You bought a piece of land on a Maine lake, hauled in and parked a camper on it.
And the time has come to build that retirement home. Or a seasonal place to use vacations in Maine. With the eye toward spending half the year here. Being a snow bird and flapping your wings to head south the rest of the calendar months.
So set up the saw horses on the Maine lake lot and just start building whichever way the spirit moves you?
(Sound of skill saw in background stops, dead quiet silence, crickets start up chirping and loons sing sadly.)
Ah no.
Small Maine towns don’t have layers of players, thick stacks of regulations like folks used to the permit pushing turn style process to the south.
Move along people. Take a number, have a seat. Get up, sit down. Working your way through the impersonal bureaucratic stations.
But when it comes to the environment, Mainers are all over protecting every square inch of it.
Respect for nature, keeping what we enjoyed as a kid and pass on as an adult. It is good stewardship. So more on shoreland zoning in Maine. Because when you build your Maine lake camp, home you need to play by the rules.
Set backs from side lines and the shore out front need addressing on Maine lake lots.
And when studied on the plat construction permit measuring diagram can end up putting a serious kink in the plans. To just construct whatever waterfront property dream is now playing, held over for years in your head.
If nothing grandfathered in for a septic disposal system or a structure on the Maine lake camp, home waterfront lot, then you have a blank canvas.
But can only paint the water color creation with specific amounts of certain construction colors so to speak.
The days of just have at it, knock yourself out with any structure you want and where are over.
So is taking a big piece of equipment out into the Maine lake to move boulders, to dredge out a deeper landing for your power boat or adding any trucked in and dumped pretty white imported sand.
More on HHE 200’s septic system soil test, leach field design business.
And the paperwork to guide the building process on the Maine lake camp, home.
Buying an existing Maine lake camp, home can make sense to gain features from before the regulations that you can not replicate today on a empty waterfront lot.
Building a third bigger, an expansion on what is there on the Maine lake lot. Or build around as you tear down but keep one finger on part of the structure to keep you position on the Maine waterfront. Not lose any ground.
The regulations on what you can and can not do on a lake lot when the Maine lake camp, home is closer than 100′ from the water or behind that mark.
Easy does it, backing it all up with the paperwork to be within the shoreland zoning rules can be a dicey operation.
While lake neighbors watch and keep track of what you are up to that they tried and had their hands slapped over.
In our day job, we list, sell lots of Maine lake camps, homes and just land on the waterfront.
If you already own and have questions, fire away. Email, text, call in those questions from out in the hinterland.
Or if looking to own your own piece of heaven, a Maine lake home, camp that is the one missing life puzzle shape you need. We are all geared up to get that little pesky problem resolved with the best Maine real estate property listing solution.
I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |
MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730