I am a senior living in Portland on Basket Lane in North Deering. My home is a stone’s throw from the Presumpscot River Preserve. It’s such a beautiful natural part of our community. I regularly see foxes, deer and all manner of birds out of my windows. It brings me peace and tranquility in retirement.

I’ve known about a proposed development on a rugged parcel abutting my property for a few years now, but I only recently discovered there’s a landslide risk associated with the proposed construction. Apparently this risk is related to the Presumpscot Formation, a geological feature specific to Maine that is characterized by loose soils unsuitable for development, and that runs underneath parts of our region, including the Presumpscot River Preserve and the parcel under consideration, 1 Hope Ave.

I am far from a geologist, but I trust experts when they say that the soils and land conditions of 1 Hope Ave. put it at risk for a landslide, and that this risk would be heightened by the use of heavy construction equipment and the added weight of roads and structures. Many of us remember reading about how heavy construction machinery operating along the banks of the Presumpscot River triggered a landslide just upstream in Westbrook five years ago.

I understand that the Presumpscot Formation was present in that Westbrook slide, so I’m fearful of similar catastrophic consequences being that 1 Hope Ave. is next to my own home and uphill from the Presumpscot River Preserve. Would it damage my house? What if I’m home when my land gives way? Should I be afraid for my life?

I consider myself an active citizen, so I went to the planning board meeting for the 1 Hope Ave. development proposal that was held in early March to voice my concerns. It seemed to me like the board wanted to deny this application because of the associated risks and the disorganized application of the developer, GenX Capital Partners, but couldn’t because the developer still owed the city money for environmental damage it caused to Portland Trails while attempting to access 1 Hope Ave. over a year ago.

It sounds odd that a developer not paying a court-ordered fine could prevent Portland from denying an application, but this procedural hiccup seems to me to be the only thing giving them a second chance. Adding to the risk of the landslide-prone land within 1 Hope Ave., something that increases my anxiety about this situation is a 2023 Press Herald article in which GenX Capital Partners was exposed for committing serious construction flaws within a 55-and-over condo development it recently built in Saco.

Those Saco retirees had to deal with the headaches and dangers of numerous construction mistakes and had to bear the cost of fixing them because GenX refused remediations. This developer even threatened the reporter of the news article. I’m not sure this outfit has the skills to develop much of anything, but add in a landslide risk, and this gives me serious concerns for the safety of the Presumpscot River Preserve and my own home.

I call on the city of Portland to listen closely when environmental organizations such as Friends of the Presumpscot River and Protect Presumpscot sound the alarm on this situation. We need housing, obviously. But given the potentially catastrophic risks associated with developing 1 Hope Ave., Portland needs to insist that only a developer with proven technical aptitude operating within wetlands and risky terrain be permitted to give it a go. And we need to shut the door on anyone with proven failures.