Livable Portland News: 10/10/2022

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Livable Portland Updates

It's been a bit slower these last two weeks, so there are not a ton of updates.

  • We have our next general meeting Tuesday, October 18th at 8 PM! Please feel free to suggest agenda items in the discord or in an email.
  • After a vote in the previous meeting, the discord, and an optional secondary meeting for those who could not make the first we have adopted the following official positions:
    • Endorsing Nathaniel Ferguson in his run for City Council in District 3
    • Support to partner with the Franklin Reclamation Authority to advocate for prioritizing the Franklin Street Master Plan.

The Next Two Weeks

Announcements

  • The city is conducting a survey to evaluate the pilot program of moving the food trucks on the Eastern Prom to the Cutter Street Parking lot. To express your views fill out the public survey by October 14th!

Upcoming Meetings

The Last Two Weeks

City Meetings

  • Planning Board Meeting
    • The board approved the conditional use for an emergency teen shelter at 343 Cumberland Avenue in a B-3 zone. The full plan can be viewed here https://css.portlandmaine.gov/ under plan number CU-002134-2022.
    • The board approved the conditional use for a Health Sciences building at the University of New England's Portland campus at 780 Stevens Avenue in an R-5 zone. The full plan can be viewed here https://css.portlandmaine.gov/ under plan numbers CU-002017-2022 and PL-002015-2022.

Media

  • A Voter’s Guide to the Charter Commission Reforms 2022: A bit off topic for this group but it is a comprehensive and well-balanced guide to the upcoming charter commission ballot questions.

  • Street Design Manual for Oslo: Oslo is a city with innovative street design and they also happen to get a lot of cold weather and snow like we do. The guide is highly detailed with a lot of good human-centric street design ideas we could implement here in Portland.

  • NYC Proposal Offers Cash for Spotting Parking Violations in Bike Lanes: An article from Bloomberg's CityLab discussing a proposal in New York City to allow citizens to report vehicles obstructing cycling lanes.

  • How Toronto Got Addicted to Cars: New Not Just Bikes video on the history of Toronto's car dependency

  • Plans for new upscale hotel next to Portland City Hall and Merrill Auditorium introduced: A Portland Press Herald Article on the "Herald Square Development" on Congress Street by city hall. The developer will bring plans for the first phase, a 156 room hotel and nine condominiums in front of the Planning Board on October 25th. This is the first of several phases that will eventually include 297 total condominiums, seven retail spaces, a restaurant, recreation space, and 330 parking spaces.

    Context: This news is not a major surprise, the project has been in the works for a long time and the plans have gone through many revisions. Originally in 2020 the plan was a smaller hotel 147 rooms, more residential units (436), some of which would be senior living, as well as 495 parking spaces. Things seem further along now so this will most likely be closer to what the final project will look like.

  • South Portland gives initial approval to allowing more in-law apartments: A Portland Press Herald Article covering South Portland's initial approval of a new law allowing ADUs in all single family residential zones. This is in line with our state's new recent housing law LD2003.

    Editorial: This is an exciting step for South Portland and hopefully will help develop some of the housing that the region needs.

  • Portland asks: What do you think about relocation of Eastern Prom food trucks?: Portland Press Herald Article covering the now-available surveys (public survey) about moving the food trucks to the Cutter Street Parking Lot

  • MaineHousing halts rental assistance program: A Portland Press Herald Article about MaineHousing's need for $55 million in federal funds to continue accepting applications for housing assistance.