§4213.__Annual report; Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural

Resources

The commissioner shall report to the joint standing committee having jurisdiction over agricultural matters no later than February 15th of each year on the implementation of this chapter.__ The report must include the number of people certified to prepare nutrient management plans, a summary of the notifications received for nutrient management plans, the number of applications for livestock operations permits and the number of permits__issued, availability of financing or financial assistance for animal waste storage facilities and barriers to implementation of this chapter.__The report must also include a summary of__permitting activity for animal feeding operations in this State under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.

Sec. 8. 12 MRSA §685-A, sub-§5, as amended by PL 1997, c. 642, §3, is further amended to read:

5. Considerations, application and exemptions. A land use standard may not deprive an owner or lessee or subsequent owner or lessee of any interest in real estate of the use to which it is lawfully devoted at the time of adoption of that standard. Year-round and seasonal single residences and operating farms in existence and use as of September 23, 1971, while so used, and new accessory buildings or structures or renovations of the buildings or structures that are or may be necessary to the satisfactory and comfortable continuation of these residential and farm uses are exempt from the requirements of section 685-B, subsection 1.

Land use standards adopted pursuant to this chapter for management districts may not limit the right, method or manner of cutting or removing timber or crops, the construction and maintenance of hauling roads, the operation of machinery or the erection of buildings and other structures used primarily for agricultural or commercial forest product purposes, including tree farms. Notwithstanding this subsection, a permit from the commission is required for roads covering a ground area of 3 acres or more constructed in management districts, unless those roads are constructed and maintained in accordance with the guidelines of the commission's Land Use Handbook, Section 6, "Erosion Control on Logging Jobs," or as revised. The commission may require a person constructing a road to notify the commission of the location of the road within 21 days. Notwithstanding this subsection, the commission may adopt rules in accordance with