Forest Products Council slams LURC plan (North Woods, Maine)

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=185521&ac=PHnws

To landowners in Northern Maine, the Land Use Regulation Commission's proposed comprehensive plan for the state's unorganized territories intrudes on property rights.

"Citizens are outraged," said Patrick Strauch, executive director of the Maine Forest Products Council. Landowners, he continued, are "very concerned with the overbearing diminishment of rights and values."

To some others, though, the plan represents an important step toward addressing the shifting ownership patterns -- and potential development decisions -- for these 10 million acres of land. The draft plan is being circulated to generate input from the public, they say, and to get residents' reaction on development trends in the commission's jurisdiction.

Catherine Carroll, staff director for LURC, charged that groups like the Forest Products Council are providing misinformation, and that's causing people to get unnecessarily angry.

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