 
§132. Creation; conveyance; acceptance; duration; filing 
1. 
Working 
waterfront 
covenant. 
Except 
as 
otherwise 
provided in this chapter, a working waterfront covenant may be 
created, 
conveyed, 
recorded, 
assigned, 
released, 
modified, 
terminated or otherwise altered or affected in the same manner as 
other real estate covenants created by written instrument. 
2. 
Right or duty. 
A right or duty in favor of or against a 
gualified holder 
may 
not 
arise 
under 
a 
working 
waterfront 
covenant unless it is accepted in writing by the gualified holder. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
~6.~. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 'A " to S.P. 730, L.D. 1930 
3. 
Limitation. 
Except 
as 
provided in this chapter, 
a 
working waterfront covenant is unlimited in duration unless a 
change of circumstances renders the working waterfront covenant 
no longer in the public interest as determined in an action under 
section 133, subsection 2. 
4. 
Filing. 
A working waterfront covenant must be recorded 
in the County Registry of Deeds, and a copy of the covenant must 
be filed with the Executive Department, State Planning Office 
together with a map showing with specificity the location of the 
affected real estate on the form or forms that the State Planning 
Office requires. 
5. 
Other 
interest. 
An 
interest 
in 
real 
property 
in 
existence at the time a working waterfront covenant is created is 
not affected by the covenant unless the owner of the interest is 
a party to the covenant or consents to the covenant. 
6. 
Right to enter land. 
The instrument creating a working 
waterfront covenant must provide for the right by the qualified 
holder to enter the real property to ensure compliance. 
S133. Judicial actions 
1. 
Owners; 
qualified 
holders. 
An 
action affecting 
a 
working waterfront covenant may be brought or intervened in by: 
A. 
An owner of an interest in the real property burdened by 
the covenant: 
B. 
A qualified holder 
of 
the 
benefit 
of 
the 
working 
waterfront covenant; 
C. 
The municipality in which the real property burdened by 
the covenant is located; or 
D. 
The Attorney General. 
2. 
Power of court. 
The court has the following powers. 
A. 
The court may enforce a working waterfront covenant by 
injunction or other proceeding at law or in equity. 
B. 
Acting in accordance with charitable trust principles, 
the 
court 
may 
modify, 
terminate 
or 
deny 
equitable 
enforcement of a working waterfront covenant in an action 
brought by a party pursuant to subsection 1. 
In taking such 
an action, the court must find that, due to a change in 
circumstance, 
the 
covenant 
no 
longer 
serves 
the 
public 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A" to S.P. 730, L.D. 1930 
interest in protecting or enhancing the commercial marine 
fisheries or related businesses of the State. 
The Attorney 
General must be 
made 
a 
party to 
any action under this 
paragraph 
and 
written notice 
must 
be 
provided 
to 
the 
Commissioner of Marine Resources. 
C. 
If the court modifies, terminates or denies eguitable 
enforcement of a working waterfront covenant, the court may 
order payment by the landowner of money or other damages to 
the holder or the State, which shall apply the same in a 
manner consistent with the purposes of this law as approved 
by the court. 
The fact that g 
~WQ.r_king waterfront property might be used 
for more valuable economic purposes may not be considered in 
determining whether a working waterfront covenant is no longer in 
the public interest. 
§134. 
Scope of working waterfront covenant 
A 
working 
waterfront 
covenant 
must 
include 
without 
limitation at least one of the following terms: 
1. 
Resale 
price 
of 
working 
waterfront 
real 
estate. 
Limitations on the resale price of working waterfront real estate; 
2. 
Amount 
of equity appreciation. 
Limitations 
on 
the 
amount of eguity appreciation that a landowner may derive from 
ownership of working waterfront real estate; 
3. 
Improvements 
to 
working 
waterfront 
real 
estate. 
Limitations 
on 
the 
type, 
extent, 
use 
or 
dollar 
value 
of 
improvements that may be made to working waterfront real estate; 
4. 
Uses to which working waterfront real estate may be 
devoted. 
Restrictions on the uses to which working waterfront 
real estate may be devoted, which must be consistent with the 
purposes of this chapter; 
5. 
Options to purchase. 
The grant of rights of first 
refusal or options to purchase to gualified holders or their 
assigns , 
subject to the terms 
and conditions of the working 
waterfront covenant; 
6. 
Maintenance and insurance of working waterfront real 
estate. 
The obligation to maintain, operate and insure working 
waterfront real estate; 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT ,A " to S.P. 730, L.D. 1930 
7. 
Construction and materials. 
The right to restrict or 
specify types of buildings, structures and materials that may be 
used in improvements on working waterfront real estate; and 
8. 
Acts 
that 
may 
enhance 
affordability 
of 
working 
waterfront real estate. 
The right to prohibit, limit or require 
other acts 
that may 
enhance 
or allow the affordability and 
availability of working waterfront real estate to 
commercial 
marine fisheries businesses in the future. 
§135. Validity 
A working waterfront 
covenant is valid 
and 
enforceable 
notwithstanding any of the following conditions. 
1. 
Not appurtenant to interest in real property. 
The 
working waterfront covenant is not appurtenant and does not run 
with an interest in real property. 
2. 
Assignable to another holder. 
The working waterfront 
covenant can be or has been assigned to another qualified holder. 
3. 
Not recognized at common law. 
The working waterfront 
covenant is not of a character traditionally recognized at common 
law. 
4. 
Imposes 
negative 
burden. 
The 
working 
waterfront 
covenant imposes a negative burden. 
5. 
covenant 
interest 
Imposes affirm~tive obligations. 
The working waterfront 
imposes affirmative obligations upon the owner of an 
in the burdened property or upon the qualified holder. 
6. 
Benefit does not touch or concern real property. 
The 
benefit of the working waterfront covenant is held by a qualified 
holder who 
has not retained property that would benefit from 
enforcement of the working waterfront covenant, or the benefit 
does not touch or concern real property in any other way. 
7. 
No privity of estate or contract. 
There is no privity 
of estate or privity of contract. 
8. 
Does not run to successors or assigns. 
The working 
waterfront covenant does not run to the successors or assigns of 
the qualified holder. 
9. 
Unreasonable restraint on alienability. 
The 
working 
waterfront 
covenant may 
be 
considered to 
be 
an unreasonable 
restraint on alienability. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT .. A 
.. to S.P. 730, L.D. 1930 
10. 
In violation of rule against pe~etuities. 
The working 
waterfront covenant may violate the rule against perpetuities. 
§136. Application 
1. 
Interest created after effective date. 
This chapter 
applies to any interest that complies with this chapter created 
after the effective date of this chapter, whether designated as a 
working 
waterfront 
covenant 
or 
an 
eguitable 
servitude, 
restriction, easement or other interest in real estate. 
2. 
Working waterfront covenant created before effective 
date. 
This chapter applies to any working waterfront covenant 
created before the effective date of this chapter if the working 
waterfront covenant 
would have 
been enforceable 
had it been 
created 
after 
the 
effective 
date 
of 
this 
chapter, 
unless 
retroactive application contravenes the Constitution of Maine or 
the United States Constitution. 
3. 
Chapter does not invalidate interest. 
This chapter does 
not invalidate any interest, whether designated as 
a 
working 
waterfront 
covenant 
or 
an 
equitable 
servitude, 
restriction, 
easement or other interest in real estate, that is otherwise 
enforceable under other laws of this State. I 
SUMMARY 
This 
amendment 
clarifies 
the definitions 
of 
"commercial 
fisheries businesses," "qualified holder," "3rd-party 
enforcement" 
and 
"working 
waterfront 
covenant ... 
clarifies 
the 
filing 
requirements 
applicable 
to 
waterfront covenants. 
right of 
It 
also 
working 
This amendment clarifies that an existing interest is not 
affected unless the owner is a party to the covenant or consents 
to the covenant. 
This amendment authorizes a municipality to bring an action 
or to intervene in an action affecting a 
working waterfront 
covenant. 
This amendment requires a court, ln modifying, terminating 
or 
denying 
equitable 
enforcement 
of 
a 
working 
waterfront 
covenant, 
to find that, due to a 
change in circumstance, the 
covenant no longer serves the public interest in protecting or 
enhancing the commercial marine fisheries or related businesses 
in the State. 
This amendment requires the Attorney General to be 
made a party and also requires written notice to the Commissioner 
of Marine Resources. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT .. A 
.. to S.P. 730, L.D. 1930 
This 
amendment 
clarifies 
that 
the 
restrictions 
in 
the 
working waterfront covenant applies to uses of the subject real 
estate and does not limit the types of persons or businesses that 
may own, lease or use the real estate. 
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED 
(See attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
Approved: 03121106 ;::!;Pac:.. 
LD 1930 
LR 3031(02) 
An Act Regarding Working Waterfront Covenants under the Land for Maine's Future Board 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment A" 
Committee: Judiciary 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Minor cost increase - General Fund 
Minor revenue increase - General Fund 
Correctional and Judicial Impact Statements 
This bill may increase the number of civil suits filed in the court system. 
The collection of additional filing fees may increase General Fund revenue by minor amounts. 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
The additional costs associated with this legislation can be absorbed by the State Planning Office and the Department 
of the Attorney General utilizing existing budgeted resources. 
LR3031 (2) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1