Westbrook residents still have a chance for their voices to be heard before a scrap metal yard is built on Riverside Street in Portland, just over the city line.
City Planner Molly Just said the Portland City Council still has to approve a license for the scrap metal yard to operate before it can be built. According to the Portland City Clerk’s office, the license has not yet been scheduled on a council agenda.
“I wouldn’t downplay the annual licensing,” Just told residents who attended Committee of the Whole meeting Monday to discuss the project. “If the use is a nuisance in some way, your input could be valuable.”
The yard, owned by Schnitzer Steel, of Portland, Ore., was approved by the Portland Planning Board on July 8 to move from Somerset Street to Riverside Street. It is planned to take up 13 acres of 53 purchased by Portland for the purpose of moving two scrap metal yards out of Portland’s Bayside neighborhood and relocating the city’s public works building.
However, owners of the other scrap metal yard, E. Perry Iron & Metal, have not agreed to move to Riverside Street and the city doesn’t have the money to build the new public works building yet. Still, Alex Jaegerman, director of Portland’s planning division, said Schnitzer’s project can continue to move forward regardless.
For the most part, the residents at the Committee of the Whole meeting didn’t speak up about their concerns, but listened to the councilors, who told them they had their support.
Fellow Westbrook resident Bob Morrill, who lives on the Gorham border next to Plan-It Recycling, advised the residents on the Portland border not to give up fighting the project.
“I’m not giving up on mine,” Morrill said about the battle he’s had with the Gorham Planning Board for four years to try to mitigate the effects, like noise and pollution, that the recycling center has on his home.
“It’s your livelihood you’re fighting for,” he said.
One resident who lives near the proposed scrap yard did speak at the meeting. Ralph Morrison said he felt like he had been blindsided by the project and that it was too late to do anything about it.
Mayor Bruce Chuluda said the administration had done its best to keep the citizens informed as soon as it was aware of the project.
“Sometimes we don’t know about things that are going up right against our borders until it’s too late,” he said.
Morrison said he thought the city should come up with a better plan for making sure they know what’s happening in the surrounding towns. Council President Brendan Rielly suggested that the city put itself on e-mail lists to get the agendas for the planning boards of all neighboring municipalities.
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