PORTLAND, Maine — Developers of the Portland Co. Complex along the city’s eastern waterfront unveiled conceptual plans for the project, which has generated opposition from nearby residents.
The developer, CPB2 LLC, said it plans to include the most historically significant buildings on the site and create a public plaza that “will substantially increase access from Fore Street directly to Portland’s waterfront,” according to a prepared statement.
The developers held a news conference Wednesday morning at the former Portland Yacht Services at 58 Fore St. to unveil the plans.
The group said it worked on the plans with the city’s Historic Preservation Board, which voted in June to recommend a plan for developing the site to the city’s planning board.
The planning board is set to have a public hearing on Sept. 8, regarding where to draw the historic district boundaries for the project.
The planning board’s votes are subject to approval from the City Council.
The project prompted formation of the group Save the Soul of Portland, which organized to put a referendum question on the November ballot that would create a new “scenic viewpoint protection zone” in the city’s zoning ordinance, limiting the height of buildings along the waterfront when they are determined to obstruct scenic views of Casco Bay.
Anne Rand, the spokeswoman for the referendum group, said in a news release that the group primarily takes issue with the amount of information that has been provided to date about the project.
“We are interested to hear that the development at the Portland Co. site will include hotels, office space and several hundred residential units, but we would like to see details for the entire site, including roadways and clusters of buildings and heights,” Rand said in the release. “The city should have required this information as part of the rezoning application, along with traffic circulation patterns showing where hundreds of vehicles will be entering the already-crowded East End on a daily basis.”
A political action committee called Portland’s Future PAC formed earlier this month to fight what will be Question 2 on Portland’s Nov. 3 municipal ballot.
The political action committee has argued the proposed ordinance would give property owners too many avenues to challenge developments or building additions big and small.