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Mubec appears to be for building codes. I was referring to shoreland zoning standards. Most towns have references online, where you could contact them. I would narrow down my search area before calling every where in the state.
Several years ago the DEP sent out a suggested modification to their recommended guidelines. They asked the towns to approve it at the next town meeting. Most towns did.
We actually read this stuff. The modification referred to a map. We did not get a map. I called the DEP and asked about the map.
"Oh, you didn't get your map? We'll send it right out." NONE of the 400+ towns had gotten a map. The majority passed the measure anyway. In our town the DEP would have taken 16 miles of shoreline out of productive use without compensating the landowners. We turned it down at town meeting the next year. The towns that were suckered by the DEP howled in protest. The DEP doesn't care if you howl in protest. They just ignore the towns.
"I see. Basically, non-LUPC parcels have enforcement by municipalities, but under 2,000 population municipality doesn't have to enforce at all (and LUPC won't come in there). They may enforce but don't have to and one has to locate such that is tolerant."
All towns have the same minimum shoreland rules they have to enforce. They can have stricter rules. Don't get yourself confused. Whatever town/area you are looking at, go and get yourself a copy of the rules they have. It's a lot more reliable than asking a bunch o strangers on a website.
I see, found Maine Shoreline Zoning book, thanks. Not sure there'd be a water body on the property, but if there's one, I'll keep this zoning in mind.
I see, thanks. I guess one has to call LUPC for parcels in unorganized territories, as they have no governing body. I found pretty good online parcel map for these and it lists zoning info and found the list of LUPC zone descriptions. Perhaps also good to find out from property seller, though they might not be honest...some sales adviertise camps for year round living. In unorganized territory, is it LUPC only or is there anything else that sets these rules?
LUPC handles all zoning/planning in the UTs. They process all building permits here.
Seems like DEP has a document on non-conforming structures in shoreline zoning built before regulations had been enacted. They consider them grandfathered in. With these, they're mostly concerned about "expansion" of the houses and put caps on how much they can be expanded.... Any expansions are certainly not in my plans. They allow repairs without a permit, unless this is a "significant reconstruction".
... I know one landowner who is still waiting for an answer EIGHT YEARS LATER! Better to locate in a low population, low hassle town where you can get truthful answers free of charge. ...
When I was planning to build, LURC had an office in Medway. I went there and spoke directly with the staff, to get my upfront questions answered.
Then I walked my property lines with a GPS, I walked the footprint for where we wanted the house to sit. I up-loaded the coordinates into my computer, and I printed out a to-scale map. That map showed the exact set-backs from each property line and from the water.
The building permit had an area where you were to write an essay about how you planned to handle soil erosion. I went to the DEP website, where I found their paragraph about soil erosion. I cut-pasted the DEP paragraph onto the LURC application.
I attached the map to the application and sent it in.
After 5 weeks I got a phone-call from LURC. He said my permit was approved. He said it was among the best applications he had seen in his career. Most applications are written on restaurant napkins complete with mustard stains. Most applications leave-out much of the set-back data, requiring LURC staff to go to the site, to measure for themselves the set-backs.
During week 6 my building permit arrived in the mail.
Any application that takes more than 2 months means that either: you refused to answer all the questions, or there are so many ketchup stains it is hard to read, or maybe your crayon broke a lot leaving smears on the drawing.
The difference may be that I am career military. After decades of service, I know how to fill-out a government form. Try to be polite, answer every question, if they ask for details then give details. Above all make it easy to read and understand.
Be a jerk and the bureaucrats will be jerks. You can not out-jerk a bureaucrat.
Seems like DEP has a document on non-conforming structures in shoreline zoning built before regulations had been enacted. They consider them grandfathered in. With these, they're mostly concerned about "expansion" of the houses and put caps on how much they can be expanded.... Any expansions are certainly not in my plans. They allow repairs without a permit, unless this is a "significant reconstruction".
I believe you can expand an old dwelling, but it must be done at a controlled rate. Like 10% square-footage per year, so to double your footprint would take 10 years [or something like that].
You can generally jack-up a house to put a foundation under it.
But if your house burned down completely [thank God our Fire Departments rarely lose a concrete foundation], and if you wanted to re-construct on the same foot-print, you would need a permit.
LUPC sends out a monthly email with all permits they have approved each month, etc. I recently read one where the owner had wanted to rebuild on a foundation after a house fire [which sounds normal, no big thing]. But his plans showed that he wanted to expand the new house to sit too close to the road pavement [violating setback regulations]. LUPC turned down that application. Imagine the county plow truck coming along and burying half your house under 20 tons of snow, because your house sits so close to the pavement. Or worse yet, when the plow-truck extends it's 'wings' to clear the shoulders of the road. This is usually when the truck may nail your mailbox, but what if he nailed your house and swept away a corner of your bedroom. Ouch !
Then I walked my property lines with a GPS, I walked the footprint for where we wanted the house to sit. I up-loaded the coordinates into my computer, and I printed out a to-scale map. That map showed the exact set-backs from each property line and from the water.
The building permit had an area where you were to write an essay about how you planned to handle soil erosion. I went to the DEP website, where I found their paragraph about soil erosion. I cut-pasted the DEP paragraph onto the LURC application.
I attached the map to the application and sent it in, compared to what's in other states.
After 5 weeks I got a phone-call from LURC. He said my permit was approved. He said it was among the best applications he had seen in his career. Most applications are written on restaurant napkins complete with mustard stains. Most applications leave-out much of the set-back data, requiring LURC staff to go to the site, to measure for themselves the set-backs.
During week 6 my building permit arrived in the mail.
Sounds like a reasonable permit process to me, compared to what's in other states. Good idea about cut-and-paste from DEP site.
I believe you can expand an old dwelling, but it must be done at a controlled rate. Like 10% square-footage per year, so to double your footprint would take 10 years [or something like that].
You can generally jack-up a house to put a foundation under it.
But if your house burned down completely [thank God our Fire Departments rarely lose a concrete foundation], and if you wanted to re-construct on the same foot-print, you would need a permit.
LUPC sends out a monthly email with all permits they have approved each month, etc. I recently read one where the owner had wanted to rebuild on a foundation after a house fire [which sounds normal, no big thing]. But his plans showed that he wanted to expand the new house to sit too close to the road pavement [violating setback regulations]. LUPC turned down that application. Imagine the county plow truck coming along and burying half your house under 20 tons of snow, because your house sits so close to the pavement. Or worse yet, when the plow-truck extends it's 'wings' to clear the shoulders of the road. This is usually when the truck may nail your mailbox, but what if he nailed your house and swept away a corner of your bedroom. Ouch !
Eww, must be quite a scene--you got an igloo, then... my own plans don't include expansions or getting closer to the road/reducing setback (I'd rather go in another direction if it's very close already).
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