“This is the most consequential document the city has produced in the last 100 years, and you probably don't know anything about it...” Tom Landry
ReCode Portland. Sexy – No! Important – Hell Yes!
After years of work, a document that will mark the course of our city’s future for the next 50 years is set to become law. And, you likely haven’t heard about it! Land use might not sound sexy, or even interesting, but it is the very underpinning of our community.
Questions & Consequences. Will we have enough housing of all types to support all income levels? Will local businesses have locations to set up shop, expand, and grow? Will more of us be able to open our doors and walk to the salons, shops, bars, breweries, boutiques, parks, and playgrounds we love? Will Maine’s largest city allow more density and height and embrace the responsibility to protect our farms and fields from suburban sprawl? How we answer these questions, now and as part of ReCode, will determine our city’s future and that of the state. The time is now!
More Is Needed. I commend and congratulate current and past city staff including Nell Donaldson, Kevin Kraft, Christine Grimando, and Jeff Levine on their work. However, we need to be much more ambitious. Right now, in this summer of ReCode, the ball is in our court, yours and mine as residents of this city. The city wants to hear from you this summer, and I encourage you to learn more and let your voice be heard. Change is hard. But change is needed in both policy and community mindset. The primary way to address both the housing crisis and to protect our rural lands, is to build more in urban areas.
Let your voice be heard. This is the time to jump in, learn more, and speak up. The city released the map of proposed zoning changes and is asking for public input RIGHT NOW before it sends the proposal to the planning board and on to the City Council in the fall. See my suggestions on the following page and feel free to use these in your communications.
RIGHT NOW! (before the Tuesday, July 30th meeting)
SEND AN EMAIL TO (feel free to use my text below in ‘Lets Do ReCode Right’ as a guide)
recodeportland@portlandmaine.gov, planning@portlandmaine.gov, planningboard@portlandmaine.gov
This email needs to reach these departments well before the Tuesday meeting!
ATTEND THIS MEETING
Tuesday, July 30, 2024
4:30 PM 6:30 PM
City of Portland City Hall Room 209 (map)
The Planning Board will hold a second hybrid workshop on the second wave of ReCode changes, including edits to the entire land use code and zoning map. More information on the workshop, including a link to participate remotely, can be found at the City’s agenda center:
https://portlandme.portal.civicclerk.com/event/6980/overview
LEARN MORE
City of Portland website where you can learn more: www.recodeportland.me
Contact me. Tom Landry, 207-939-0185, tomlandry@benchmarkmaine.com
Let’s Do ReCode Right!
I encourage you to dive into ReCode for yourself and borrow from my suggestions below. But be sure you share your comments BEFORE NEXT TUESDAY.
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Dear Team ReCode Portland,
Thank you for your efforts to improve our city through zoning simplification and improvements. The current proposal is a terrific start and meets the moment in many ways. That said, it falls short as a forward-thinking roadmap to manage growth in a rapidly evolving city. Over the last decade, Portland has felt the impact of in-immigration and re-urbanization. Coupled with increases in inclusionary housing requirements, rent control, anti-development/developer sentiments, a complicated and costly permitting process, large swaths of the city deemed historic, higher cost to borrow and build, and antiquated zoning, we find ourselves in a housing crisis of epic proportions.
To solve this, we must look for ways to immediately and dramatically increase housing supply, of all types and at all levels, to meet the demand of today and tomorrow. To do this, we must up-zone urban areas and transportation corridors and simplify and streamline the permitting process. The suggestions below come from a place of deep understanding and experience as a local developer, real estate agent, and student of land use and zoning. Through these lenses, I’ve taken a deep dive into the proposed changes under ReCode and offer the following improvements.
More height and density should be allowed along all major corridors and neighborhood centers. The current ReCode proposal calls for skyscrapers downtown. This is great but doesn’t go far enough. And, only a few will ever be built. I suggest converting all current business B1-B4 zones to a new B5B zone. This would allow all B5 uses but provide a boost in height to 80’ with 10’ of allowable appurtenance. These activated roofs are perfect for residential use, solar panels, and more. This new zone simplifies an overly complex patchwork of business zones and allows for more height in existing commercial areas. Even in the proposed ReCode, sections of streets, very similar in nature, have a piecemeal of allowable uses. For example, inner Washington Ave between Congress and I-295 has four different B zones and a sliver of residential. This should all be B5B with an additional height bonus. My proposal incentivizes development in existing urban and busy locations and relieves the demand to develop in residential zones. Establish Prosperity Overlays along specific sections of our most traveled corridors and neighborhood nodes/centers where infrastructure and public transportation exist. The city wants to create complete neighborhoods where residents can walk to all they need for daily life. For centuries this is how we lived, before the automobile and subsequent suburban sprawl. Numerous public policy research studies show that complete neighborhoods are good for local businesses, public health, and the environment. We need to get back to the walkable, bikeable neighborhood centers our city enjoyed 100 years ago. And we can if we establish prosperity overlays. While ReCode does include some, these areas need to be expanded, the allowable heights increased, density improved, and the process for permitting streamlined. I would refer to these areas as B5BPO with all the allowable uses of the B5B above and additional bonuses of 100’ with 10’ overrides on roofs.
Streets to include:
- Forest Ave – from Congress to Warren Ave
- Washington Ave – from Congress to Veranda
- Washington Ave Auburn St from Gertrude Ave to Lyseth Moore Dr
- Allen Ave from Forest Ave to Northport Dr
- Congress St – from Munjoy Street to the city limits
- Veranda St – from Baxter Boulevard to the city limits
- Presumpscot St – in its entirety
- Areas / Neighborhood Centers / Nodes
- ILB Zones – on the peninsula (a large portion of East Bayside)
- Approximately 400’ along any major road off the following intersections: Woodfords Corner, Morrill’s Corner, Bradley’s Corner, Lunt’s Corner, Brighton
- Corner and Nason’s Corner
Note – many of these areas are historic districts, giving them additional protections. So, existing buildings in these historic areas would be protected, like most of Congress Street.
Edit the IL (industrial light), IM, IMB, and IH zones to IL/B5. By some estimates, as much as 90% of Portland’s landmass and 70% of the peninsula isn’t zoned for multi-family or mixed use. Areas like East Bayside where we now find coffee shops, breweries, and shops are zoned IL (Industrial Light) and don’t allow for residential uses. Off peninsula, there are hundreds of acres zoned for industrial uses that lay fallow. My proposal opens vast tracts of vacant and underutilized land that lays in waiting for industrial users that may never come. Beyond this, the idea that we must keep commercial and light industry away from residential areas is antiquated. This separation was valid, justified, and prudent 50-100 years ago, but not in this time of quieter and cleaner industry. Besides, we are not in a warehouse or industrial space crisis. We are in a housing crisis. So, let's open this land to development.
The proposed RN5 (formerly R6) is too restrictive! For context, this zone is in the most populated part of the peninsula and was intended to be the area where most of the residential real estate development and housing would be. In the last decade, what can be built in R6 was modified and made more restrictive. Beyond this, the majority of R6 was placed under historic preservation. This eliminated the ability to demolish neglected 1-2- 3 families and replace them with larger buildings. It also added a level of complexity, expense, delays, and oversight. Those seeking to build in these areas today, even on a vacant lot, must navigate the historic preservation board, which can take up to six months and cost developers tens of thousands of dollars. In fact, the current R6 is so limiting that many of the historic homes we all love could not be constructed today. The proposed RN5 down zones these urban residential areas and needs to be edited.
Edits to RN5 (formerly R6):
- Reduce side setbacks to 10’ total with 2’ required on one side and 8’ on the other. This allows for a buffer on one side and a drive aisle on the other and this is the rhythm/layout of the majority of the current neighborhoods.
- Reduce rear setback to 5’.
- Allow 80% lot coverage that would include the primary structure and outbuildings and eliminate any reference to maximum building lengths.
- Allow structures to be built to 60’. The current allowed height is 45’. This will allow for 4 stories and offset efforts underway to adjust/lower how we determine average grade. This also increases the likelihood of occupants being in spaces with great volume and those high ceilings we all love.
- Allow 10’ for roof appetences (things allowable over the maximum roof height). The current and proposed zoning does not address this and it’s a big miss. Past changes eliminated the ability to create activated/livable roofs (places where occupants could access and enjoy), places for rooftop gardens with elevator and stairwell access.
Re-zone and sell city-owned land for mixed-use development. The city owns two golf courses and many parcels that would be ideal for residential and mixed-use development. Identify parcels to sell and put out an RFP (request for proposal), award the sale based on the establishment of a mixed-use development with a variety of residential living options and price points. For larger parcels (like these golf courses) award are based on the developer who proposes the establishment of a new complete community with parks, playgrounds, trails, housing (rental and for sale), retail space, and more.
Further develop the Portland technology park. Located off Rand Road, this 26-acre site was intended to lure businesses into the state's growing life sciences industry. To date, only one of the seven sites has closed with two others under contract. Clearly, this site, which has been underutilized over the last 13 years, should be put to its highest and best use. Let’s turn this into a mixed-use development of housing, office, warehouse, and what I’m calling IL/B5. This would be the perfect place for people to live, work, and play, just what residents and businesses want.
Simplify & Streamline Permitting - From Historic and Planning Board approvals to permit in hand, this process needs to be simplified and streamlined.
Establish Pre-Approved Development Types. These would bypass public meetings, both historic and planning board approvals, and receive a building permit upon Planning staff approval.
Thank you for taking the time to read my comments and for your tireless work.
Tom Landry, Broker/Owner
