Land Use Law

For over 20 years the lawyers of Murray, Plumb & Murray have successfully guided their clients through the maze of land use regulation. Long before other Maine law firms began exploring environmental law, MP&M attorneys already had acquired extensive experience in dealing with the following agencies:

UNITED STATES

• Army Corps of Engineers
• Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service
• Energy Regulatory Commission
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Federal Aviation Administration
• Interior Department, Fish and Wildlife Service

STATE OF MAINE

• Department of Conservation
• Bureau of Public Lands
• Land Use Regulation Commission
• Department of Environmental Protection
• Bureau of Air Quality Control
• Bureau of Land Quality Control
• Bureau of Water Quality Control
• Bureau of Oil and Hazardous Wastes
• Shoreland Zoning Unit
• Department of Human Services, Division of Health Engineering
• Waste Management Agency

REGIONAL AND LOCAL

• Saco River Corridor Commission
• Zoning Boards of Appeal
• Planning Boards
• Site Plan Review Boards

For better or worse, land use regulation is a dangerous territory to explore without an experienced guide. It requires specialized and comprehensive knowledge even to know which agencies have jurisdiction over a project or property, let alone what permits are needed, or what regulations are controlling.

This is where Murray, Plumb & Murray can be uniquely helpful. We know the territory. We have assisted our clients in obtaining land use permits for everything from a backyard deck to a series of multi-million dollar power plants. Whether it be a swimming pool or a shopping center; a single-family home or an entire subdivision; a private landing or a public marina; a ham radio antenna or a regional telecommunications network; a septic system or a commercial gravel pit -- we have helped build them all.

In addition, we have defended our clients in actions ranging from prosecutions for violating municipal setback regulations to potentially crippling Superfund clean-up suits. We have resolved claims including illegally-filled wetlands, leaking underground storage tanks, illegal subdivisions, hazardous wastes at an abandoned tannery, gasoline contamination of water supplies, and myriad zoning violations.

Whatever land use problem you may have, the odds are overwhelming that MP&M has seen it, and solved it, many times before. Before embarking on a development project or replying to a regulatory agency, call us first.

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