Bayside Neighborhood Association President Sarah Michniewicz seen in April in the parking lot where developers hope to build an eight-story, mixed-used building with ground-level retail uses and 201 affordable dwelling units. The building is part of a plan to add 800 apartment units in seven buildings in Bayside. Michniewicz said the neighborhood supports the idea of more housing on the peninsula but has concerns about green space, traffic and clustering all the affordable units in one building. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
Portland’s Planning Board unanimously approved an affordable housing project Tuesday night that will result in the creation of 201 units in the city’s Bayside neighborhood.
The 7-0 vote came after the board heard a presentation from the developers, Port Property and West Bayside Partners LLC, and a 30-minute public hearing.
“I think it will work. It’s not ideal, but I think it will work,” board member David Silk said.
The plan for 89 Elm St. calls for construction of an eight-story, mixed-used building with ground-level retail uses and 201 affordable dwelling units on what is currently a parking lot.
Not everyone liked the low-income housing project, which was criticized by some speakers as being too lean on the amenities that someone would find in a more upscale housing development.
“It’s an ugly monolithic mess of a building that is just out of character for Portland,” said Cedar Street resident Andrew Rosenstein, an abutter of the project.
Board member Justin Barker doesn’t expect the units to be substandard. “I think this is a really good overall, but it’s not a perfect development,” he said.
Some board members questioned why the affordable units were clustered in one building.
John Laliberte, Port Property’s head of acquisition and development for southern Maine and a co-developer on the project, told the Press Herald earlier this year that the workforce housing is being proposed in one building because the developers were able to get MaineHousing financing, grants and low -income tax credits for such a project, and they wanted to be able to utilize the funding.
Board Chairman Brandon Mazur and others applauded the developers for making changes to the project to meet city standards and bring much needed affordable housing to Portland.
In written comments to the planning board, some residents raised concerns about traffic impacts, parking, green space, the segregation of affordable housing and whether there are enough amenities in the neighborhood to meet the needs of 800 new families.
The 89 Elm St. development represents the first phase of a five-phase master development plan for Bayside that will ask the city for permission to build 804 new housing units along with commercial and retail space. The entire project will be contained within 13 parcels on seven city blocks that span from Kennebec Street to Cumberland Avenue, and from Preble Street to Chestnut Street.
The project at 89 Elm St. calls for 201 workforce units – 25% of the 804 – available for those earning 60% of the area median income. Those units will all be in the building at 89 Elm St., while the market rate units would be spread out in six other buildings.
The city’s planning department staff reviewed 89 Elm St. and found that it meets the standards of the city’s Land Use Code. Staff recommended that the board approve the development.
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