A Rendering That Shows a 45 ft. High Building in Comparison to a 70 ft. High Building to its Left.

Jo Coyne, at the November 3rd Meeting, Has Been  Critical of the Proposed Zoning Change to Permit a 70 ft. Building on the Waterfront.

By Carol McCracken  (Post # 2,645)

An on-site demonstration of the potential building height will be conduced on Monday, December 5th from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm. on the International Marine Terminal property on the Portland waterfront.

The proposed increase from the permitted 45 ft. building to a 70 ft. building to be constructed by Americold, a Georgia based company, has been the source of controversy by residents of the west end of Portland whose views will be blocked by this massive building.  The RFP was issued by the Port Authority; Americold was one of two responding to it. The building is proposed to assist EIMSKIP, a container shipping company, in its business in the North Atlantic.

On November 3rd, Bill Needelman, waterfront coordinator for Portland, told about sixty (60) people at a required city meeting that “if Portland does not change, we will loose our opportunity to become part of the next century.  If we don’t evolve with the markets, waterfront industries won’t be able to grow.”  (Please see post herein dated November 3rd, 2016)

A “boom truck” will be positioned at the approximate two front corners of the tallest sections of the proposed cold storage warehouse.   Each truck will be extended to 70 ft. above grade – showing the approximate scale and location of the planned warehouse.  If high winds are predicted for the day, the demonstration will be held on Wednesday, December 7th during the same time period according to a press release from Needelman.

This demonstration precedes the planning board’s 7:30 pm meeting on December 13 at which time it is expected to vote on whether or not to make the city’s requested zoning changes to allow construction of a 70 ft. cold storage warehouse in a section of the western waterfront that currently permits only 45 ft. high buildings to be constructed.   Public comment will be taken at that meeting.

Americold has another cold storage warehouse in Portland – off Ocean Avenue.  It is smaller than the proposed one and is old – built in the 50s I believe.

For more information, please contact Bill Needelman at wbn@portlandmane.gov or at 207 874-8722.  To reach Jo Coyne, email her at:  bigwhitebox@gmail.net