A controversial North Deering development seeking planning board approval is hitting roadblocks on all sides, with resistance from neighbors and conservationists and a contempt order from the city for overdue payments on a fine.

GenX Capital Partners, a development company with properties in Maine and Miami, is proposing a 54-unit condominium development at 1 Hope Ave. The project would include nine duplexes and 12 triplexes situated by the edge of Portland’s Presumpscot River Preserve, a 48-acre public nature preserve. The development plans originally called for 60 units.

The city’s inclusionary zoning ordinance requires that 25% of a development’s units are “affordable” or “workforce housing.” Alternatively, the developer can pay $182,830 per unit, as a fee-in-lieu, to the city’s housing fund.

According to planning board documents, developer Mark McClure has said that eight of the units will be deemed affordable housing, and he will pay just over $1 million for the other six.

OUTSTANDING DEBTS

The project is scheduled for a public hearing Tuesday and could receive approval, but planning board members may have to table it if McClure doesn’t first pay an $11,600 fine he owes the city for tree removal/damage on the project site without a permit.

According to Jessica Grondin, city spokesperson, applicants are generally required to settle any outstanding debts before pursuing new permits.

McClure admitted to the violations, Grondin said, and in May, voluntarily executed a consent judgment with the city. The judgment ordered GenX Capital Partners to pay $10,000 to Portland Trails and $1,600 to the city by Dec. 1.

According to Grondin, McClure has not made any payments, “which constitutes a direct violation of the judgment.”

The city filed a motion for contempt with the court in January, and a hearing is scheduled for May.

McClure declined to answer questions about the project, including whether he intended to pay the fine before the planning board meeting. Instead, he directed all questions to Peter Bouchard, the project’s agent/representative.

Bouchard said he would answer questions “after approvals.”

In nearly 200 pages of public comment submitted ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, neighborhood residents cast doubts on the company’s financial capability to complete the project, citing the current contempt order and submitting documents showing thousands of dollars in back taxes owed on the Hope Avenue property and roughly $3.5 million in liens against McClure’s yet-to-be-completed luxury condominium community in Cumberland, The Mark.

GenX was also the developer behind the Cottages at Pine Meadow, an ill-fated development of small senior cottages in Saco where residents lodged complaints with the Maine Office of the Attorney General against the builder and McClure for what they said was poor construction, resulting in health, safety and aesthetic issues.

AN EYE FOR CONSERVATION

The Portland Land Bank Commission has had an eye on the Hope Avenue property for years and designated it a “high priority” for conservation because of its sensitive habitat, proximity to river access and the possibility of expanding existing land bank property at the Presumpscot River Preserve, among other reasons.

But once the property was purchased and a development plan submitted in 2023, the commission turned to other projects. However, as the project stalled and its future seemed “a little ambiguous,” members thought it might be worth another look, according to commission Chair John Kachmar.

It’s not unusual for the land bank to approach a developer, particularly when development of a property well-suited for conservation becomes “more difficult or expensive than anticipated,” Grondin said.

In November, the commission sent a letter to the developers to “express an interest” in adding acreage to the land bank’s stock of properties.

At a December meeting, Kachmar said the bank had been interested in buying some of the land but “immediately got an offer to buy the property in whole.”

There’s a willing seller, he said, but “I would suggest the price is exorbitant and unrealistic and not based on normal accounting procedure.”

A development is proposed near the Presumpscot River Preserve in Portland. The trails at the preserve, and many other trails in Portland, seen here in August. Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald

GenX offered the 13-acre property for $2.75 million, more than double what it paid in 2022.

Kachmar said the price was based on “sunk costs” from investments that had already been made.

“We don’t play that game,” he said. “The raw land is worth what the raw land is worth, and we would have to get an appraisal. Pretty sure it would be less than $2.75 million.”

Unable to afford the price, the Land Bank Commission is taking a “wait-and-see approach,” Grondin said.

“The (commission) remains interested in the property if it were to become available,” she said.

LANDSLIDES A RISK

Neighbors and conservation groups are concerned about the development’s potential impact on the Prescumpscot River Preserve, particularly the risk of landslides.

A soil study of the site found “poorly drained soils” derived from the Presumpscot Formation — a glacially deposited layer of soft clay that extends deep below the ground surrounding the river outside its immediate banks.

The softness of the clay makes the area more susceptible to landslides; the material behaves more like a viscous fluid.

Nonprofit group Friends of the Presumpscot River consulted with geologist Irwin Novak, who the group said is an authority on the Presumpscot Formation, to review the soil study.

Novak said he wasn’t concerned with the quality of the report but noted that the land, with its history, proximity to the river and steep slope, has an increased risk of landslides.

“This risk is exacerbated by the use of heavy machinery, weight of water in retention ponds, weight of roads and all structures plus the reduction of soil-binding vegetation — all things to expect from a development of this scale. This issue is not addressed at all in the application,” he wrote in public comment submitted to the Planning Board ahead of the meeting. He said the “catastrophic vulnerability” of the site should be given consideration.

In October, the planning board requested a third-party geotechnical review of the sample. Kevin Kraft, director of planning and development for the city, said the review by engineering firm SGH has not been completed but is ongoing.

The planning board has recommended tabling the vote until the review is submitted.

ONE OF THE LAST OF ITS KIND

Jessie Pinchoff can see the Presumpscot River Preserve from her home on Whaleboat Road. The proximity was one of the reasons she was drawn to the house when she bought it four years ago.

It has an almost “magical” feel, she said, and during the summer, she and her kids are there most weekends.

Pinchoff said she is alarmed by the environmental assessments she’s seen and wants to make sure the city is properly weighing the risks and not rushing through the process.

Pinchoff joined Protect Presumpscot, a coalition of neighbors who share her concerns and have been lobbying the planning board to scale back the project — if not outright deny it.

There are already existing stormwater issues in the surrounding streets, and adding another 60 units within 500 feet of the river feels like a risk, she said.

Pinchoff, originally from New York City, is not opposed to development. It’s not a “not-in-my-backyard” issue, she said. She’s familiar with and can appreciate an urban environment but fears destroying a “wonderful” natural one to get there.

“It’s one of the last types of those environments within the city,” she said.