Code of Maine Rules
06 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
096 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION - GENERAL
Chapter 1334 - SHORELAND ZONING ORDINANCE FOR MUNICIPALITY OF COLUMBIA FALLS

1. The Mandatory Shoreland Zoning Act (Act) requires all municipalities to establish zoning controls in areas within 250 feet of the normal high water line of great ponds, rivers, and saltwater bodies; within 250 feet of the upland edge of freshwater and coastal wetlands; and within 75 feet of the normal high water line of streams. Such zoning standards must be consistent with or no less restrictive than those in the State of Maine Guidelines for Municipal Shoreland Zoning Ordinances, (Guidelines), as adopted by the Board of Environmental Protection (Board).

2. The Guidelines were revised by the Board, effective March 24, 1990, and amended on July 14, 1992, and August 7, 1994. The revised Guidelines include more stringent land use standards than the Board's earlier Guidelines. In addition, the revised Guidelines contain new zoning and land use provisions for activities in shoreland areas adjacent to streams and freshwater wetlands as required by the Act as amended in January of 1989. Following the Board's revisions to the Guidelines in 1990, the Maine legislature, and the Board as authorized in 38 M.R.S.A. Section438-A(2), established July 1,1992 as the deadline for local ordinances to be amended consistent with the Guidelines.

3.38 M.R.S.A. Section438-A(4) requires the Board to adopt suitable zoning ordinances for municipalities which fail to adopt shoreland zoning ordinances consistent with or no less restrictive than the Guidelines.

4. On April 9, 1991, the Department of Environmental Protection (Department) approved the Columbia Falls Shoreland Zoning ordinance, as adopted on March 19, 1991. At that time, the Department notified the municipal officials that the zoning map, as provided to the Department, failed to identify or establish shoreland districting adjacent to freshwater wetlands and streams subject to the municipal ordinance, or identify Resource Protection Districts along the Pleasant River.

5. The municipal officials notified the Department that the zoning map, as adopted at the March 19, 1991 Town Meeting, also failed to include the above areas, and that the municipal ordinance and map have, to date, not been amended to address this issue.

6. On November 21, 1994 a draft copy of a supplemental shoreland zoning map was forwarded to the municipal officials for comment. The Board also advertised in newspapers of state-wide circulation, its intent to adopt the supplemental map for the municipality, No comments were received during the comment period which ended on December 30, 1994.

Based on the above Findings of Fact, the Board makes the following CONCLUSIONS:

1. Whereas, the deadline has past for municipalities to amend local shoreland zoning ordinances consistent with the Board's Guidelines, and whereas the municipality of Columbia Falls has failed to do so, the Board has the responsibility to adopt suitable ordinance provisions for the municipality.

2. The Board can address the identified deficiencies in the Columbia Falls ordinance by adopting a shoreland zoning map to supplement the current municipal ordinance, using the shoreland districting criteria contained in the Guidelines.

THEREFORE, THE BOARD HEREBY ORDERS AND ADOPTS for the municipality of Columbia Falls the following provisions:

1. A shoreland zoning map is hereby adopted as a supplement to the Columbia Falls Shoreland Zoning Ordinance, as adopted on March 19, 1991. The municipal ordinance shall be administered and enforced according to the shoreland districting identified on that map.

This Order shall remain in effect, and shall be binding upon the municipality of Columbia Falls until amended or repealed by the Board, or until the municipality adopts amendments to the shoreland zoning ordinance, consistent with the Board's Guidelines, and is approved by the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection.