PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 15, 2025
Maine Senate President Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, has submitted a bill to the Legislature that would allow Harpswell’s working waterfront to bypass certain zoning rules to rebuild structures damaged during back-to-back coastal storms in January 2024. The bill, L.D. 1864, would allow an exception for Harpswell property owners whose working docks, piers or wharves were damaged or destroyed in the twin storms. If passed, it would let the town grant variances to its shoreland zoning and floodplain management ordinances to repair or rebuild structures that don’t meet the typical threshold for approval.