Court Opinion

ID: 9734690
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:42:59.297542+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:50.182888
License: Public Domain

LEVY, J.,
with whom SAUFLEY, C.J., and SILVER, J., join, concurring.
[¶ 28] The Court’s opinion brings closure to a zoning dispute that arises from a shoreland zoning permit issued in February 2003. A principal reason why it has taken more than three years to resolve the dispute is that Hinman was not notified of the Vileses’ initial permit application because neither the Town of Embden’s shoreland zoning ordinance, nor Maine’s shoreland zoning statutes, 38 M.R.S. §§ 435-449 (2005), require notice of the application to the neighbors who own property in close proximity to the parcel for which the permit is sought. If notice had been provided in this case, it is reasonably possible that Hinman’s objections to the Vileses’ proposed construction would have been considered and resolved by the Emb-den Planning Board in February 2003, instead of being finally resolved by today’s decision.
[¶ 29] Both the persons who wish to build on their land, and the neighbors who will be most affected by it, benefit if any dispute regarding the proposal is considered before, and not after, a land use permit is issued. See Brackett v. Town of Rangeley, 2003 ME 109, ¶ 25, 831 A.2d 422, 430 (“The time for litigating in ordinary cases remains prior to the start of construction.”). This case underscores the need for the Legislature to consider whether some form of notice to neighboring property owners should be required in connection with shoreland and similar land use permit applications. See, e.g., N.J. STAT. ANN. § 40:55D-12(b) (West Supp. 2006) (requiring notice by personal service or certified mail “to the owners of all real property as shown on the current tax duplicates, located in the State and within 200 feet in all directions of the property which is the subject of [the] hearing”).