Portland Harbor Common 30% Design Development presentation to Council

Parks Director Ethan Hipple presented the public and Portland City council an update on Portland Harbor Common with renderings and site plans of the 30% design development of the project. The project has gone forward following earlier public presentation and input on prelimianry design from the citizen consultant initiators, and steering committee review. Feedback from these meetings and other public input has established programming and design parameters for the project, in addition to various City departmental and operational inputs. Feburary 5th meeting link (project presentation begins at 25:00 minute mark)
https://portlandme.portal.civicclerk.com/event/6485/media

Since those meetings, Federal grant funding has been procured from the Portland Parks Conservancy and the citizen advocacy group for management and construction costs associated with project implementation. Portland Parks has been working with Sebago Technics to refine design plans and work towards permiting and construction documents for the new public space.

The current design reflects a base bid, phase I, project that can expand over time as appropriate. Federal funding will be utilized for preliminary construction activities, site grading, drainage and utility infrastructure, walkway and plaza elements, irrigated lawn, plantings and landscape beds, and hardscape elements. Additional items, such as swings, seating, lighting and additional site furnishings will be provided by fundraising efforts from the Portland Parks Conservancy.

Points of interest:

• The project will convert approximately 125 of the existing 250 surface parking spaces into public open space. Of this, 50 spaces or so will be established with ADA parking, stripped pedestrian crossings, and pull arounds for Ocean Gateway and Park visitor day use. Roughly 75 spaces will be preserved on the western side of the site supporting Maine State Pier, Municipal parking and where current Islander parking is established.
• The project will accomodate logistical needs from the western edge for Maine State Pier and other eastern waterfront operations by creating a flexible plaza area that can be used for outdoor seating and park programming opportunities (including vendor setups and events, food truck loop with electrical power hook ups, and movable waterfront seating) or be easily repurposed for laydown or operational needs for Maine State Pier. The gated control points will allow for pedestrian safety, and adapatation for a mustering location or for bus pickups and other types of needs that will not disrupt parking flow or park circulation
• Future Pier or other operational needs are possible with the site design on western edge of park flex area
• The section of Eastern Trail along Thames street on the north boundary of the project will be roughly doubled in width to accomodate multi use pathway needs (expanding from 8' / 10' to 20' wide inside
• A new 20' wide waterfront promenade path will connect Maine State Pier to Ocean Gateway
• A 20,000 square foot lawn will be available for passive use (not athletic field programming or dog park or other limited / specialized use)
• An elevated plaza space off of the eastern trail at the center of the park (which can adapt to hold a stage, or larger gatherings of groups, etc)
• Over 35 native trees are proposed with additional native, salt resistant landscaping beds
• Interpretative signage elements will be included to share the story of the history of the site and specific locations for future public art will be established
• New seating through seatwalls, benches, and two signature swings are anticipated through donor and fundraising efforts
• The project will create a resilient buffering landuse to help slow and absorb stormwater impacts through removal of impervious surfaces and act as a buffer area for storm surge or future extreme weather events.
• Serve as a connector for pedestrians in the neigborhood and future link to future phases of public openspace along the waterfront

For plan renderings and design files, please visit the civil space project page and look under the "supporting documents" links at the bottom right of the page.
https://portland.civilspace.io/en/projects/portland-harbor-common

Please stay tuned to this website for future updates or in the Parks monthly newsletter!