City officials in South Portland have halted a tree removal project near the Portland International Jetport, and are now investigating the legality of the cutting.
A contractor began clear cutting trees in a 5-acre swath of forest near the Portland International Jetport last month, which needed to remove trees in order to stay in compliance with FAA glide path tree height limits.
But South Portland planning director Milan Nevajda said the Jetport hadn't informed the city that the cutting had started, and that there may have been tree removals that were not allowed in the permit. Most importantly, said Nevajda, the exact dimensions of the impacted wetlands in the area is under question.
"We have a significant amount of tree removal that was allowed to occur and was lawfully done by the Jetport. At the same time, the city investigated a violation associated with the tree removal which may have exceeded its allowance," Nevadja said. "It's going to take a significant amount of time to resolve this."
The swath of land is across the I-295 from the Jetport, and abuts the Calvary Cemetary.
At issue are the exact parameters of the wetlands. Nevajda said the wetland area outlined in the Jetport's 2019 permit paperwork from don't match a more recent permit request from New Leaf Energy, a company that wants to put a solar farm on an overlapping part of the land. New Leaf's impact report shows that the wetlands area is much larger.
"At the core of the issue is this wetland discrepancy, which significantly influences how we need to interpret the impact," Nevadja said.
State and federal wetland protections do not allow stump removal or soil disturbances. The city's investigation is ongoing.