UPDATE ON YOUR VETO No backsies BY SARA DONNELLY

On May 5, members of the Maine State Legislature’s Committee on State and Local Government voted to endorse not one but two versions of LD 1481, the bill sponsored by Cumberland county Senator Lynn Bromley which would protect developments earlier in the planning process from retroactive citizens referenda than is currently allowed under state law (see "Your Government," by Sara Donnelly, May 6). One version of the bill received the majority endorsement from all but three of the 13 members of the committee. This version of the bill would grandfather any property which has received a municipal building permit, zoning permit, subdivision approval, site-plan approval, or really any other land-use approval from the area planning board prior to the moment the city clerk signs off on any citizen’s petition that says, in essence, "Take your development and shove it."

The development with any of the above approvals from the municipal planning board would then be protected from being shoved, tanked, jettisoned, or otherwise roughhoused from town after the fact. Basically, if you skip a crucial planning board meeting, you can’t breeze in hours late and expect to have your say. Under LD 1481, you snooze, you lose.

If this version passes, it would significantly change current law, which only protects properties from grassroots ire after they have broken ground. As you might expect, the Maine People’s Alliance, which advocates for citizen involvement in decision-making at all levels of government, thinks this whole 1481 business is a load of hooey.

"These [major developments] are often times issued in a vacuum and our problem with that is people often don’t hear about it until it’s too late," says Tammy Greaton, director of the Maine People’s Alliance. Greaton is concerned that citizens might not be aware of the type of development which will move into their backyard until after the permits have been approved and, if this bill passes, that would be way too late to do anything about it.

"The citizens have a right to move forward with a referendum. We will be fighting this," says Greaton.

The majority version of the bill is supported by the Maine State Housing Authority, the Maine Real Estate and Development Association, the Maine Association of Realtors, the State Planning Office, and Sam Merrill, a professor at the Muskie School of Public Service in Portland who has studied the issue. The minority version of the bill, which was endorsed solely by Charlie Harlow, the democratic rep from Portland, is supported by the Maine Municipal Association. This version of the bill would grandfather development later in the process — only after final permits have been approved.

Only Senator Margaret Rotundo (D-Androscoggin) voted "ought not to pass." Representative Sonya Sampson (D-Auburn) was absent and did not vote. Both endorsed versions of LD 1481 will now continue on to be debated in the House and Senate.

Bromley sponsored the bill in part to avoid messes like the failed Dunstan Crossing project in Scarborough, which was overturned in 2003 by a retroactive citizens’ referendum in the eleventh hour. The developers of the project then sued the town of Scarborough for breach of its zoning laws. In February, a Cumberland County Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the developers.

Virginia Davis represents the Maine Real Estate and Development Association. Davis says the majority version of the bill will encourage developers to build in the state by providing a level of predictability that the current system suffers without.

"The certainty is that there’s a point in time where you can predict or understand that you either have protection or you don’t have protection," says Davis, who hopes LD 1481 will prod citizens to get involved way before the final planning board vote. "It’s a point in time that seems reasonable because you’ve been through the entire process and everybody has had an opportunity to participate."

The two versions of LD 1481 are currently under review in the state Revisor’s Office before returning and being reported out by the committee.