Fwd: 337 Cumberland Avenue Redevelopment

[George Rheault]

For those who are interested in the next great land-use tussle in Portland...(might want to call this one "Gunfight in the Preble Street Corral")

[FYI: note I modified the attachments in the original in order to get under the GoogleGroups limit:  so you will have to go to the PHA link to read the newsletter and the Y&FO fundraising appeal is now just B&W and low-resolution.]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: George Rheault <george....@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, May 6, 2020 at 5:58 PM
Subject: 337 Cumberland Avenue Redevelopment
To: Kate Snyder <ksn...@portlandmaine.gov>, Pious Ali <pa...@portlandmaine.gov>, Nicholas Mavodones <n...@portlandmaine.gov>, jduson <jdu...@portlandmaine.gov>, Tae Chong <tch...@portlandmaine.gov>, Kim Cook <kc...@portlandmaine.gov>, Justin Costa <jco...@portlandmaine.gov>, Spencer Thibodeau <sthib...@portlandmaine.gov>, Councilor Belinda Ray <b...@portlandmaine.gov>, <cses...@porthouse.org>, Jay Waterman <jwat...@porthouse.org>
Cc: Christine Grimando <c...@portlandmaine.gov>, colette bouchard <colette....@goodwillnne.org>, Mark Swann <msw...@preblestreet.org>, Susan McCloskey <smccl...@maine.rr.com>

I am writing to inquire about a major Portland Housing Authority-led redevelopment project that has been cooking behind the scenes for months now with virtually no public engagement [FN-1].  While the PHA has not necessarily kept it a total secret, they have also not done anywhere near the kind of kimono-opening that one would expect considering the apparent project scope and the somewhat complicated conditions that comprise the project site context [FN-2].

According to the PHA newsletter, the project has a somewhat aggressive planning approval timeline (which is likely different than when it would actually get built).  It is not clear whether the pandemic crisis was or was not already factored into this timeline as I do not know when precisely the PHA newsletter that announced its participation was first created/published [FN-3]

Unlike many members of the public, I understand that a development team often must do a lot of advance work to ensure a project is viable before it ever makes sense to reveal their intentions to a wider public.  Yet nothing generates more resentment and suspicion than when some constituencies appear to receive a front row seat in shaping the contours of a project (and are freely discussing it) while others are effectively shut out until it is mostly a fait accompli [FN-4].

So here are some preliminary questions that hopefully will get some attention ASAP and better help this member of the public (and someone who lives close by to the proposed project) to understand what is being planned and what aspects remain open for debate and deliberation.  If the City Council and the PHA and its development partner keep an open mind and an open door, then I surely will be encouraged to do the same [FN-5].

- When will the underlying joint venture agreement and related documents between PHA and affiliates and Y&FO be available for public inspection?

- When will a development application be submitted (I assume none has been - due to the absence thus far of any Planning Dept. "new project notice" for this address)?

- When is the earliest planning board workshop/public hearing expected?

- What is the plan for actual public engagement since the project lies in a busy cross-roads implicating all kinds of nearby stakeholders (Preble Street, Tom Watson's apartment empire, Ed Gardner's new erector-set parking garage, the empty-again former Public Market space, the anticipated Time & Temperature hotel reboot and AVESTA's fallow land behind its Elm Street/Cumberland HQs which they are hot to build on once that pesky city homeless shelter on Oxford Street is dispatched to the Westbrook borderlands)?

- What overall city subsidies are being considered here and will it cannibalize other housing opportunities elsewhere (Housing Trust Fund, infrastructure assistance, CDBG, etc.)?

- What other private or public monies are being contributed (obviously federal low-income housing tax credits funneled thru Maine State Housing form the bulk of the financing)?

- Will any type of formal historic preservation efforts be devoted to the 150+ year old Preble Chapel including a historic structure report and perhaps even landmarking status (this is a terrific opportunity to preserve a historic structure with a thoughtful connection to a modern addition which may be able to be done efficiently and well here while leaving out much of the unnecessary baloney associated with the regular historic preservation bureaucracy)?

- Is the City treating this project the same as it would elsewhere on the Peninsula where such a high density unit count building with limited parking would be killed by politicians afraid of upsetting affluent NIMBYs?

- Is this the start of a major sea-change for Portland whereby the vast amount of land unproductively tied up by non-profits is finally converted through partnerships like this into badly needed housing - thereby strengthening our municipal tax base and finally providing the authentic neighborhood vitality that is missing from so many corners of Portland including much of the Peninsula (e.g. Maine Medical's giant parking lot on the former Bramhall Reservoir site, the Portland Water District Douglas Street parking lot, the dozen or so wasteful church parking lots sprinkled all over and other smaller infill opportunities owned by social groups like the Munjoy Hill Neighborhood Organization and American Legion Post 161)?

I look forward to answers at the earliest convenient opportunity.

Thank you.

[Footnote 1]

[I am effectively forced to communicate these concerns via an email because the PHA appears not to have made it possible for members of the public to participate remotely and make public comments directly as part of their upcoming board meeting.  At least nothing on their website seems to communicate that option being available to the public.  This is not surprising, since the PHA has one of the most poorly maintained websites among local governmental organizations in Southern Maine and a not-very-good reputation for transparency and public accountability.  Complete board packets with supporting materials are unavailable digitally.  Board agendas are posted in non-obvious places.  Archival material is haphazard at best and more often non-existent.  By putting this material up on its website in easy to find ways saves staff from having to fetch it for the public and also generally improves the impression of the agency in the mind of the public.  I would think its leadership and the City Council that appoints its board would care about that and be mindful of devoting resources to that end.]

[Footnote 2]

[See attached PDF from this link: http://porthouse.org/DocumentCenter/View/623/Development-Newsletter-Winter-2020   I was not aware that the PHA had any kind of regular newsletter updating the public on its development activities.  Prior editions do not appear anywhere so this must be a relatively new thing which is good if it continues.   Who is this newsletter's intended audience and how is it distributed (digital-only?)?  Can members of the general public (who are not also PHA tenants) "sign up" somewhere to get included on its distribution assuming future editions will be forthcoming?]

[Footnote 3]

[This parcel has had a colorful recent history and Youth & Family Outreach has gone in a number of different directions to get to this point.

(a) First off, it is a bit of surprise that a major project is being pushed at this time since a new food establishment leased the premises and obtained city licenses last autumn: https://www.pressherald.com/2019/11/04/new-restaurant-planned-for-cumberland-avenue/  There was no mention in November that a major redevelopment was simultaneously being explored and thus the restaurant might merely be a brief placeholder.  Hopefully the restaurant operator has been informed of the likely timeline since any goodwill it builds at this location will likely be destroyed when they are forced to relocate (assuming the poor business survives the pandemic lockdown and its aftershocks).

(b) Secondly, as recently as early 2019, Y&FO was making public noises about redeveloping the site all by itself which seemed somewhat wasteful on a prime parcel though they have certainly moved very far from that initial idea!  See attached PDF which describes their initial fundraising efforts which Councilor Pious Ali was involved with at some level including headlining its advisory council.

(c) Lastly, it is assumed that the previous owner of Maria's and Y&FO were always in discussions about a sale since Y&FO as an abuttor was an obvious interested party and natural buyer candidate.  I had always assumed that the Press Herald's hit piece from 2017 that the previous owner of Maria's and the City Manager cooked up about Preble Street ruining the area was mostly about bullying/intimidating Preble Street and demonizing the homeless as part of Jon Jennings' shameless shelter politics, but now, in retrospect, it appears it may ALSO have been about helping to squeeze out a final deal between Y&FO and Anthony Napolitano: https://www.pressherald.com/2017/07/12/marias-ristorante-may-move-to-a-new-neighborhood/  Attached is the sales brochure PDF for the Maria's parcels which provides useful details about the project site.]

[Footnote 4]

[I actually first learned of the 337 Cumberland multi-use housing project early this spring while seeing it referenced in marketing materials on the website of an affordable housing consultant, Dovetail Consulting LLC (Peaks Island): https://www.dovetailme.com/projects  See attached PDF for specifics.  It was a relief to see that some care is apparently being taken not to destroy the Preble Chapel which is steeped in history and one of the last vestiges of "old Bayside" before political and business elites in the City of Portland (acting in part through the Portland Renewal Authority ironically in partnership with the Portland Housing Authority) destroyed most of the neighborhood and created the selfishly convenient but purely artificial notion that "Bayside" is somehow a self-supporting organic thing set apart from the rest of central downtown Portland (it is not).  I know it is much easier for politicians to complain about our city's intractable problems and deep inequalities using the euphemistic catch-all tag of "Bayside" instead of the accurate and much more revealing truth of "two blocks from City Hall" or "two blocks from Congress Street" but it is what it is.  No one referred to "Bayside" as separate from the rest of downtown Portland until the early 1940s when it became necessary to mark a section of the Peninsula for extinction as was fashionable in this period of city-hating "urban planning" (which set the stage for all the later post-war urban renewal). The area between Deering Oaks pond and lower Munjoy HIll and north of Congress had already been treated as a blank slate prior to the Great Depression to be improved with big projects beginning with the siting of noxious industries, ash dumps along Back Cove, the county jail, the Deering Oaks extension and the Federal Post Office so it did not take much imagination to see other swaths of nearby modest residences and businesses as equally expendable. This mentality continued through the great Franklin Arterial upheaval, various other Menario demolitions and up through the clumsy urban vandalism of the 1980s and 1990s by people like Owen Wells and others.  Preserving the Preble Chapel thus now becomes a deep necessity because so much else has been lost and anyone who actually cares about Portland's physical history should understand the imperative here.]  

[Footnote 5]

[The PHA is nominally independent but its governance is ultimately controlled by City Council appointees - hence why I addressed this simultaneously to City Council representatives with PHA staff.  Due to the various public subsidies and public partnerships it needs to function well, PHA is extremely sensitive to influence by city/state/federal policy-makers, bureaucrats and elected officials.  Since the PHA is also intimately involved right now in many development efforts, it is assumed that it only jumps when it already has the blessing (officially or behind closed doors) of the City Hall powers-that-be.  And it is obvious that the PHA will need further approvals from City Hall in order to get planning permissions and development subsidies to make anything proposed at 337 Cumberland Avenue a reality.  So I am pretty sure City Hall has already dictated what it will and won't allow to happen here no matter what anyone else wants - which is a shame because City Hall, acting alone, often makes a mess of great opportunities.]