ROCKLAND — As the longest serving member of the Rockland Planning Board finished up his last official meeting, Dec. 19, 2023, he was surprised by a certain acknowledgment from another long serving member of public life. In one of her own final duties before abdicating, Queen Margrethe, of Denmark, praised Erik Laustsen for 37 years of community service to Rockland in an email sent to - and read aloud by – another (longer serving) member of Rockland, Brian Harden.

“You have done your country of your heritage proud,” said the Queen. “Congratulations to Erik Laustsen (and I know how that is spelled) on 37 years service. I, myself, have been on the throne for 50 years. So, we are celebrating that this same year. And, I am yours, most cordially, Margrethe.”

Laustsen played a critical role in the shaping of Rockland when he not only stepped in, but created structure in every meeting, according to friends and colleagues. He organized the parts of the meeting, never adjourning without a final read-through, line-by-line, of every element, every finding, that needed to be addressed per City Code.

Laustsen was first appointed to the Planning Commission (the precursor to the Planning Board) in October 1986. He was elected vice chair in January 1987 and Chair in 1991, and has served as Chair for 33 years. In that seat, he chaired an estimated 525 planning board meetings.

“And made every attempt to encourage public involvement and transparency,” Councilor Nate Davis read from a lengthy commendation and plaque presented to Laustsen at the January 8, 2024, Rockland City Council meeting. “He has guided the Planning Board in consideration and approval of many major projects with skill, patience and attention to detail, working an innumerable hours to make sure the business of the Planning Board was properly tended to.”

Laustsen put structure to the Planning Board process at a time where following regulations during meetings was a new concept, and not usually followed, according to Harden.

Former Planning Board member Peta Vanburen sat between Laustsen and Warren Bodine for 17 years. She said that the question before the Board is not whether Board members like the project, but rather, does it meet the standards. Yet, “in a small community like Rockland, this distinction can get lost, especially when a person’s home is impacted,” she said. “I found that even the most difficult situations could be navigated when we maintained the integrity of our process. A process Erik dedicated his decades-long tenure to understanding and adapting.”

Laustsen has been on Board for more than 700 subdivisions with dozens of housing units in them, site plans, the most controversial of projects, separating emotions from ordinances, politics from purview.

“You have done all of them with incredible fairness,” said Harden. “And that’s the unparalleled part. The Planning Board is so restrained by law and by its own regulations, and by what the Council allows it to do, that it is a very difficult job. People who come in and want to do things that are outside the regulations always blame either the Chair, or some favorite member of Planning Board, if they don’t get exactly what they want. And people will never understand that you are constrained by law and you are restrained by the responsibility of doing what’s best for the whole community. You’ve done that in a way that is absolutely unique.”

As the chair, Laustsen set the bar, according to Vanburen. Each meeting, he was well prepared and familiar with the issues of each project.

“It was incumbent on the rest of us to come just as prepared,” she said.

When Vanburen first started, green spaces and public sidewalks were new priorities. When she left, the Board was discussing ordinances for large scale energy generation.

“The broader zoning conversations we are having today are in many ways now possible because of the groundwork laid by this Planning Board,” she said. “Through the decades there have been layers of conversations and we, as a community, rarely moved forward in a straight line.”

Former Code Enforcement Officer John Root also reflected on the Rockland that Root started with in 1995.

“Where the Boardwalk is now was all Fisher Engineering,” said Root. “Old tin roof buildings and just a messy old horrible business. I know the work that you put in.”

Root also mentioned the comments that he hears from people in the community who have had to come before the Board.

“I can’t tell you how many people came to me and said they liked working with the Rockland Planning Board – as much as any other Planning Board that they’ve dealt with,” he said. “And that really says a lot. You take a meeting and it’s a formal process, but you can make it so that it isn’t this tense formal process. You can feel the difference, and it’s all to do with you. The way you run things.”

Vanburen recalled the meeting that was scheduled for Sept. 11, 2001. The question was debated, do they proceed with the meeting, or shut down – like much of the rest of the country. In the end, they proceeded. Laustsen began the meeting by solemnly acknowledging that morning’s events, and then moving forward with the agenda.

At the end of the Dec. 19, Planning Board meeting, Laustsen responded by simply saying: “I’m touched.”

On January 8, 2024, Laustsen sat in the audience within City Council Chambers, listening as attention was paid to him. He then dutifully walked to the front, accepted his plaque, posted for pictures, joked about his new beard, and then moved forward with whatever future elements remain on his agenda.

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com