Santa Claus Will Not Attend This Meeting at East End Community School, 195 North Street, Next Week, Because He’s Too Busy Geting Ready for Christmas Eve..

The Former Headquarters of the Former Northern Burner Supply Company and its Parking Lot at 165 Washington Avenue. for Which Redfern Properties Has Submitted a 326 Unit Residential Building Proposal with ONLY 11 Parking Spaces in a 7 Story Hiighrise.

You are invited to attend a neighborhood meeting on the Redfern Properties (Jonathan Culley, managing partner) proposal for the development of 165 Washington Avenue.  The meeting is set for Thursday, December 19 at the East End Community School, 195 North Street at 5:30 pm according to a release issued by the city’s planning department this mornng. This neighborhood meeting is required by the city of Portland.

The developer, Redfern Properties, of this space plans to construct a seven 7-story building containing 326 residential units.  Redfern intends to provide ONLY 11 parking spaces for those 326 residential units in a highly congested section of Washington Avenue. It also intends to provide 164 spaces for bikes.  The foregoing information was not part of the release this morning, but is based on information gleaned yesterday after several tense and patronizing email exchanges with Planning Department Director Kevin Kraft.

This difficult exchange between Mr. Kraft and this blogger made it clear that Mr. Kraft did not want the public to have this unpopular  knowledge in advance of the upcoming meeting next week.  “Transparency is not a policy practiced by city hall,” said this blogger.  “It’s more about suppressing unpopular information from the public.  Unfortunately, Portland has earned a reputation of not being particularly responsive to small businesses.”

Numerous business owners along Washington Avenue were alarmed at the parking plan  poposed by Redfern and the harm it will cause them.  “This segment of Washington Avenue has become a real destination neighborhood.  It is the new Exchange Street.  Parking is an issue already and there are constant complaints from customers about the lack of parking in the area.   Imagine adding almost 326 cars to an area that is already starved for parking.  Redfern’s parking plan will definitely  hurt businesses in the area,” said Chris Wheaton, owner of North Optical, 68 Washington Avenue, an award winning business. .A January workshop is anticipated by the Planning Department..

If you have questions or concerns about 165 Washington Avenue, please email Planning Department Director Kevin Kraft at:  kkraft@portlandmaine.gov

If you have addidtional questions on the subject, please call Acorn Engineering at  (207) 775-2655.  Pete Heil is  the project manager. Culley has said that he will attend the meeting on December 19 at EECS..

For more background information on the development of 165 Washington Avenue, please visit post from yesterday:  “Updated.  Culley major site Plan Submitted to City….” For more background information on how the Redfern development may impact the AmVet Post 25, please visit post herein dated October 8, 2024.