PLANNING BOARD REPORT PORTLAND, MAINE Waterfront Port Development Zone Text Amendment City of Portland Economic Development Department, Applicant Submitted to: Portland Planning Board Prepared by: Matthew Grooms, Planner Public Hearing Date: July 18, 2017 Date: July 13, 2017 I. INTRODUCTION The City of Portland’s Economic Development Department submitted an application for a text amendment to the Waterfront Port Development Zone to facilitate the development of infrastructure beneficial to marine-related uses found throughout Portland’s working waterfront. The Planning Board has considered potential text Figure 1: Extent of WPDZ amendments and supporting rationale at 4 separate workshops and held a site walk of the WPDZ on May 18th 2017. Notice of the workshop appeared in the Portland Press Herald on July 6th and 7th and 509 notices were distributed to abutters within 500 feet of the Waterfront Port Development Zone. The report is structured as follows: I. Introduction VII. Proposed Amendments II. Background VIII. Summary of Revisions From Previous Draft III. Timeline/Process IX. Public Comment IV. Guide to Material Attached X. Policy Discussion V. Current Ordinance XI. Staff Recommendation VI. Discussion of Significant Issues XII. Motions II. BACKGROUND Pursuant to a request for proposals issued by the Maine Department of Transportation and Maine Port Authority, the company Americold, was selected to design, construct and operate a 1 regionally scaled cold storage warehouse that would complement and add value to intermodal and marine operations at the International Marine Terminal. Improved cold storage with direct marine, rail, and highway connections, is seen as a significant benefit to Maine’s food and beverage industries serving both import and export shippers. Americold representatives have indicated that the existing 45-foot height restrictions would significantly restrict the ability of the WPDZ to house a sufficiently scaled, efficient modern facility. Staff began to research this request and heard from other uses in the zone, concerning lack of clarity in the existing zoning as well as limitation of the current dimensional standards. In response to this information, the City of Portland initially requested a text amendment to the WPDZ that would reformat the WPDZ text and allow additional building heights in the area. Over time the proposal has evolved to incorporate additional design and performance standards, modifications and clarifications to both the use and dimensional elements of the zone and overall clarification and readability modifications. The final proposal before the board is based on extensive stakeholder engagement and research by both the city, neighborhood organizations and Port Authority and involves substantial compromise by all involved. The proposal has come before the Planning Board for four workshops, the first, on October 25, 2016, the second, on January 24, 2017, the third which included a site walk of the WPDZ on May 18, 2017 and the fourth, on June 27, 2017. Following the workshop on October 25, 2016, the Planning Board determined that it would first be necessary to comprehensively articulate the importance of the Port of Portland to the local, regional and state economy and move forward with far greater consideration of the potential visual impacts that such a zoning amendment would bring to the surrounding neighborhood and city as a whole. At that time, members of the public were particularly concerned about the massing of buildings and the potential for a 70-foot high wall along the entirety of West Commercial Street, loss of visual access to the water from Commercial Street, impact on private views and the area’s role as gateway to the city. Community members were similarly concerned with the impact of increased heights on the City’s burgeoning tourism economy. The current zoning, while limited to 45’ foot buildings, allows 100% lot coverage with zero lot line setbacks. At the January 24th workshop, in response to feedback from the October 25th workshop, representatives of the Maine Port Authority presented material highlighting the importance of cold storage to the region, the potential economic impacts that such a project would bring to the city, and rationale for the size of the facility being sought. Additional information was presented regarding the history of the western waterfront and its traditional role as the industrial sector of Portland’s working waterfront. According to Bill Needelman, the Waterfront Coordinator for the City of Portland, facilities located within this zone were at various times more significant and taller than they are today and that as time as progressed, needs within the port have changed significantly. His argument stated that when the original text for the WPDZ ordinance was adopted in 1993, the market demand for facilities of this size did not exist at this location. However today, as the zone continues to develop, prior regulations must be reviewed and revised where necessary to accommodate changes in the market. Finally, Planning Staff discussed conceived revisions to the ordinance that were intended to allow increased building heights on a conditional basis while mitigating concerns related to excessive building massing, view corridor impacts and building design. The Planning Board recommended that the City provide additional research to substantiate the need for taller structures while also requesting additional information regarding traffic and 2 visual impacts. To accommodate these requests, the City of Portland in conjunction with the Maine Port Authority and Maine Department of Transportation compiled relevant research and information at the request of the Planning Board to further evaluate this text amendment. The City of Portland hired the economic development planning firm Camoin Associates to produce a review of the market for cold storage facilities and a cost analysis per pallet position that would rationalize a facility of a certain size (Needelman Memo June 27th, Attachment A). The firm T.Y. Lin, under contract with the City, produced a projected traffic impact assessment under full build-out of this project. To perform the visual impact analysis, the City hired the Yarmouth based consulting firm, Terrence J Dewan & Associates, to produce a sketch-up model which contextually illustrated current zoning, proposed zoning and likely build-out scenarios based on stakeholder discussions (Planning Memo May 18th, Attachment 2). The firm Woodard and Curran, hired by the Maine Port Authority, has produced its own economic analysis intended to justify the need for a facility capable of accommodating 15,864 pallet positions. These items were presented to the Planning Board at the May 18th workshop as basis for the proposed zone change. At the May 18th workshop, members of the Planning Board, city staff and other interested parties participated in a site walk of the WPDZ facilitated by Mr. Needelman, looking specifically at the context of the site in relationship to surrounding uses, and potential placement of future buildings. At the conclusion of this workshop, the Planning Board advised staff that for the following workshop, they would like to see the completed market study from Camoin Associates, completed traffic impact analysis by T.Y. Lin and a draft copy of the zoning text amendments. The Planning Board held its final workshop on the text amendment for the WPDZ on June 27th, where the Board was presented with the completed market study produced by Camoin Associates as well as the updated modeling of the proposed zoning completed by Terry Dewan & Associates. Staff then discussed the draft text amendment, outlining a number of changes which were proposed for the sections regarding purpose, use, dimensional standards and performance standards. Staff also presented a number of alternative concepts for the Board’s consideration based upon stakeholder feedback of the originally proposed language. The Planning Board asked staff to consider additional changes to the performance standards, specifically in strengthening conditional use ties with the success of the working waterfront. Members of the Board were in favor of proposed regulatory measures intended to preserve the vista from public open space, to maintain view corridors throughout the length of the zone, to setback taller buildings away from West Commercial Street, and to limit development intensity by means of minimum lot sizes, building length maximums and lot coverage. III. TIMELINE/PROCESS The proposed text amendment is the result of an approximately year long process, during which time City staff have facilitated and participated in extensive dialogue determining the future direction of the WPDZ. We have worked to gather input from industry professionals, waterfront stakeholders, residents of the West End Neighborhood and other interested parties in order to produce a cohesive and comprehensively balanced regulatory framework that assesses the needs of the entire zone, not simply one or two land owners, and fully considers the implications of the various proposed alterations. We have made use of Planning Board workshops to further test, present relevant material and open up dialogue regarding the proposed text amendment. Discussions at these four workshops have served to hone and affirm the approaches taken by staff. For reference, staff has compiled a timeline of relevant (where 3 discussion of zoning text amendment, research in regards to proposed text amendment and cold storage