In 2004, the city of Portland obtained Planning Board approval to build the Ocean Gateway facility, including the creation of a large fenced-in paved queuing area next to the facility on the water’s edge.

Part of the parcel included a waterfront area just east of Ocean Gateway called the Amethyst Lot. In 2004, the Amethyst Lot was an unsightly 97-space parking area.

With fantastic water views and direct access from the Portland Trail, the Amethyst Lot cried out to be landscaped and improved as a harborfront park. Such an improvement would help offset the loss of water access created by the fenced-off queuing area.

But in 2004, the city had no place to move 97 parking spaces, so it requested that the lot remain as is until the Ocean Gateway garage – then in the planning stage – was completed.

So the Planning Board’s 2004 approval required the city to cease using the Amethyst Lot for parking once the garage opened and to return to the board with landscaping plans.

The Ocean Gateway garage opened in 2008. Setting a poor example for any developer in the city, the city has ignored the condition of approval and uses the lot for parking. The city has not returned to the Planning Board with landscaping plans. This is inexcusable.

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If the city expects developers to abide by terms and conditions of any land use approvals – and if the residents expect the city to hold developers to city planning standards and conditions – the city should be exemplary when acting as its own developer.

The city should abide by the conditions of the 2004 approval: It should stop using the Amethyst Lot for parking and landscape the lot so it becomes a place where one can take in, at water’s edge, the sights and sounds of the harbor.

David Silk

Portland


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