LUPC Celebrating 50 years – Then and Now
The Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC), originally known as LURC, turns fifty in September 2021. Fifty years is a long time, and the requirement of extending sound planning, zoning, and permitting to Maine s Wild lands remains true today. The Wildlands was a term coined in the late 1960s to describe the the Big Woods, land of Indian and trapper, of white pine tall enough for His Majesty’s ships, of mountain lion, moose, and eagle.
In 1971, the Legislature created the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission in the belief that development need not spoil the wildlands and that such a Commission could provide safe and healthful recreation for camp owners and their visitors….preserve most of the wilderness appearance for those who can’t buy in…allow more people to come in and still spoil less land, which could soon make all the difference to a region’s economy…without seriously affecting the output of pulpwood a