I offer the following observations about the Yard South project in South Portland.

PK Realty bought the property in 2018 for $7.7 million. It was purely a speculative investment, incumbent upon a zone change. If it was zoned for residential development, the return on investment on the purchase price of $7.7 million, with views of the Portland skyline, would be astronomical. Once they get the zoning change, they could easily sell development rights to a California hedge fund for a massive profit.

South Portland is in the middle of developing a new comprehensive plan, which will guide development of South Portland for the next 20 years. This guidance informs the zoning ordinance, which in turn defines new development. So much has changed in Maine since the 2012 comprehensive plan was adopted. It would be a mistake to grant a zoning change before the new comprehensive change is completed and adopted.

The purpose of the current Shipyard Zoning District is to maintain the conforming status of existing businesses, to prevent residential development and associated land use conflicts, and to minimize the impacts of development on adjacent zoning districts. The zoning change requested by PK Realty would be antithetical to existing zoning.

New FEMA floodplain maps, which project future sea level rise floodplain elevations, show that a 3-foot sea level rise, possible in the next 30 years, would have this tax parcel half underwater during a storm event. Given this, wouldn’t it be sensible to retain the existing working waterfront designation? Keep in mind, the south side of Commercial Street is projected to be underwater in 40 years. The Yard South property will fare better, and should be zoned to support southern Maine’s commercial working waterfront, as other frontages disappear.

While the developer claims that smart technology and traffic signalization improvements can mitigate the impacts of 1,500 more cars a day commuting back and forth on Broadway, Cottage Road and adjacent streets, that is wishful thinking. Unless the developer is proposing a gondola, light rail connections and/or a fourfold increase in bus service to Portland, detrimental traffic and parking impacts should be grounds enough to shelve this rezoning project for the foreseeable future.

Advocates like John Finegan, who recently opined in these pages, invariably – and wrongly – point to the simple supply and demand formula to justify calls for rapid residential development. But those of us alarmed by unchecked development elsewhere (because we observe other high-growth areas that are even more expensive and congested than South Portland) are vilified as snobby and elitist.

My guess is 700 of those new Yard South units would be pre-sold to out-of-staters before a shovel even hits the dirt. So if this new development will be largely filled by out-of-staters seeking “the way life should be,” and new traffic will exacerbate traffic congestion, and all of this will cost taxpayers more money to fund expansions for stormwater, sewer and education, why would or should the South Portland City Council support this?