Dixmont, ME Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

Dixmont's Shoreland Zoning Ordinance, adopted March 19, 2016, applies only to land within 250 feet of the normal high-water line of great ponds, within 250 feet of the upland edge of a freshwater wetland, and within 75 feet of the normal high-water line of a stream. Farmland outside those distances is not governed by it, and the town has no general zoning ordinance.

Table 1, item 11, lists agriculture as yes in the Stream Protection district, PB in the Resource Protection district and yes in the Limited Residential district. The key to the table defines yes as allowed with no permit required, provided the use complies with all applicable land use standards, and PB as allowed with a permit issued by the Planning Board.

Section 15(N) supplies the standards. All spreading of manure must follow the Manure Utilization Guidelines published by the former Maine Department of Agriculture on November 1, 2001, and the Nutrient Management Law, 7 M.R.S.A. sections 4201-4209. Manure cannot be stored or stockpiled within 100 feet of a great pond or within 75 feet of other water bodies, tributary streams or wetlands, and storage areas in the shoreland zone must produce no discharge of effluent or contaminated storm water.

Agricultural activities involving tillage of more than 40,000 square feet of soil in the shoreland zone require a Conservation Plan filed with the Planning Board, and nonconformance with the plan is a violation of the ordinance. New tilling is barred within 100 feet of the normal high-water line of a great pond, within 75 feet of other water bodies, and within 25 feet of tributary streams and freshwater wetlands. Operations in existence on the effective date of the ordinance that do not conform can be maintained. The printed note points to the local Soil and Water Conservation District office for help preparing a Conservation Plan.