In accessing penalties against landowners who violate state rules, the Land Use Regulation Commission takes into consideration whether owners had prior knowledge of the rules, whether the activity required a permit and the extent of environmental damage.

While good, the penalties should also be matched to the cost of construction that results in a violation.

In Sandy River Plantation, a Massachusetts couple was recently accessed a $600 fine for multiple shoreland violations and unpermitted construction at the edge of Beaver Mountain Lake.

For a couple that undoubtedly spent tens of thousands of dollars to renovate their camp, a $600 fine is loose change that doesn’t begin to repay LURC for the time spent investigating the violations over the last six years.

Maine regulates land use for good reason, to protect our environment. People regularly violate those regulations and part of the reason may be that penalties aren’t worrisome enough.

If fines were established as a percent of illegal construction, the couple in Sandy River Plantation might have thought twice before building a three-sided wrap-around deck 43 feet from the lake, a 5-foot by 4-foot stone and concrete pad 24 feed from the shoreline, two additional decks and a second-story balcony, and converting a one-story open porch into a 500-square-foot, two-story bedroom loft addition with attached deck — all without permits or regard for the law.

Although the couple did get some after-the-fact construction permits, tore down some of the illegal structures and cooperated fully with LURC’s investigator, the penalty was insignificant.

Without the threat of a costly penalty, what’s to stop anyone from building what they want and gambling the fine outweighs the risk?


Budget rush
A budget proposal from a governor, any governor, demands close scrutiny. Especially a budget lacking in detail like the one Gov. Baldacci has put on the table.

He wants it passed by April 1, when fellow Democrats are still able to approve the document by simple majority. After that, it will take a two-thirds majority, which is much more difficult to achieve.

The Appropriations Committee will forward the budget to lawmakers on March 27, a mere five days before the governor wants it passed. Two of those days fall over a weekend, squeezing the time and attention the budget will get.

If the budget were fully detailed right now it might not be such a concern, but there are too many concepts and not enough details.

We don’t know how Maine will refinance a $2 billion state employee retirement debt, how the departments of Human Services and Behavioral Development will be merged or how MaineCare premiums and co-payments will be adjusted.

While the camaraderie of a Democrat in the Blaine House and Democrat-controlled Legislature is good, that fellowship is the precise reason we need more – not fewer – details.

We urge the Appropriations Committee to take off the kid gloves and demand full budget details immediately. Anything less will make thoughtful passage a farce.

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