HARPSWELL ANCHOR • May 29, 2025
A bill initiated and co-written by Harpswell officials to facilitate coastal rebuilding from the January 2024 storms has been expanded to include all coastal communities in Maine. Maine Senate President Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, submitted the bill, L.D. 1864, to the Legislature in early May. It would allow working waterfront property owners to bypass certain zoning rules so they can rebuild structures damaged during the back-to-back coastal storms. If passed, the bill would let communities grant variances to their shoreland zoning and floodplain management ordinances to repair or rebuild structures that don’t meet the typical threshold for approval.