Portland Press Herald from Portland, Maine • A8

A8 Portland Press Herald Friday, January 4, 2019 CONTINUED FROM A1 ed by gradually opening more of the waterfront to non-marine redevelopment while still leaving the majority of space nearly 70 percent of ground-floor building space and 81 percent of open space available to marine de- pendent uses. shift from vacant to non-marine use (re- duces) the percentage of space available to marine use, but has not decreased the actual amount of marine use to percentages be- low the 55 minimum set out in the zoning text, the report says. Nevertheless, the shifting uses documented in the report under- score the tensions that prompted working waterfront advocates to demand protection for commer- cial fishermen and others who rely on the wharves along Com- mercial Street for working space and ocean access. The report says, for example, that an expan- sion of parking areas on the wa- ter side of Commercial Street is believed to be leading to a loss of storage space for fishermen, al- though the extent of that shift is not known and was not analyzed in the report. THREAT OF TIGHTER ZONING RULES The report was presented Thursday at the first meeting of the Waterfront Working Group, which was established last month.

The city established the group and adopted a six- month building moratorium on the waterfront in hopes of avoid- ing a citywide referendum that was gaining steam and could re- sult in significantly tighter zoning rules. Members of the new working group on Thursday quickly dove into a debate about the possibil- ity of zoning changes to remove some of the flexibility granted to property owners in 2010 and add protection for fishing-related ac- tivities. The group will continue to meet every two weeks, even as advocates say they are prepared to move forward with a citywide referendum to restrict develop- ment if they are not satisfied. The waterfront inventory com- pleted this week is the first one in six years, despite an ordinance that requires annual reporting to the City Council. The require- ment was adopted so that the city could track the erosion of work- ing waterfront access over time.

The Waterfront Central Zone contains 14 privately owned piers, plus the Gulf of Maine Marine Institute and the pub- licly owned Portland Fish Pier, according to the inventory. home to majority of the fishing fleet of mostly lobster boats, fish processing and sales, bait distributors, lobster buyers, tourist excursion vessels, and other marine and non-marine de- pendent businesses. zoning rules, adopt- ed in 2010, allow for as much as 45 percent of the ground-floor space on the outer piers to be used for non-marine uses, provided owners first try to find a marine tenant and meet other condi- tions. The remaining 55 percent must remain water-dependent uses. About 67 percent of the ground- floor building space is now avail- able for marine-dependent use, which is down from 75 percent in 2012, according to the city.

Much of that shift is attributed to the renovation of Maine Wharf. At least three marine-based busi- nesses a lobster dealer, marine supply company and an urchin processor were evicted from the wharf in 2012 after an engi- neer found structural damage. The wharf was then sold and renovated. After being marketed unsuccessfully to marine-depen- dent businesses, the city granted a change-of-use permit and the new space became an upscale restaurant and the Portland Sci- ence Center, which has since closed. FIRST INVENTORY SINCE 2012 The inventory also notes an in- crease in parking within the zone and the need for more casual storage for fishermen who need to work on their traps or nets.

However, staff says that more analysis will be needed before the city can determine whether the additional parking is legal. loss of casual storage and yard space appears to be the victim of increases in parking the inventory states. is beyond the scope of this inven- tory to discover if the loss of ca- sual storage and yard space has resulted from a filling of vacancy, or a displacement of active ma- rine Other outdoor space once avail- able to marine-dependent uses was lost to outdoor seating from restaurants on the Maine Wharf and the Portland Pier. The inventory also addresses investments into the aging piers. Projects that exceed $250,000 in the non-marine overlay zone must invest at least 5 percent of a costs into maintaining the commercial piers.

The inventory states that, based on permitting data, $700,000 has been invested in pier infrastruc- ture. However, elsewhere in the report, noted that $1.8 million was invested into marine infra- structure at Union Wharf, where an office building was construct- ed in the non-marine use overlay zone. The pier owner, Charlie Poole, said at a recent meeting that investment rebuilt 210 linear feet of pier. City officials were not able to clarify the apparent dis- crepancy on Thursday. This is the first inventory of the Waterfront Central Zone since 2012.

It does not include an anal- ysis of activity in the non-marine use overlay zone, an area gener- ally stretching as far as 150 feet from the center of Commercial Street that can be developed into all non-marine uses. Nor does it include an analysis of marine ac- tivity outside of the zone, which includes a new shipyard on West Commercial Street and planned marina on the Eastern Water- front. Back in 2010 when the City Council voted to allow more non-marine dependent uses on the waterfront, it required staff to present an annual inventory to councilors less than once a so it could monitor the impact of those changes. But no inventory has been assembled since 2013, which the previous activity was reported. CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT Since then, Portland has seen an exceptional amount of construc- tion activity along the waterfront.

The ripple effects of rapid development, including loss of work spaces and increased traffic congestion, have put pres- sure on the working waterfront, prompting people who depend on waterfront access for their living to begin collecting signatures for a citizens initiative that would es- sentially restore strict zoning pro- tections for fishermen that were adopted through a referendum in the mid-1980s. The council adopted a six-month moratorium on development with- in the waterside of Commercial Street last month and formed the 11-member Waterfront Working Group of city officials, fishermen and pier owners, among others, to find solutions for issues raised by referendum advocates, who con- tinue to collect signatures. Advocates have said they are waiting to see if the city is serious about addressing their issues be- fore deciding whether to submit their petition prior to the Jan. 18 deadline. Randy Billings can be contacted at 791-6346 or at: Twitter: randybillings REPORT Continued from Page A1 Staff photo by Derek Davis Shifting uses documented in a new inventory report underscore the tensions that prompted working waterfront advocates to demand protections for marine activity on wharves.

Staff photo by Gregory Rec An office building goes up on waterfront last year. A city report shows an 8 percent decrease in space available for marine-dependent uses in the Waterfront Central Zone since 2012. three times the amount sto- len. Three local businesses Central Furniture, San- ford Safe Storage and SIS Bank each gave $1,700 to the organization. NO ARRESTS IN THE INCIDENT Sometime between 3:30 p.m.

on Christmas Eve and 10 a.m. on Dec. 26, a bur- glar or burglars pried open a metal door at the rear of the Salvation Army building at 871 Main made their way to a second floor of- fice and broke into a 4-foot, 120-pound safe. Inside was $1,700 in cash collected in kettles on Christmas Eve that could not be deposited in the bank until after the holiday. Sanford police said Thurs- day that they continue to in- vestigate the theft and have not made any arrests in the incident.

Mark Rouillard, who owns Central Furniture with his brother Matt, was scrolling through his Twitter feed when he came across a news story about the break- in. He immediately called his brother to talk about a theft that he knew would di- rectly affect people in their community. thought it was out- Rouillard said. when we make a big donation we talk about it back and forth. This time we just said we should cover it.

It was that easy and Rouillard said he and his brother made the donation on behalf of their staff and the customers who have supported their business for three generations. They hoped their donation would bring and at a difficult time for the organization, which they support because of how ef- fectively it provides help to people who need it. The Sanford branch of the Salvation Army serves San- ford, Springvale, Shapleigh, Alfred, Lyman and Water- boro by helping people with rent, electricity and fuel as- sistance, providing food and gifts to families at Christ- mas, and sending children to summer camp. The orga- nization also stocks a food pantry and provides sup- port to keep families in their homes, Smullen said. A DIFFICULT Mark Patterson, who owns Sanford Safe Storage and Patco Construction with his brother Greg, hesi- tate to donate $1,700 when he heard about the theft.

As a member of the Sanford Kiwanis, he has in the past rung the bell for the Salva- tion Army while collecting kettle donations. a difficult de- Patterson said. Salvation Army does so many wonderful things for people in need. They do good work and glad to be part of While Patterson was happy to make a donation through his business, the donations from individ- uals that he finds most im- pressive. of the donations come from people who have received help from the Sal- vation Army.

That in itself represents how great of a service Salvation Army pro- vides in our he said. SIS Bank, which is based in Sanford, made a donation to cover the stolen mon- ey because the Salvation Army done so much good for this said Blaine Boudreau, the president and CEO. is very disappointing, especially during the Christ- mas season, that their ef- forts had to be halted due to this Boudreau said in a written statement. want to make sure the Salvation Army can con- tinue their mission during the holiday season and the New Year without skipping a Smullen, who said this is the first theft in the five years she has worked in the Sanford office, said it has been to hear stories from people who have walked into the of- fice to make donations. the money that was stolen, and also the community that has stepped up to re- imburse she said.

truly awe-inspiring to see the community help Gillian Graham can be contacted at 791-6315 or at: Twitter: grahamgillian SANFORD Continued from Page A1 Staff photo by Derek Davis the community helping the Salvation Army Capt. Erin Smullen said Thursday after three local businesses each covered the $1,700 in donations that were stolen from the Sanford service organization. she would do this right away and made these promises, but when someone gets into office, you just know how long it would Throughout the 2018 guberna- torial campaign, Mills said she would make implementing Med- icaid expansion a top priority. Medicaid provides insurance cov- erage for low-income and disabled residents, and is operated by the states with federal oversight. Funding is a blend of federal and state dollars, with the federal gov- ernment covering 90 percent of costs under expansion.

Maine is expected to spend about $50 mil- lion per year on Medicaid expan- sion and receive more than $500 million in federal money. than a year ago, the peo- ple of Maine voted to expand Med- icaid. Today, my administration is taking the long-awaited steps to fulfill their Mills, a Demo- crat, said in a written statement. am directing my administration to begin implementing Medicaid expansion as quickly and as effi- ciently as possible so that we can help more Maine people access the health care they Maine voters approved Medic- aid expansion by 59-41 percent in a November 2017 referendum, but LePage refused to implement it. A lawsuit that attempted to force the LePage administration to implement the expansion won at every stage in court, but LePage dragged out the process, leaving it to Mills to act.

LePage continued his opposition Thursday, posting a statement to his new Twitter account, RLePage1, that once again raised his oft-stated objection to expan- sion: Democrats in the Legisla- ture yet found sustainable funding for Medicaid expansion. Executive Order have a way to He concluded by saying: be AGGRESSIVELY AS Medicaid expansion is available to those earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty limit $16,753 for a single person, and $28,676 for a family of three. According to a news release, the executive order the De- partment of Health and Human Services to make changes to pro- cess the applications of Mainers seeking health care coverage un- der Medicaid expansion, including amending the filings of the previ- ous administration to reflect the accurate date of implementation and to seek the earliest possible approvals as allowed under the ex- pansion In a letter Thursday to Seema Verma, administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Med- icaid Services, Mills said the peo- will was I signed an executive or- der directing that expansion hap- pen as smoothly, as efficiently, and importantly as aggressively as Mills wrote. The coverage is retroactive to July 2, so Mainers who applied for Medicaid in 2018 but were denied benefits and incurred expenses that should have been covered by Medicaid will be reimbursed.

Jeanne Lambrew, who was nom- inated by Mills to be health and hu- man services commissioner, said in a written statement, Mills and I share a commitment to ensuring that the Department of Health and Human Services achieves its core mission to safe- guard the health and well-being of Maine children and families. The executive order is a critical first step in achieving that mission. Full implementation of Medicaid expansion will take time and the collective cooperation of our health system, but with Governor leadership, access to affordable health care coverage for Mainers is now on the HOSPITAL NETWORK IS PREPARED Robyn Merrill, executive director of Maine Equal Justice Partners, the group that campaigned for the referendum and sued the LePage administration for failure to im- plement it, said having an admin- istration that supports the goals of Medicaid expansion lighter and more implications are significant for Merrill said. be delaying the care they need, like they did when they were uninsured. Medicaid expan- sion is going to become a reality, finally.

taken a long Thousands of Mainers with sub- stance use disorder rough esti- mates suggest 10,000 to 25,000 peo- ple will gain access to treatment under expansion. Lisa Letourneau, associate medical director of Maine Quali- ty Counts who sees patients with opioid use disorder, said many pa- tients with substance use disorder are uninsured, and Medicaid ex- pansion will remove a barrier for them. is going to be a lifesaving opportunity for a lot of Letourneau said. A record 418 Mainers died of drug overdoses in 2017, and 180 through the first six months of 2018, according to state statistics. Carol Zechman, director of Ac- cess to Care programs at Maine- Health, the parent company of Maine Medical Center and a net- work of hospitals and health care providers in much of southern and midcoast Maine, said patient capacity in the network should be able to absorb new Medicaid pa- tients.

The network has been plan- ning for the expansion since the referendum was approved in 2017. Joe Lawlor can be contacted at 791- 6376 or at: Twitter: joelawlorph MEDICAID Continued from Page A1 Medicaid expansion is going to become a reality, finally. taken a long ROBYN MERRILL executive director, Maine Equal Justice Partners.