2. Community Design Workshop. Jan. 2001.

A two-day interactive workshop was held where 165 citizen and approximately 40 City Staff and consultant participants provided graphic and written input to the master planning process.

Community Forums: City staff and the Waterfront Committee organized and held six (6) Community Forums from early November 2000 through early January 2001. The Forums were widely publicized through press releases, posters and printed public notices in local papers. Participation was open to any interested citizen although special effort was made to involve citizens within the study area and impact areas. 278 citizens participated in the forums providing significant public insight and background for the Community Design Workshop and the continuing waterfront planning process.

The objectives of the Community Forums were:

• To identify concerns, issues and priorities for development in the study area and impact areas, especially in light of the development of the Ocean Gateway Marine Passenger Facility.
• To identify design principles and features which should be addressed and/or incorporated in the Study Area including streetscape treatments, landscaping, gateway features, open space development, public access, bike/walking paths, transit stops, drainage, traffic patterns, parking, etc.
• To inform the public on current efforts to develop phase one of the Master Plan for the Waterfront, development of the Marine Passenger Facility on the waterfront, explain the planning process around the Facility and the Waterfront area, and set the stage for the Waterfront Design Workshop to be held in January.

The forum participants were asked to participate in two exercises to collect data for the waterfront planning in Portland. The first exercise was a visual preference survey where participants rated, positively or negatively, their reaction to fifty photographs of waterfront development. Second, the participants were separated into break out groups and were asked to report their "dreams and nightmares" for development in the Eastern Waterfront.

The results of the forums were complied and provided background for the Community Design Workshop and through out the waterfront planning process.

The Working Principles from the Waterfront Task Force Report, adopted 1/20/99, were tested with participants to various Waterfront Community Forums and the Community Design Workshop (see below.) Fifty-five (55) participants responded to the questionnaire in which they were asked to rate each of the Working Principles with a score of between –3 (strongly disagree) to +3 (strongly agree). Below, the average score from the 55 respondents is listed besides the principle.

"Working Principles" from the Waterfront Task Force Report

1. Any proposal should encourage long-term enhancement of waterfront economics (cost of doing business, available infrastructure) and sustainable waterfront-related employment with good-paying jobs. (Average: +2.05)
2. Development should provide adaptable, flexible infrastructure that will allow the City to adjust to future technologies and trends.

   (Average: +1.89)

3. Any harbor uses should remain marine-related and ideally should take advantage of the natural deep-water resources of the area.

   (Average: +2.01)

4. Traffic and parking in the area must be adequately addressed.

   (Average: +2.65)

5. Public access should be maintained.

   (Average: +2.98)

6. Any proposed development will require an analysis of the fiscal and management impact on the City (see recommendations below).

   (Average: +2.01)

7. Any development should be compatible with the prevailing uses in the surrounding neighborhoods, and must pay particular attention to issues of noise, traffic and parking, air quality and scale.

January 19 & 20, 2001

The WATERFRONT MASTER PLANNING COMMITTEE and the ‘OCEAN GATEWAY’ FACILITY COMMITTEE held a full day Community Design Workshop as means to collect public input and vision in an interactive forum. Drawings, text and survey results collected from this event helped to direct and guide the results and process reflected in the full Committee report. The City, in partnership with the Maine Department of Transportation, invited interested citizens to participate in a Community Design Workshop in order that City Councilors, staff and technical consultants could hear and see issues of interest and concern. Participants used maps, plans, and written guidelines to graphically and verbally represent their vision for the eastern waterfront.

On January 19^th and 20^th on 2001, 165 Portland area citizens – neighborhood and island residents, volunteer architects and landscape architects, property and business owners, and public officials - came together with a team of city staff and technical consultants to help craft a vision for the redevelopment of the eastern portion of Portland’s waterfront. All participants attended a Friday evening briefing to view the city’s consultant latest schematic designs for a new marine passenger facility to be located on the city-owned property at the Maine State Pier and the Bath Iron Works site. On Saturday, the participants were divided into 15 teams, with about 12 people per team, given maps, paper and markers, and asked to draw their own conclusions.

As part of a long range planning effort, the City of Portland sought community input regarding (1) the design of a new marine passenger facility to be located at the Maine State Pier property, and (2) development of the surrounding waterfront neighborhood.

The Community Design Workshop was a mid-term step in a long-term process of waterfront planning which provided citizens opportunity to reflect on prior decisions and to direct the future direction of planning and facility design. The program for the facility had been established through an earlier decision process and included four distinct elements:

• Move the Scotia Prince and the international ferry terminal from its existing facility near the Casco Bay Bridge;
• Improve and expand the Casco Bay Island Ferry terminal at its present location;
• Provide improved cruise ship landing and debarkation pier space; and,
• Provide pier and terminal space for a future inter-coastal ferry service.

The citizen participants were given two specific tasks:

Participants looked at the Facility and an adjacent Study Area with respect to traffic circulation, future building and street development, public access, views, environmental issues, urban design and historic preservation.

Participants also looked at the proposed facility and master planning effort with regards to impacts on five identified Impact Areas: Commercial Street, the Old Port, India Street, Munjoy Hill, and the Casco Bay Islands.

The objectives of the Waterfront Design Workshop were:

• To provide a jointly held meeting by the Waterfront Committee and the Facility Committee in order to gain a single point of community input for each committee to use in accomplishing their respective tasks.
• To gain specific community input to create a focused vision plan for the east end of the Waterfront (the Waterfront Study Area).

• To produce alternative plan concepts that illustrate build-out scenarios for the east end of the Waterfront.
• To illustrate potential major infrastructure improvements in the impact areas.
• To produce illustrated plans, three-dimensional drawings and character vignettes.

The written and graphic results of the workshop provided valuable and formative guidance to the two waterfront planning committees throughout the remainder of the master planning process.

4.Waterfront Development and Master Planning Committee and the Marine Passenger Facility Committee Process

From the summer of 2000 to January 2002, the Waterfront Development and Master Planning Committee (Master Planning Committee) met twice monthly to develop the Eastern Waterfront Master Plan. Working with City Planning Division staff and private consultants, the Committee worked to complete the four tasks outlined at the beginning of the process.

The Master Planning Committee meetings were open to the public and public comment was taken at each of the 22 meetings. Meeting minutes were taken and are available with the City Planning Division office.

Concurrent with the Master Planning Committee work, the Marine Passenger Facilities Committee (Facilities Committee) worked to plan for the long-term development of the former Bath Iron Works site into an intermodal marine passenger terminal complex. The Facilities Committee public process is described in detail in the Ocean Gateway Project Master Plan Report, April 2001.

Planning Staff included: Alexander Jaegerman, Chief Planner

Wilbur Smith Associates (traffic engineering)

Portscape (port zoning and regulations)

Norris & Norris (architects)

FXM Associates (financial and market analysis)

The Master Planning Committee and the Facilities Committee ultimately came together to recommend an integrated development scheme based on the funded first phase of the marine passenger terminal. The so-called "Concept 7" plan underlies both the Facilities Committee Ocean Gateway Supplemental Report, dated November 2001, and all of the build out scenarios shown in the Master Plan graphic material.

• Retention of Maine State Pier deep water berthing and the 100,000 square foot transit shed.
• Retention and enhancement of the Atlantic Pier (BIW dry dock pier) for large vessel passenger service.
• Retention of shallow water berthing potential and increased public access along the shoreline east of the Atlantic Pier.