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I definitely agree that there's still more parking than necessary in this proposal, but the project is being built on what is an existing surface parking lot that has 40-something parking spaces, so it is giving us a net reduction in parking.

Yeah, I'm a little dubious about those huge riverfront parking lots – they're wasting some of their most valuable real estate on asphalt (and it looks like they're also planning at least some ground-floor structured parking?) With all the development in this area there's a strong case for...

Asking them to add another floor to include more apartments on the site is good feedback for the applicants and the Planning Board to hear, especially now at the workshop stage. I doubt it's a financial issue – adding another floor would add some construction expense, but most of the fixed...

Neighorhood meeting announcement with an explanation of why it's getting a "Brown Street" address even though it's going to front Casco Street: Dear Neighbor: Please join Developers Collaborative Predevelopment LLC and Equality Community LP, for a Neighborhood Meeting via Zoom to discuss their...

This is a problem everywhere in the U.S., even in Boise, although some cities work harder than others to segregate encampments into places where tourists are less likely to see them: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/community/boise/article269766652.html Simply arresting homeless people...

Great essay on NIMBYism and the climate in this month's Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2023/04/yimby-nimby-progressives-clean-energy-infrastructure-housing-development-wind-solar-bill-mckibben/ Putting this is the Bayside thread in memory of Peter Monro's successful...

Planning board application materials for the 185-unit Seavey Street project, which includes 91 affordable units in 2 buildings from Avesta and 94 market-rate units in two other buildings on a ~3-acre site (61 units per acre). For some reason the renderings only illustrate the 2 buildings closest...

California just funded early design for a new high-speed rail link from Palmdale to Victor Valley to connect the two systems: https://highdesertcorridor.org/high-desert-corridor-intercity-high-speed-rail-corridor-project-awarded-8-million-grant-from-california-state-transportation-agency/...

Luckily Google Street View has memorialized how much history we've lost

Family Dollar has already been redeveloped as a hotel... for rats https://www.pressherald.com/2023/04/05/rat-infested-store-in-westbrook-posed-numerous-hazards/

I remember when I moved to Portland in 2006, the city still required 2 parking spaces for every apartment, no matter how big or small. This 6-unit on Sheridan Street was one of the few new buildings constructed under those rules during the bubble years, and you can see in the satellite view how...

That Scarborough Downs project is proposing a 2.5-acre, 155-space surface parking lot for 42 apartments and ground-floor retail – as required by Scarborough's insane zoning rules 😬😬😬

This is actually well under construction; the first floor has already been framed: And here's a closer look at phase one, nearing completion:

This could be interesting: a zone change application for 426 Presumpscot Street (near the Falmouth line, where Presumpscot meets Ocean Ave.) for a "residential project that will include rental units with a target rent affordable to 100% AMI as well as market-rate, residential condominium units...

Archetype is really making a name for themselves for cheap, phoning-it-in architecture.

If this particular line is going to be continued to be used for freight, those industrial and warehousing land uses are incompatible with an expensive new rail transit service. If this line is going to be used for transit service, then almost all of those industrial parcels will need to be...

I mean, I brought this up more to illustrate how pie-in-the-sky this proposal is, but if it *were* ever to come to pass, it'll be cheaper and more effective to simply buy out the single remaining industrial customer and relocate them to a new spot on the CSX mainline (and free up that lot for...

Can anyone familiar with building codes explain why residential would require a new stairwell in addition to the two this building already has? I don't understand why they can't move the hallway so that instead of between units 315 and 316, it runs between 318 and the utility room to provide...

On the other hand, if Westbrook could build 12,000 new apartments in the square mile outlined in white here, then you could probably justify the costs of a new light rail line on the Mountain Division. Last I heard, Rock Row is planning 800 apartments on their site, so we'd just need 14 more of...

In 2019 the Amtrak Downeaster and Rock Row commissioned a study of a commuter rail service on the Mountain Division between downtown Westbrook and Portland: https://www.nnepra.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Westbrook-to-Portland-Conceptual-Rail-Transit-Study.pdf The current track is limited to...