11/19/2005 - Saturday, November 19, 2005

Deal a 'huge' step for Bayside

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

Portland officials have negotiated a $5 million deal on a Riverside Street parcel that would lead to removal of two scrap-metal yards from the Bayside neighborhood, allowing the district to continue its transformation into a commercial and residential center.

Under the proposal, the city would buy the 53-acre Lucas Tree Experts property at 636 Riverside St. The wooded parcel runs along the Presumpscot River and is in an industrial area near Exit 48 of the Maine Turnpike.

The property is large enough to accommodate E. Perry Iron & Metal and New England Metal Recycling, as well as the city's public works garages, which Portland officials plan to move from their cramped Bayside location. The scrap yards would be relocated in 12 to 18 months.

The pending agreement requires City Council approval. The full council is set to review the proposal publicly for the first time at a workshop beginning at 5 p.m. Monday, and is expected to vote on various aspects of the deal in December. If it works out as planned, the agreement would cost Portland taxpayers nothing and would allow the total transformation of a largely industrial downtown neighborhood that was targeted for redevelopment six years ago.

A 2000 city report called the scrap yards "the single most inhibiting factor to the successful redevelopment of Bayside." The area is already in line for more than $100 million in commercial and residential projects, and city officials say removing the scrap yards and public works garages would trigger additional investment.

"It's an incredible, transforming opportunity for a neighborhood that comes along once in a lifetime," City Manager Joseph Gray Jr. said Friday.

Arthur Batson Jr., president of Lucas Tree Experts, said if the council approves the land deal, his company would continue to operate from several other sites in the Portland area.

The deal would be financed through The Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit organization that helps protect open spaces, especially in urban settings. The trust helped Portland acquire former railroad land along its Casco Bay waterfront in 1993 that was used to create the Eastern Promenade Trail.

The trust would buy the Riverside property in Portland's name, with the understanding that some land in Bayside and along the Presumpscot River would be set aside for open space and recreation trails. Portland Trails would participate in the open space development.

The city would pay off the $5 million debt within three years, Gray said. It would raise $1.5 million by selling 10 to 13 acres of the Riverside land to the scrap yards. An additional $1 million would come from the recently approved sale of city land at Marginal Way and Preble Street Extension, where developers plan to build an office building and student housing.

The city would raise an additional $2.5 million by selling 6.5 acres of former railroad land in Bayside, on Somerset Street, that was recently acquired from the Maine Department of Transportation after several years of negotiations. The Trust for Public Land would hold the deed on the railroad land as collateral until the city sold it.

"This is a huge deal for the city, and it all hinged on us getting that railroad land," said Lee Urban, Portland's planning and development director.

Moving the public works garages from Bayside to Riverside would cost more than $11 million, based on past city estimates. The city would offset that future investment by selling the four acres of public works land on Hanover, Parris and Lancaster streets for residential and commercial development.

"Clearly the city is going to have to put some money into this along the way," said Councilor James Cloutier, chairman of the community development committee that helped to negotiate the Riverside deal.

City officials said the land on Riverside Street would be ideal for the scrap yards and public works operations because it's in an industrial area on the outskirts of Portland and it's close to the turnpike. The city may consider moving school busing and parks and recreation operations there as well, Gray said. The site's proximity to Westbrook and Falmouth also makes it ideal for future efforts to regionalize municipal services, he said.

The Riverside land is zoned industrial, with part designated for high-impact uses, where scrap yards are permitted, and part designated for moderate-impact uses, where scrap yards are allowed under certain conditions.

The proposal calls for a zoning change that would make the entire parcel eligible for high-impact uses, said Jack Lufkin, Portland's economic development director. Zoning already requires scrap yards to be at least 100 feet from the street, Lufkin said. Lawyers for both companies said they are interested in moving to Riverside Street and are negotiating individual terms.

New England Metal Recycling had been negotiating to move to South Portland for the past six months, but now the company is focused on the Riverside site, said attorney Hope Jacobsen.

Portland would buy the scrap yards on Somerset and Lancaster streets using a portion of $5.7 million in federal grants and loans earmarked for Bayside's revitalization. The scrap yards, in turn, could use that money to buy land on Riverside, Lufkin said.

While New England Metal Recycling is interested in selling its Bayside land to the city, E. Perry Iron & Metal is considering developing its Bayside property on its own, the lawyers said.

Whatever scrap-yard land the city acquires in Bayside could be sold to offset the overall cost of the neighborhood's redevelopment, city officials said.

The Trust for Public Land embraced the opportunity to help the city finance the land deal as a way to preserve open space, rejuvenate a downtown neighborhood and stem suburban sprawl, said Samuel Hodder, a senior project manager with the trust.

The proposal calls for open space and a recreation trail along the former railroad right of way in Bayside, connecting the Eastern Prom Trail with Deering Oaks park. It also would preserve about 20 acres of undevelopable land along the Presumpscot River as open space, including a recreation trail.

"There's nothing better to fight sprawl than to invest in our cities and towns," Hodder said. "This is the city of Portland being visionary and making investments in the right places."

For Bayside residents, the proposal has been a long time coming but worth the wait.

"This says a lot symbolically about Bayside," said Ronald Spinella, neighborhood association president. "This is a new era for us."

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