The Legislature has eliminated the State Planning Office via the supplemental budget. Many of its responsibilities are being distributed amongst a variety of other agencies. We had hoped to keep the land use team and its partners united and independent. A balanced approach to land use requires the team to perform cross-cutting functions that supersede the single missions of other agencies. Unfortunately, the team will now be broken up and moved to different agencies, making Maine Audubon’s monitoring efforts even more important in the years to come. The Code Enforcement Officer training will be located at the Department of Economic and Community Development and the rest of the team will be at the Department of Conservation. Fortunately, the land use team’s director position is being retained. Much uncertainty remains as the staffers pack up their boxes to move.
