October 3, 2005
A change of scenery | John Bubier leaves Bath to become city manager in Biddeford
By Michaela Cavallaro
As John Bubier sees it, the role of a city manager is that of a problem solver. "You've got high level policy and development issues, mid-level facilitation issues and small issues like someone calling and saying, 'My sewer line's broken,' and all those things beg a solution," he says. "It's a real interesting process to put together the solutions when you're working with a broad-based staff."
Bubier knows what he's talking about: For the last eight-and-a-half years, he's been city manager in Bath, overseeing that city's largely successful effort to revitalize its downtown ˆ the occupancy rate in the area, including upper floors, stands at 97%, he says ˆ as well as myriad other projects. (Bubier's resume also includes a stint as executive director at the Greater Portland Council of Governments, as well as administrative positions in Portland, Boothbay and Lisbon.) This month, he leaves Bath to take the city manager's job in Biddeford, where he hopes to bring similar energy to that city's ongoing attempt to bring new life to its downtown.
In an interview during his last weeks in Bath, Bubier is circumspect in discussing the extent of the challenge he faces in Biddeford, where the politics are notoriously lively and some downtown merchants are mistrustful of the ongoing attempts to remake the area dominated by the Maine Energy Recovery Co. trash incinerator. (See "A tale of two Biddefords," March 17, 2003.) "I have no idea what's gone on in terms of the efforts in the past," Bubier says. "Every community has difficulties and areas where they've felt they've tried it before. I'm going in looking to maximize the asset for the community, and in this case we're talking about the downtown."
While Biddeford officials have praised improvements such as an increasing number of ethnic restaurants in the area and private investors' recent efforts to redevelop some downtown mill buildings, much of the city's development is occurring on the outskirts. Most notably, a $50 million retail development is in the works for the Route 111 corridor, near the Maine Turnpike interchange, where much of the city's recent retail development has occurred. But, says Bubier, big-box retail development does not have to diminish the opportunities for downtown merchants. "The downtown area is unique to itself, especially if you attack it from a mixed-use basis," he says, referring to the development strategy that includes a combination of residential, office and retail components. "If your goal is to add two or three thousand people in the general downtown area, that certainly will provide a marketplace for niche retail and services within the downtown."
Biddeford, he says, is literally well positioned to see results from downtown redevelopment due to its location at the headwaters of the Saco River, which he calls "a perfect spot" for mixed-use development. In addition, he'd like to see the city capitalize on the major demographic trend of the moment: the aging of affluent baby boomers, who Bubier ˆ and many others ˆ predict will give up their spacious homes in favor of smaller condominiums within walking distance of amenities such as movie theaters, restaurants, shopping and medical services. "When you put all those things down on a sheet of paper, it's a downtown ˆ and therein is the reason for looking at Biddeford," he says.
Bubier, a 1969 University of Maine graduate who lives with his family in Yarmouth, is selling his own condo in Bath, which he's used as a second home after late city council meetings; he's in the market for a similar unit in downtown Biddeford. Rather than griping about the long days his job requires, Bubier, 61, seems to relish them. "You walk in at eight o'clock in the morning and you've got a schedule and you're ready to go, and by 8:15 it's in the tank and you go from there," he says with a laugh. "I certainly have never been bored in the last 35 years."
Bubier knows what he's talking about: For the last eight-and-a-half years, he's been city manager in Bath, overseeing that city's largely successful effort to revitalize its downtown ˆ the occupancy rate in the area, including upper floors, stands at 97%, he says ˆ as well as myriad other projects. (Bubier's resume also includes a stint as executive director at the Greater Portland Council of Governments, as well as administrative positions in Portland, Boothbay and Lisbon.) This month, he leaves Bath to take the city manager's job in Biddeford, where he hopes to bring similar energy to that city's ongoing attempt to bring new life to its downtown.
In an interview during his last weeks in Bath, Bubier is circumspect in discussing the extent of the challenge he faces in Biddeford, where the politics are notoriously lively and some downtown merchants are mistrustful of the ongoing attempts to remake the area dominated by the Maine Energy Recovery Co. trash incinerator. (See "A tale of two Biddefords," March 17, 2003.) "I have no idea what's gone on in terms of the efforts in the past," Bubier says. "Every community has difficulties and areas where they've felt they've tried it before. I'm going in looking to maximize the asset for the community, and in this case we're talking about the downtown."
While Biddeford officials have praised improvements such as an increasing number of ethnic restaurants in the area and private investors' recent efforts to redevelop some downtown mill buildings, much of the city's development is occurring on the outskirts. Most notably, a $50 million retail development is in the works for the Route 111 corridor, near the Maine Turnpike interchange, where much of the city's recent retail development has occurred. But, says Bubier, big-box retail development does not have to diminish the opportunities for downtown merchants. "The downtown area is unique to itself, especially if you attack it from a mixed-use basis," he says, referring to the development strategy that includes a combination of residential, office and retail components. "If your goal is to add two or three thousand people in the general downtown area, that certainly will provide a marketplace for niche retail and services within the downtown."
Biddeford, he says, is literally well positioned to see results from downtown redevelopment due to its location at the headwaters of the Saco River, which he calls "a perfect spot" for mixed-use development. In addition, he'd like to see the city capitalize on the major demographic trend of the moment: the aging of affluent baby boomers, who Bubier ˆ and many others ˆ predict will give up their spacious homes in favor of smaller condominiums within walking distance of amenities such as movie theaters, restaurants, shopping and medical services. "When you put all those things down on a sheet of paper, it's a downtown ˆ and therein is the reason for looking at Biddeford," he says.
Bubier, a 1969 University of Maine graduate who lives with his family in Yarmouth, is selling his own condo in Bath, which he's used as a second home after late city council meetings; he's in the market for a similar unit in downtown Biddeford. Rather than griping about the long days his job requires, Bubier, 61, seems to relish them. "You walk in at eight o'clock in the morning and you've got a schedule and you're ready to go, and by 8:15 it's in the tank and you go from there," he says with a laugh. "I certainly have never been bored in the last 35 years."
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