38 M.R.S. § 2002 Formation

• Library: Maine Revised Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through 131st (2023-2024) Legislature Chapter 486
• Year: 2023
• Citation: 38 M.R.S. § 2002

1.Initiation. The municipal officers of the municipality or municipalities, or portions of the municipality or municipalities, or the residents of unorganized territory who desire to form a watershed district shall file a statement of intent to organize on a form or forms to be prepared by the commissioner, setting forth the name or names of the municipality or municipalities, or portions of the municipality or municipalities or, in the case of residents of unorganized territory, the names of those residents that propose to be included in the district and they shall furnish such other data as the commissioner determines necessary and proper. The application must contain, but is not limited to, a description of the territory of the proposed district, the names of water districts that utilize water from surface or ground water supplies within the territory of the proposed district, the name proposed for the district, which must include the words "watershed district" or "management district."

[ 1993, c. 721, Pt. E, §3 (AMD) ; 1993, c. 721, Pt. H, §1 (AFF) .]

2.Initiation by referendum. Residents of a municipality or municipalities, or portions thereof, that desire to form a watershed district may petition the municipal officers to file a statement of intent to form a watershed district with the commissioner. The petition must contain a description of the territory of the proposed district.

Upon receipt of a written petition signed by at least 10% of the number of voters voting for the gubernatorial candidates at the last statewide election in that proposed district, the municipal officers shall submit the question to the voters of the proposed district at the next general, primary or special election within the proposed district. The referendum question must read as follows:

"Shall the municipal officers representing the proposed watershed district, consisting of (describe the territory of the proposed district), initiate proceedings to form the proposed district?"

If the referendum question is approved by a majority of the legal voters voting at the election, provided that the total number of votes cast for and against the referendum question equals or exceeds 20% of the total number of votes cast in the proposed district in the last gubernatorial election, the municipal officers representing the residents of the proposed watershed district shall file a statement of intent to form the proposed district in accordance with subsection 1.