Zoning › State preemptions › Maine

Maine Land Use Planning Commission — Unorganized Territory Zoning Authority (ME)

Tracked preemption from the Maine overlay bundle.

Overview

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Effective
1971-01-01
Sunset
—
Authority
state
Scope
state:ME
Other Maine preemptions
Maine Short-Term Rental Framework — 30-A M.R.S. §4364 (2024 Amendments)Maine LD 2003 / 30-A M.R.S. §4364 — Statewide ADU MandateMaine LD 2003 / 30-A M.R.S. §4364-A — 2-4 Unit Middle Housing FloorMaine LD 2003 / 30-A M.R.S. §4358 — Affordable Housing 2.5x Density BonusMaine 30-A M.R.S. §4358(2) — Manufactured Housing ProtectionMaine Growth Management Act — Comprehensive Plan Consistency RequirementMaine 30-A M.R.S. §4326 — Growth / Rural / Transition Area Tripartite DesignationMaine Mandatory Shoreland Zoning Act — 38 M.R.S. §§435-449

Trigger predicate

When this evaluates true for a parcel, the law's preempted fields take precedence over base zoning.

city.in_unorganized_territory == True

Preempted fields

3 fields on the base district schema are rewritten when the trigger fires.

FieldOpValueNote
zoning_authorityoverridestate_lupcLUPC functions as the state-level planning, zoning, permitting, and appellate authority for ~10.4M acres of unorganized/deorganized territory
base_districtsoverridelupc_subdistrictsLand use governed by LUPC subdistricts (D-GN, D-RS, M-GN, P-FP, etc.) per 01-672 CMR Chapter 10
ld2003_preemptions_applicabilityoverrideFalseLD 2003 §4364 / §4364-A / §4358 are directed at municipal ordinances and do NOT apply in unorganized territory

Citation

Authority source
12 M.R.S. §§681-689; 01-672 CMR Chapters 10 & 11
§ Title 12 §§681-689 (Land Use Planning Commission)
https://www.maine.gov/dacf/lupc/

Research notes

Covers roughly half of Maine's land area where there is no municipal government. LUPC operates the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (last major revision 2010) and decisions are appealable to Superior Court via Rule 80C. Critical to flag because LD 2003 mandates do NOT attach here — municipal-preemption analyses must short-circuit.