Portland vote could hurt local development
Some business leaders are concerned that Portland’s vote to effectively block the sale of Congress Square park, along with other citizen-led initiatives, could have a chilling effect on developers seeking to make major investments in the city.
The Portland Press Herald reported that the concerns are being raised as developers and city officials are grappling with how to move forward with the Congress Square sale. If the city wanted to move ahead with the park’s sale to Rockbridge Capital, it would have to be voted on in a citywide referendum. But the developer said it’s unsure of what the next step is.
Drew Sigfridson, president of the Maine Real Estate & Development Association, told the newspaper Tuesday’s vote is only the most recent example of citizens’ willingness to overturn city decisions by way of referendum or lawsuit. Other developments stalled or blocked by citizen initiatives include a $150 million commercial and residential development in Bayside and an effort to rezone a historic church to allow for office space.
“What kind of message does this send to people who are looking to invest in the city of Portland?” he told the Press Herald. “You can play by the rules and go through all the permitting processes you want, but ultimately the planning process might not matter if a few people don’t like your project.”
Peter Monroe, co-founder of Keep Portland Livable, which was formed to oppose the Bayside development, told the newspaper that he doesn’t think Portland’s vote to give extra protections to 60 city-owned parks will have a chilling effect on local investment, because the city is seeing a major upswing in development right now. He said he thinks Portland’s City Council is too pro-development, so it’s important to have a checks-and-balances system.
“They agree to anything a developer proposes, and they think that their will is the final say,” he told the Press Herald. “Thank goodness we have the citizen initiative and we have the courts that provide the checks and balances to a runaway branch of government.”
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