The Maine Land Use Planning Commission is accepting public comments until Jan. 14 on a proposed amendment to its land use, districts and standards chapter for Highland Plantation in Somerset County.

Plantation residents voted in April 2025 to return to the Maine Land Use Planning Commission for zoning, land uses and planning due to staffing and budget constraints, according to an email from Highland Plantation assessors Daniel Howard, Lois Bousquet and Raymond Dionne.

The commission reestablished land use authority in Highland Plantation in
September 2025. The unorganized territory was previously part of the Maine Land Use Planning Commission’s jurisdiction until 2016, when voters there adopted their own land use plan ordinance and took over local control.

Proposed zoning changes include rezoning about 12 acres near Long Falls Dam Road and Sandy Stream Valley Road that would change from residential development to general development.

In addition, proposed zoning changes would be made to about 10 acres along Old County Road — from general management to commercial-industrial.

Community workshops were held in September and October to get input from
landowners and residents to create the updated zoning map.

The public comment period posted by the Land Use Planning Commission is one of the final steps in that process, Bousquet said previously.

The proposed rule change seeks to, at the community’s request, exclude Highland Plantation from primary and secondary locations under the location of development rules. This would effectively prevent future petitions to rezone land for most development subdistricts that allow for general commercial development or residential subdivisions.

To comment on the Land Use Planning Commission’s proposed Rulemaking/Public Comment page, go to the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry website at https://tinyurl.com/53nvshm6 for details and instructions.

For more information, contact Stacy Benjamin at 207- 441-3761 or [email protected].