Hardscaping in Gray, Maine.

Gray's Shoreland Zoning Ordinance reaches 250 feet back from its great ponds, rivers and larger wetlands, and 75 feet from streams. Within that band, the ordinance counts patios and walkways alongside driveways and roofs as non-vegetated surface, and the total may not exceed 20 percent of the part of the lot inside the zone. Accessory structures must also stand 100 feet from a great pond classified GPA. On a camp lot on Little Sebago or Forest Lake, that means the square footage of a new terrace is weighed against every existing driveway and deck before the layout is drawn.

Earthwork has its own trigger. In the Limited Residential district, where most developed lake lots fall, moving or filling under ten cubic yards needs no permit, but anything larger needs one from the Code Enforcement Officer. A patio base dug to proper depth over a few hundred square feet can pass that line, so the excavation volume is worked out at the estimate stage.

Maine DEP ranks both Little Sebago and Forest Lake among the waters most threatened by new building, and the lake groups working on them name phosphorus carried by eroded soil as the main threat. Gray's ordinance requires any permitted digging near the water to have a written erosion plan and bare ground to be stabilized within a week of the last day it was worked. Silt fence goes up before the first scoop, and spoil leaves the site instead of sitting in a pile above the shore.