The Coast Shoreland Zoning

The Coast, Shoreland Zoning & Its’ Impacts Essay, Research Paper Title: The Coast, Shoreland Zoning & Its’ Impacts Subject: Type: Research PaperAcademic Level: CollegeContent: This paper discusses problems and solutions to Maine’s shoreline zoning problem. Description: Research paper on Maine State Policies The Coast, Shoreland Zoning & Its Impacts Natural resources are a vital part of our environment today. The Earth is composed of a diverse group of natural resources. One critical natural resource to the state of Maine is its enormous and vast coast. Maine s 200 mile long coastline stretches from Kittery , in the south, to Lubec, in the north.(MDECD,p.2) This 200 mile long coastline provides a place for recreation, living, and business for tourists and

Maine residents. The coastline includes not only the sandy beaches, but also the rocky sections of the coast. Managing this vital natural resource is an area of concern among state officials, residents and tourists. In order for this resource to survive and exist, preservation and management of the coast must be implemented. Coastal zone management is the process by which Maine s and other state s coasts are managed. As previously mentioned, the coast provides made with an enormous amount of money through tourism and business. The coast of Maine also provides r!esidents of the state with a place to live. Maine s coastal towns are responsible for over 50% of the entire state s population.(MCP,p.3) This large percentage of people goes to prove that the coast is the provider of a

livelihood for a majority of people throughout the state. The problem, thus, arises if the coasts were no longer there for utilization. This is why the state has implemented a coastal zone management program. Along with the federal government, the state of Maine has implemented a plan to manage this natural resource. This plan manages several different aspects of the coasts. Included in these coastal aspects is shoreland zoning. Shoreland zoning also has a policy within the federal and state governments. Briefly, shoreland zoning is what can be built, taken down, or done on or around the coastal zone. As with many other statutory policy comes conflict. This conflict is in the form of special interest groups, especially environmental groups versus business and economic groups

versus Maine residents. These three factions are concerned with what goes on policy wise because of their different areas of interest. One group is looking out for the environment, one is looking towards the financial gains, and the final group looks for a place to live. The state still has a hard time pleasing all of these parties when it comes to establishing policy for coastal management. Consequ!ently, coastal zone management along with shoreland zoning are natural resource management issues the state has had and is currently battling with. First, some of the previous terms discussed need to be defined to get a clearer understanding about the issue of coastal zone management. Where is the coastal zone? The coastal zone is not just the sandy and rocky coastline of the state.

The coastal zone as defined by J.D. Hansom, ” includes the land-sea-air interference zone around continents and islands and is defined as extending from the inland limit of tidal or sea spray influence to the outer extent of the continental shelf.(Beatley,p.12)” Simply stated, the coastal zone extends inward to where ocean waters touch to a specific distance outward into the ocean floor. The state of Maine goes into greater detail in defining the coastal zone. According to the state of Maine, the coastal zone includes anywhere within 250 feet of fresh or saltwater. For the purposes of this discussion, the focus will be put on the saltwater boundary. Shoreland zoning ties directly into the coastal zone management practice. Shoreland zo!ning is the regulating of the land within