Portland soccer stadium backers clash with waterfront defenders

Plans by the Hearts of Pine soccer team to build a $50 million stadium in Portland had their first public airing at a Planning Board workshop that pitted fans touting the team’s success and community impact against defenders of the working waterfront. For more than two hours on Tuesday evening, supporters and critics of the plan weighed in on the team’s request to change the zoning at Cassidy Point on the peninsula’s southwestern edge to allow the stadium, including a change that would open the site to urban commercial development and another that would make stadiums an allowed use. “This is a significant project for Portland, and thus a consequential request for you,” Jonathan Culley told Planning Board members. The Portland-based real estate developer is a founding investor in the team along with his wife, Catherine Culley. The stadium, expected to seat 9,000 to 11,000 spectators, would be built on what is now a coal storage site the squad would buy from Sprague Energy to replace its current base at the city-owned Fitzpatrick Stadium. The team unveiled the plan in August.  What's at stake A key piece of the working waterfront at the site is a 600-foot pier, which would remain zoned for marine industrial use and is not part of the stadium proposal. Other parts of the property would be redeveloped, opening a section of the riverfront that has long been inaccessible to the public. Making the case for rezoning, Culley told city officials that the team had considered more than a dozen potential sites, including the former Sable Oaks Golf Course in South Portland and even a farm in Westbrook. But the team had a “strong bias” toward staying on the peninsula, he said, to remain close to its fan base and a variety of transportation options. “We also feel like the city of Portland is key to the Hearts’ identity and that the urban energy is key to the match-day experience,” he said. The pro men’s team, currently in its second season, ultimately settled on industrial waterfront land at 92 Cassidy Point as the only site in Portland that meets basic standards for viability and was big enough for a soccer stadium, available for sale or lease and with parking and transit infrastructure nearby. Tuesday’s workshop, for informational purposes only, comes in addition to meetings the team has held on concerns around parking and traffic as well as rezoning the industrial waterfront. “It deserves meaningful conversation and robust public input and so we're committed to that transparent public process with engagement well beyond the requirements of the ordinance," Culley said. 'Thinking beyond' soccer Among the plan’s supporters, one resident praised the team for “thinking beyond just soccer," while the mother of two daughters who play sports at Fitzpatrick Stadium said that a move by the Hearts from Fitzpatrick would return the stadium to its original use for high school teams. Along similar lines, a Great Diamond Island resident said the team’s positive impact on Portland outweighs concerns about the waterfront. “For me, it basically comes down to the simple question of, has Portland benefited from having Hearts of Pine on the peninsula?," he said. "If the answer for you is yes, then I think it's a simple decision to support this rezoning of Cassidy Point.” He also cautioned against “conflating” the property with a shared desire to preserve Portland’s working waterfront. “We're not displacing lobstermen or loons here,” he said. “I would totally bet on new park space and actual access to that waterfront over a pile of coal any day.” 'Not a marine use' Defenders of the working waterfront stood their ground against plans to build a stadium at Cassidy Point. Bill Needelman, former Portland waterfront coordinator, noted that the site remains an active industrial facility. He said he opposes the rezoning even though he’s fully supportive of the Hearts. He also emphasized the site’s importance for the movement of goods in and out of Portland. Others echoed those concerns, arguing that the stadium would displace an important industrial use and set a precedent for further changes along the working waterfront. “Hearts of Pine is wonderful, but it is not a marine use and it does not belong on the waterfront,” said Alex Jaegerman, a former director of Portland’s planning division. A retired Coast Guard officer who now works in Portland as a consultant expressed similar concerns. “I just feel that if we change our zoning, that's when we're going to lose a vital piece of the waterfront community that is rapidly decreasing, and that we're never going to get it back,” he warned. A Planning Board vote on the rezoning requests will be taken at a later date.