Opinion ID: 1978922
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the rangeley lakes region

Text: [¶ 31] The version of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan in effect at the time of the appeal identified the Rangeley Lakes Region as an area of rapid growth requiring special planning. Me. Dep't of Conservation, Land Use Regulation Commission, Comprehensive Land Use Plan 110 (1997 rev.). The growth in the region was attributed to residential and recreational development. Id. Because of the unique characteristics of the Rangeley Lakes Region, LURC amended the Comprehensive Plan, effective January 1, 2001, by adopting the Prospective Zoning Plan for the Rangeley Lakes Region. The Rangeley Plan focused on preserving the region's natural resources for four-season recreation, forestry, and year-round development in a diversity of rural and developed settings. Me. Land Use Regulation Commission, Prospective Zoning Plan for the Rangeley Lakes Region i, 4 (2001). LURC acknowledged that, outside the Town of Rangeley, [c]ommercial enterprises [we]re not extensive, and identified as examples of commercial activities a ski area, a restaurant, a golf course, sporting camps, and cabin facilities. Id. at 8. [¶ 32] The Rangeley Plan adopted certain new zones but did not make changes to the management zone in which the Nestle site is located. Id. at 19. Most critical to our analysis today, the plan explicitly acknowledged the possibility that uses might emerge that were not anticipated and provided that LURC could rezone areas in such circumstances. Id. at 14, 31. The general management subdistrict from which Nestle proposes to extract and transport millions of gallons of water has not been explicitly zoned for these activities, nor did Nestle seek rezoning. [¶ 33] In examining the Comprehensive Land Use Plan and the Rangeley Plan, it is evident that neither of them explicitly approved or anticipated water extraction and transportation as a permitted use in the Rangeley Lakes Region despite the updating of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan in 1997, the enactment of the Rangeley Plan in 2000, and the existence of substantial commercial water extraction activities in other areas in the state for many years. [¶ 34] With this background in mind, I turn to the more specific question of whether, in the absence of rezoning, it is reasonable to interpret LURC's Land Use Districts and Standards governing the general management subdistrict to allow the proposed resource extraction. See 4 C.M.R. 04 061 010-1 to -174 ch. 10 (2006-2007).