Spoiler alert: Fore Street views will be spoiled

The Portland Company complex on Fore Street in Portland. BDN photo by Troy R. Bennett.

The Portland Company complex on Fore Street in Portland. BDN photo by Troy R. Bennett.

In last week’s column I noted that Soul of Portland, the Munjoy Hill activist group seeking to limit the scale of the Portland Company complex’s redevelopment on the eastern waterfront, sees no need to compromise on the issue of protecting water views along Fore Street. After gathering additional information and talking with developer Jim Brady, I can now report that Soul of Portland is correct: there will be no compromise on this issue.

Enjoy those views while you can, because they’ll be gone by the end of this decade.

The strongest point the activists had was their contention that building heights must be measured from the coastal flood plain, rather than the average grade of the industrial site as it exists today, which is a considerably higher benchmark. During a City Council workshop earlier this week, Bill Needleman, the planner who coordinates zoning for the waterfront, put that dispute to rest when he affirmed that the city voted years ago to measure heights from the existing grade.

The other reason there’ll be no further compromise on this issue is the fact the development team, a limited-liability company named CPB2, has already made concessions to neighbors on the issues of building heights and the type of development allowed along Fore Street.

The new zoning for the landward portion of the site — which was recommended in a master plan approved for the area in 2004, but never implemented — allows the construction of buildings as high as 65 feet. But in consideration of neighbors’ concerns, the developers have agreed to limit the height of structures along Fore Street to 35 feet. They also agreed not to put businesses that serve booze (restaurants, bars or brewpubs) on the residential stretch of Fore Street, limiting those types of establishments to the lower slope, where there’s long been a mix of mix of commercial and residential uses.

In other words, Soul of Portland has already won what it can in this battle. To the victor, CPB2, will go the spoils. And if that spoils water views along Fore Street, so be it.

It was misleading of me to suggest to Soul of Portland organizer Nini Mc Manamy last week that the developers “may be amenable” to providing view corridors between their buildings. In fact, the zoning they’re seeking requires such corridors, which would align with the side streets that intersect with Fore. However, it’s also clear that those corridors would not preserve the sweeping views of the harbor Soul of Portland is so keen to protect. At best, they would offer limited windows of water views as one walks or drives by.

During the workshop earlier this week, Mayor Mike Brennan suggested that a further compromise might be reached by limiting building heights to 20 feet above Fore Street. But as Brady pointed out when we met the next evening, even an eight-foot-tall structure would obscure those harbor views. A 20-foot limit would only limit the developers’ ability to make enough money to finance the project.

Brady also put to rest concerns the complex could be a private, gated community. The master plan for the area stipulates that the public must be free to travel throughout the site. And rather than build between the Eastern Prom Trail and the water’s edge, which would further compromise public access and views, Brady said his team would rather swap land to move the trail to the shoreline, thus gaining more developable land away from the water.

As I suspected, CPB2’s plans are more detailed than what it has released thus far. During our meeting, I got a peek at some watercolor renderings that will likely see the light of day in the coming months, as the city considers whether the property should be subject to stringent historic-preservation standards. But major elements of the project are still up in the air.

Residential development — most likely condos or townhouses — is planned along upper Fore Street, with a mix of restaurant and retail space further downhill, as noted. A parking garage would be built directly below the residences, abutting the steep cliff next to the street. A new marina is envisioned, but the future of the rest of the 10-acre site — pretty much everything between the water and cliff — will be determined by the market forces at play in years to come, Brady said. Office space, more shops and restaurants, additional housing and another hotel are all possible options, but Brady added that development will take place in phases, so it could be a decade before the entire site is filled.

Soul of Portland activists will be out in force for the City Council’s vote on the rezoning next Monday. Sorry to ruin the suspense, but this fight’s already over.

Chris Busby

About Chris Busby

Chris Busby is editor and publisher of The Bollard, a monthly magazine about Portland. He writes a weekly column for the BDN.