Prospective Zoning in Washington County UTs and Plantations
Prospective Zoning Decisions
Material below and on the Community Outreach and Plan Documents pages of this site provides the background and rationale for the final LUPC decision (adopted August 15, 2017; effective August 24, 2017) on Prospective Zoning changes for the Plantations of Baring and Grand Lake Stream.
Review of the additional recommendations for Floating Zones in several Washington County UTs will be conducted at the September 13, 2017 LUPC meeting at Washington County Community College in Calais. Decisions that arise from that review will be posted here when completed.
Background
Much of the Washington County Unorganized Territories is remote and unsuitable for development. The staff and Planning Committee working on the Community Guided Planning and Zoning effort spent considerable time in the review of criteria to reasonably and justifiably narrow our scope to areas suitable for future development.
The Planning Committee reviewed data on population, permit trends, TIF investments, available infrastructure and proximity to services. They reached consensus in May, 2016 and agreed to:
Conduct prospective zoning in the following 3 tiers of effort:
The first tier will examine entire townships for prospective zoning and includes 4 Townships (Trescott, Edmunds, Marion, Cathance) and 2 Plantations (Baring and Grand Lake Stream).
The 2nd tier will propose prospective zoning in portions of 2 townships (Big Lake, Twp 24).
The 3rd tier includes all of the 1st and 2nd tier townships plus Forest City, Lambert Lake and Brookton where the Rural Business Development zone developed in Aroostook County will be adapted for Washington County. Follow these links for:
Rural Business District Subdistrict Rule Summary (a floating zone — as it applies in Aroostook County)
LUPC Rule Revision of the Aroostook County Rural Business Development Subdistrict (with all changes adopted May 9, 2016 shown in redline text)
Floating Zones
The Rural Business Subdistrict in Aroostook County is a floating zone: a zoning district that delineates conditions that must be met before that zoning district can be approved for an existing piece of land. Rather than being placed on the zoning map as traditional zones are, however, the floating zone is simply written as an amendment in the zoning ordinance. Thus, the zone "floats" until a development application is approved, when the zone is then added to the official zoning map. Download this 2 page handout (What is a floating zone?) for a detailed description of prospective zones, adjacency rules and how floating zones could be applied in Washington County.
Draft Floating Zone opportunities are provided in static PDF and online format on the GIS Mapping for CGPZ page.