12/13/2005 - By KELLEY BOUCHARD, Portland Press Herald Writer
Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

Portland officials want to develop a biotechnology office park off Rand Road to compete for tenants looking at similar locations in the Boston area.

The site, near Exit 47 of the Maine Turnpike, was considered for a controversial mail-processing plant in 1998. The U.S. Postal Service ultimately decided to build the plant in Scarborough, where it's under construction.

The latest proposal also could be controversial because it would encroach on land designated as environmentally sensitive.

The City of Portland bought the 46-acre tract in 1999, paying the Snyder and Barris families $1.7 million. The city failed to find a private developer for the property after rezoning 26 acres for office park uses and 20 acres as resource protection land in 2001.

Now, city officials want to develop the land themselves, and they're planning to market the office park as an ideal location for biotech companies that might otherwise choose Boston. They say they'd like to attract more firms like the Institute for Blood Research, Gulf of Maine Research Institute and BioProcessing Inc.

In May, the City Council endorsed an effort to encourage biotech firms to move here because the industry is growing and provides good-paying jobs. In addition, city officials say, Portland's quality of life and cost of living compare favorably to Boston's.

"We'd like to grow the biotech cluster in Portland," said Nelle Hanig, a business development representative for the city. "We already have some world-class facilities here and we need to promote that."

A Planning Board workshop on the proposal is scheduled for Jan. 24. It will be followed in the coming months by a neighborhood meeting and public hearings before the Planning Board and the City Council.

The office park would have six lots, from two to nine acres each. The Maine Turnpike Authority is considering the largest lot, along the turnpike, to accommodate a consolidated headquarters for the authority and Maine State Police. Those facilities are now on Riverside Street and the turnpike.

"Our staff has had some preliminary discussions with Portland officials on the subject," said Daniel Paradee, turnpike spokesman. "It's all very, very, very preliminary."

Hanig said it would cost the city $500,000 to $700,000 to build the road and install utilities for the office park. If the turnpike authority buys a lot, its price may be reduced if the authority builds the park's road, Hanig said.

The lots haven't been priced, but the city wants to recoup the $1.7 million it paid for the land, said Jack Lufkin, Portland's economic development director.

The office park would include parking for 20 cars at the head of a recreation trail that would be built in a 20-acre resource protection zone. However, the protected land would be reduced by five acres to accommodate the office park, Lufkin said.

The city hopes to rezone the five acres of "high and dry" land. Lufkin said, to accommodate the entrance to the office park. He said it would replace five acres of office park land that the turnpike authority used to build Exit 47.

In return, he said, an acre of wetlands in the office park would be protected. The city plans to have a wildlife biologist review the proposal to make sure it's environmentally sound. But that may not be enough to satisfy some neighbors and city officials.

"There (would be) a net loss of four acres to the resource protection zone," said Councilor Donna Carr. "I don't want to lose any, but an office park is a reasonable use of that land."

Lucy Burke, who lives on nearby Rowe Avenue, was disappointed when the mail-processing plant wasn't built in Portland. Although she shared concerns about its environmental impact, she wanted the more than 750 jobs it would have brought. A biotech office park, she said, would be a suitable replacement.

"It's OK with me as long as they don't bother the wetlands," Burke said, "because there's a lot of wetlands and wildlife back there."

Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at: kbouchard@pressherald.com