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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 21 J U LY 2 4 , 2 0 1 7 F O C U S R E A L E S TAT E / C O N S T R U C T I O N / D E S I G N Clashes and battle scars Clashes between homeowners and developers especially over bigger resi- dential and commercial projects fl are up regularly in Portland, especially on the Peninsula. From Camelot Farms to cold storage, the plot lines are similar, residents seeking to preserve their qual- ity of life, property values and views as battle-scarred developers and municipal planners and policymakers defend cities' need to build and evolve. And while most of the high-profi le disputes take place in Portland, they also occur in places such as Bar Harbor, where resi- dents sought in vain to limit cruise-ship traffi c to Maine's busiest port. e disputes have all the elements of a big-screen drama, and indeed will be the subject of an independent fi lm docu- mentary, to be called "Portland, City at a Crossroads," produced by local company Groff Film Inc. ey're currently in pre- production and seeking fi nancial backers. " ere's some angst out there about what's happening, and some enthusiasm," says writer and direc- tor Robert Giuliana. A Bostonian in Portland since 1980, he says the fi lm was motivated "by real interest in this lovely city that we have." Epic planning board battles In real life, the public battles between neighbors and developers are played out on the streets, at the ballot box, and at Portland Planning Board meetings and workshops that can last for hours, and in the courts. Just ask Jim Brady, whose plan to repurpose the historic Portland Co. complex at 58 Fore Street "ran into more NIMBYism than we anticipated." at's putting it mildly about a $250 million-plus project that has yet to get off the ground, four years after he and CPB2 LLC partners Casey Prentice and Kevin Costello bought the property from Phineas Sprague in 2013. e plan hit turbulence when a citizens' group known as Save the Soul of Portland was concerned about water views being blocked by tall buildings. Unable to stop the city from granting a zoning application, the group gathered enough signatures for a November 2015 referendum to catalog the city's scenic viewpoints and put them under stricter zoning requirements. While Question 2 was ultimately defeated — Brady recalls with every district in the city, includ- ing the local district — it came at a price, casting a shadow over the whole project. "Usually time kills deals so it was not favorable," he says. ere was also a separate, grueling battle that dragged on for more than two years with historic preservation- ists, initiated by neighbors later joined by others. e main controversy was over the Portland Co.'s building No. 1, which covers a 1847 façade. To win over the City Council, the developers agreed to grant the city a 50-foot public access easement across the site in return for being able to remove the building, and agreeing to keep seven other historic buildings intact. e Planning Board gave the unanimous thumbs-up to the plan in October 2015. In hindsight, Brady says the developer could have engaged with residents before buying the site, "and maybe we would have learned that there would have been opposition." During his time in Italy he also ran into resistance on a project to restore two historic buildings in Venice, though found more fi nancial obstacles there than political. In the United States, he says that NIMBYism is more common in cities like Seattle, San Francisco — and, to a lesser extent, Portland — facing a hous- ing shortage. For that reason, he says the fact that the Fore Street project has a signifi cant residential compo- nent helped sway voters in 2015. " e more supply we can add, the better it's going to be for housing here," he says. at's not an argument that will necessarily win over residents on more aff ordable housing, as Dana Totman has found. Totman, CEO and president of Portland's nonprofi t Avesta Housing and former Brunswick Planning Board member, recalls a Munjoy Hill condo- minium project that sparked a public debate on parking. He was stunned when asked by one resident for advice on how to kill the project, "while we're out trying to help poor people get housing." And then there's the planned cold- storage facility on Portland's western waterfront that's still on ice, more than two and a half years after Americold LLC won the bid to design and build it. " e only surprise from our perspec- tive is that it wasn't embraced imme- diately," says John Henshaw, executive director of the Maine Port Authority. As for Mary Davis' zoning referendum, Henshsaw says it would be "pretty out- rageous" for it to apply retroactively. 2008 Casco Bay Steel Saco 2008 Brackett Road Libby Ave Reconstruction MDOT Gorham 2009 Ocean Ave Elementary School 2010 Portland Jetport Terminal Expansion Portland 2011 UNE Alfond Athletic Center Biddeford 2012 Allagash Brewing Portland 2013 Berlin City Auto South Portland 2014 Portland Yacht Services Portland 2015 Maine Mall Gravel Wetland Restoration South Portland 2016 Bayside Bowl Portland R E N D E R I N G / C O U R T E S Y O F T H E M A I N E P O R T A U T H O R I T Y C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E » Americold LLC won the bid to design and build a cold-storage facility in Portland two and a half years ago, but that was just the beginning of a prolonged debate with neighbors.

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