Advocacy in December

It is a busy meeting week in Portland! There will be a City Council workshop on Wednesday to set goals for the Council in 2021. There will also be Planning Board, Historic Preservation Board, and Public Art meetings this wek. Read on to learn more about the projects that are expected to be discussed this week:

Portland Planning Board meeting - Tuesday, December 15th @6PM

A rendering of the redeveloped hospital building from Spring Street.

The redevelopment of 148 State Street, the current Mercy Hospital building, will be on the agenda at Tuesday’s meeting. The planning board will hold a public hearing on a proposal to rezone the hospital parcels from R6 to B3, a zone change that would accommodate denser housing on the site and some small scale commercial uses in the lower floors of the existing hospital building that would be challenging to reuse as residential. The rezoning request by the applicant was expanded at the request of city staff to include the mostly non-residential buildings on the opposite side of State Street, including St. Luke’s Church, the State Street Church, and Landmarks’ former offices at 165 State Street. Below is Landmarks’ statement for the public hearing on Tuesday.

Mercy Hospital's history began in 1918 during the Spanish Flu pandemic. Tonight, over 100 years later in the midst of yet another pandemic, we are discussing the redevelopment of the iconic hospital building on State Street built by the Sisters of Mercy during World War II from 1941-1943. Greater Portland Landmarks is pleased to support the redevelopment of the Mercy Hospital parcels and the proposed rezoning, which we believe will bring new life to the two historic buildings and provide much needed new housing and care facility beds in Portland. The proposed redevelopment project is an excellent example of how historic districts and buildings can accommodate new housing, particularly affordable housing. The proposed rezoning will also provide greater flexibility for the reuse of other non-residential historic buildings on State Street if they too should need to be redeveloped sometime in the future. 

The rezoning of the Mercy Hospital parcels is only the first step in the process of the site's redevelopment. We are hopeful, given the renderings thus far, that the proposed new construction and site features will be designed to knit together the fabric of the neighborhood along Winter, Gray, and State Streets.  Street trees, building details, and pedestrian transitions between the sidewalk and buildings entrances will be important design elements to consider as the site is developed so that the new buildings will fit within the context of the historic neighborhood. We look forward to the project progressing through the Historic Preservation Board and Site Plan Reviews and to its successful redevelopment as Mercy Hospital consolidates its functions to its Fore River campus. - Greater Portland Landmarks 12/15/2020

Join the zoom meeting or contact the Planning Board at planning@portlandmaine.gov

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Portland Historic Preservation Board Meeting - Wednesday, December 16th at 5PM

There are three items on the Board’s agenda this week. The Westin Hotel on High Street, the hotel under construction at 1 Center Street and the building at 110 Exchange Street are all proposing rooftop additions.

Join the zoom meeting

A proposed new residential unit atop the building at 110 Exchange Street.

A proposed deck on the rooftop of the Westin Hotel.

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Portland Public Art Meeting - Wednesday, December 16th at 4PM

The Public Art Committee is expected to discuss the final renderings of the Congress Square Plaza public art piece and the status of the process of the Bramhall Square redesign. While no images were included with the agenda, if any are posted during the meeting, we will update the blog and share them with you!

Join the zoom meeting

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City Council Workshop - Wednesday, December 16th at 5PM

Meeting agenda

Join the zoom meeting

What’s Happening in Preservation at the State and National Level?

by Julie Ann Larry, Director of Advocacy

I hope that everyone is well this holiday season. I took a bit of a break over the Thanksgiving holiday away from the internet and phone service. It was much needed time off but now I am back at work and ready to engage in all the exciting new projects and policies that are in the works for 2021!

While Greater Portland Landmarks works mostly at the local level, we also engage with state and federal legislation that will impact the historic preservation profession and our historic communities. While I was away there were several developments at the state and federal level.

In Maine this week was the release of the Governor’s Climate Action Plan. Greater Portland Landmarks and our preservation allies participated in the public workshops held by the Climate Council this spring and summer. Learn more about our advocacy on the Climate Action Plan and read our joint letter to the Council here. The plan’s goal is to ensure that Maine’s communities, industries, and people are resilient to the impacts of climate change and to reduce Maine’s Carbon Emissions 45% below 1990 levels by 2030. The plan has many important steps, but of special note are plans to help improve the efficiency of Maine’s existing housing stock.

Historic resources in Maine’s coastal and riverine communities are at risk from the impacts of climate change. Maine’s Climate Action Plan sets goals to reduce the state’s carbon emissions and make our communities more resilient.

One significant step will be to switch buildings to cleaner heating and cooling systems. About 60% of Maine households rely on heating oil as their primary home heating source — the highest percentage in the country. The plan calls for the installation of at least 100,000 new heat pumps in Maine by 2025. Did you know Greater Portland Landmarks’ headquarters, the Safford House, is heated by water-cooled, ducted heat pumps? Our system was installed nearly a decade ago, replacing an old oil-fired furnace.

If you are interested in the best practices you should follow when making your older home more energy efficient, check out Landmarks’ publication The Energy Efficient Old House. We also have other publications on sustainability and energy efficiency on our Resources webpage. Greater Portland Landmarks believes historic preservation and the green building movement are natural allies: the greenest building, as the saying goes, is the one that is already built! Greater Portland’s existing older buildings embody a heavy prior investment in resources and energy. Keeping them in use conserves that investment, and is recycling at its best!

As the Congress looks ahead to 2021, preservationists are advocating for legislation that will improve opportunities for affordable housing in historic buildings and address the vulnerability of our communities to the impacts of climate change.

The Motherhouse on Stevens Avenue in Portland is one of several projects in Maine that has been rehabilitated pairing Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and Historic Tax Credits. We are joining preservation advocates nationwide to make this paired funding process easier to increase affordable housing opportunities in our community.

At the federal level several issues remain under negotiation while the current Congress debates its final bills during the Lame-Duck session this month, or face uncertain futures as the new Biden administration takes shape. Last month Tom Cassidy, Vice President for Government Relations at the National Trust for Historic Preservation led a presentation to preservation advocates across the nation on the most pressing policy issues facing the preservation community in the months ahead. Potential areas of focus for the last days of the 116th Congress will likely be pandemic relief and extending government funding beyond next week’s December 11th deadline. Preservationist are presently advocating for improvements to the Historic Tax Credit (HTCs) that will aid in the pairing of Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) and the HTCs. The pairing of these two programs has benefited a number of affordable housing projects in Maine, including the rehabilitation of the Motherhouse on Stevens Avenue in Portland and the Southgate Mansion in Scarborough. In addition, preservationists are advocating for increased opportunities for small projects to take advantage of HTCs.

Landmarks is working to document and conserve coastal resources impacted by climate change.

The National Trust’s presentation also looked forward to likely priorities of the 117th Congress: Climate Change, Affordable Housing, and Racial Equity. Landmarks, like many historic preservation non-profits across the nation, has expanded its focus to address challenges in all three areas in recent years. We plan to continue to broaden our advocacy and education programming to reflect our ongoing research in these areas. If you missed our Staying Above Water presentations in October, I hope you’ll take some time to check out the fantastic speakers that joined us to discuss the reasons Maine is susceptible to the impacts of climate change, what those impacts might be, and how we can improve our resilience.

With your support, through donations and your individual advocacy, we are successfully able to advocate for the reuse of historic buildings to the benefit of the environment and our neighbors. Your support also allows us to advocate for sound policies at the local, state and national level that protect and enhance our important cultural resources. Thank you for supporting Greater Portland Landmarks this year!

How to Participate in the Munjoy Hill Historic District Virtual Public Meeting

Join the zoom meeting via this link.

When prompted, use your full name to register as an attendee. You will never be seen on video, you will only be heard when the moderator allows you to speak.

You can also call in to the meeting with your phone to speak. Use the phone number 312-626-6799 and follow the prompts. The webinar ID is 841 4318 1611 and the passcode is 861430.

When public comment opens on a specific agenda item, the moderator will announce it. To indicate you want to speak, you will "raise your hand" - click the raise your hand button (depending on your device, it will be at the bottom of the screen or in the upper right).

The moderator or chair will recognize you and ask you by name to unmute your microphone. A small window will pop up. Select the unmute option. You will have three minutes to speak. We suggest writing notes beforehand to read! When you are finished, you can click mute to mute yourself or the moderator will can turn off your mic after 3 minutes.

That's it! To leave the meeting, you can click "leave meeting".

Tell City Council you support the Munjoy Hill Historic District!

City Council will hold a public meeting and vote on the proposed District Monday, November 16. We need you to email your support to Mayor Snyder and the City Council before the meeting - the district designation is in your hands!

Here's how you can help:

Copy these email addresses into the TO: line of your email: ksnyder@portlandmaine.gov, pali@portlandmaine.gov, tchong@portlandmaine.gov, kcook@portlandmaine.gov, jcosta@portlandmaine.gov, jduson@portlandmaine.gov, nmm@portlandmaine.gov, bsr@portlandmaine.gov, sthibodeau@portlandmaine.gov, planningboard@portlandmaine.gov
 

Use the SUBJECT: Please support the Munjoy Hill Historic District!

State your name & place of residence, and copy this message (or add your own personalized message):

Mayor Snyder and City Councilors,
I urge you to support the proposed Munjoy Hill Historic District. The district will protect those properties that reflect the unique history of the hill and its residents for the last 180 years, including immigrants from Eastern and Western Europe, Scandinavia, Africa, and the Caribbean. The district will also support sustainability and affordable housing goals established in the City’s 2017 comprehensive plan.

Hundreds of units of affordable housing, as well as new market rate units, have been built in Portland’s existing historic districts in the last five years. Portland’s historic districts provide access to federal and state Historic Tax Credits, significant funding for challenging housing projects. Reusing and improving our existing building stock will also significantly help meet our goals to cut carbon emissions, reducing the need for the manufacture and transportation of new building materials - as well as reducing the amount of building demolition materials that enter our waste stream. 

Please vote to support the district on November 16th. Thank you.

SEND before noon on Monday, 11/16!

Get the facts on the Munjoy Hill Historic District:

Read more about the proposed historic district here.

Learn about how historic districts positively impact affordable housing.