Site work will begin this week on a Portland housing development that was the subject of a lawsuit from abutters after a judge affirmed the planning board’s decision to green light the project.

A Superior Court ruling this month sided with the developer on nearly every claim, and lifted an administrative stay that had delayed construction of the 50-unit Belfort Landing development in the Riverton neighborhood.

Alex Coupe, developer of the project that received planning board approval in July 2025, said he plans to begin excavation work on the access drive off Belfort Street this week, and has informed the abutting property owner who was among the plaintiffs in the suit.

The development includes two buildings on a 1.5-acre strip of land behind Moran’s Market on Forest Avenue and between the driveway to Talbot Community School and properties on Belfort Street.

Coupe said he hopes to have the entire project completed within a year.

After the project was proposed last year, abutters and neighbors organized as Friends of Belfort, which rallied neighborhood opposition, arguing that the project is too large for the lot and would place further strain on infrastructure. The group has since renamed itself Friends of Riverton.

Liz Berg, its vice president, said the Friends of Riverton are still considering whether to appeal the ruling to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.

After Belfort Landing received planning board approval, neighbors appealed the decision and made civil claims against the city and Coupe, including challenging the zoning and the developer’s ownership rights to build the project as designed.

The ruling from Justice Thomas McKeon affirmed the planning board’s decision and denied all of the group’s claims seeking a preliminary injunction except one, which says Coupe cannot touch abutter Debra Fowler’s fence.

Coupe said that ruling does not impact his plans to build a 20-foot-wide access road off Belfort, which was a central piece of the neighbors’ opposition.

Abutters Leroy and Catherine Doucette had claimed adverse possession due to long maintaining a portion of the land where the access drive will be located, but that claim was denied. The access drive will be about 6 feet from the Doucette’s house.

The city’s legal counsel declined to comment on the ruling Monday.

City officials and some neighbors have defended the project due to the need for housing in the city, and it’s location along a public transportation route and near an elementary school.

Coupe has said 13 of the units would be “workforce” housing, designated for renters at 80% of area median income. In Portland, that is roughly $72,000 for a single person.