•  
  •  
 

Abstract

Following a period of slow economic growth for the State of Maine in the early part of this decade, improved economic conditions and new demographic trends have renewed the demand for commercial, residential, and recreational development in coastal communities across the state. For many years, Maine has tried to stimulate growth in its communities. Now, many of its coastal towns face a huge development boom, particularly in the southern and mid-coast areas, in communities such as York, Wells, Ogunquit, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Portland, Camden, and Belfast. These towns are struggling to find ways to control the increasing density of development along the coast and to prevent the associated decline in the scenic quality of these areas and their suitability for traditional maritime and public recreational activities. Environmental planners now recognize that a number of small-scale, unrelated land development decisions can have even greater deleterious effects on natural resources than larger-scale projects. As a consequence, federal and state agencies are now seeking to incorporate a "cumulative effects" criterion into environmental and land use planning programs. Cumulative effects or impacts have been defined as the total effect on the environment of a series of related or unrelated land development activities taking place within one region and over a period of time. Under Maine's principal environmental laws, however, only the larger, discrete projects are routinely subject to intensive review by the state's regulatory agencies. Some small-scale projects are subject to regulatory review, but they are considered only in light of their immediate impact on a specific natural resource such as a wetland. Most projects are licensed on the basis of their individual environmental characteristics, not the effect they will have in conjunction with past or future development. New residential construction, particularly the multi-unit project designed as second-home or retirement property, is one of the leading forms of incremental development, especially along the coast. The rapid pace and density of this development, spurred by current economic conditions, threaten with degradation some of Maine's most sensitive environmental resources. These resources include groundwater aquifers, wildlife habitat, scenic areas, and undeveloped shoreland. Attempts to regulate such development often fail to assess accurately their full environmental impact because each project generally is examined as a distinct unit, without a consideration of the cumulative effects of a number of such projects if approved for the same area.

First Page

321

Download

Share

COinS