An ambitious project that could add about 800 new apartments to Portland's Bayside neighborhood has cleared its first major hurdle.
The Portland planning board earlier this week approved the broad concept plans for the project, which call for 603 market-rate and 201 affordable units across seven city blocks. Each new proposed building will now be subject to its own site plan review.
The developers, Port Property Management and West Bayside Partners, have said the project would be built in five phases over 10 years. The first phase is expected to start with the construction of the 201 affordable units for those earning 60% of the area median income or less.
Portland residents have said they're supportive of new housing but have expressed concerns about traffic, landscaping and the height of the proposed buildings, among other things. Many said they're especially worried about the idea of consolidating all affordable housing into one large building.
"Generally I think this is a good thing for the city, and we are going to get some decent housing out of it," said Brandon Mazer, the Portland planning board chair. "I do think seeing the affordable housing first, it's going to be a stretch. But it's affordable housing first."
And several others urged the developers to create a neighborhood advisory group to better address those concerns.
"We can't require you to meet with the community," said Sean Murphy, a planning board member. "But I think you saw there was a large number of comments from the community, and we read those and we responded to them and we asked questions today about them. It is in everybody's best interest to have the community nodding their heads the next time we meet with you all."
The plans also call for the development of 28,500 square-feet of commercial space and a small public park, which was added after members of the public expressed concerns about a lack of green space.
