By Amanda Estes
Staff Writer
    Residents of South Portland’s Knightville Mill Creek neighborhood were again out in full force to express their opposition to a four-story condominium office building on Waterman Drive, but in the end, the city council cleared the way for developer Andrew Ingalls to construct a 50 foot building.
    At Monday’s council meeting, a 5-2 vote, with Jim Hughes and Ralph Baxter opposed, amended the city’s zoning ordinance to add the property at 90-100 Waterman Drive to those in the Knightville Design District that have a 50-foot height limit and to those in the Village Commercial (VC) zoning district that do not have a required minimum front yard setback. The amendment will allow Ingalls to construct a structure 15 feet taller and 15 feet closer to Waterman Drive than otherwise allowed. According to Ingalls, a taller, narrower building will be more attractive and will allow for first floor retail space and more landscaping and parking options around the exterior.
    Councilors largely had not changed their minds since the first reading on May 21, with the exception of Ralph Baxter, who said neither a three-story nor a four-story building was compatible with the neighborhood.
    A last minute amendment, proposed by planning board member Rob Schreiber, threatened to hinder the project, as councilors worried they would be creating a conditional zone.
Planning Director Tex Haeuser’s version of the amendment, drafted at 3:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon, was aimed at “further restrict(ing) any such construction taking advantage of design district height” by requiring the building receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design or LEED certification. An independent third party would determine whether the project meets prerequisites and benchmarks within several categories under the umbrella of sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. Depending on the number of benchmarks or “credits” met, the project is awarded Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum certification.
    Before receiving a building permit, the developer for any “Design District building fronting on Waterman Drive that is over 45-feet in height,” which Haeuser said only applies to the Ingalls lot, must prove to the planning director that the project is in the process of receiving LEED certification. Before receiving an occupancy permit, the developer must submit a performance guarantee to the city in the amount of one-half of one percent of the total project cost. If the building fails to receive LEED certification within one year of the occupancy issue date, the city will receive the guarantee. In the case of Ingalls’ project, the guarantee would be between $25,000 and $30,000, Haeuser said.
    “We would be establishing South Portland within the state as an energy efficient and progressively environmental community,” Haeuser said.
    He said it would be the first LEED certified building in the city and one of few LEED buildings in the state.
    In addition, Haeuser said the amendment would put more restrictions on the developer by requiring more landscaping, more environmentally friendly materials and more energy efficiency.
Councilor Jim Hughes said he had a problem with the amendment as proposed and favored pulling back the height limit to 35 feet rather than 45 feet. He added that $25,000 didn’t sound like a significant amount of money.
    Haeuser said reducing the height limit to 35 feet would require LEED certification for buildings that already exist.
    Linda Boudreau said because Schreiber’s amendment was so specific to the Ingalls property, the council would be creating a conditional zone. She expressed concern that “leverage was being used with LEED certification to get 45 feet.”
    In the event, the VC district expanded, Haeuser said any new construction would need to meet the new regulations. He said it was not a conditional zone, but a “regular zone situation pertaining to one large lot.”
    Speaking as a private citizen, Schreiber said his amendment did not create a conditional zone because the council could pass the initial ordinance change without also passing his amendment.
    “My hope is residents can see the value of having a green building in the neighborhood,” Schreiber said.
    Ingalls said the new amendment was confusing. With a three-story building, he said, there would not be enough revenue to achieve LEED certification. A four-story building, however, would be “future oriented” with a reduction in the carbon footprint and the water use.
    As LEED certification would increase the project by as much as ten percent of the building cost, however, Ingalls said a three-story building might bring in more money than the taller structure.
    Paul Leddy and Peter Houser, the builders behind the condominium unit project on the site of the former Ocean Street Auto property, said during public discussion there was no need for the LEED component as the proposed green design would likely meet or exceed the gold standards anyway.
    After the LEED amendment failed to garner any council support, the debate over the value of the extra story continued. Susan Raye and Rommy Brown, both members of the Knightville Mill Creek Neighborhood Association, and Knightville resident Susan Henderson said the council seemed to be focused on the tax revenue that a four-story building would secure.
    “Financial revenue is not the only kind of revenue the city needs to consider,” said Henderson.
    Brown said the “tax revenue from the fourth floor pales in comparison” to the funding the neighborhood has received from community development block grants and the Knightville Mill Creek TIF.
    Councilor Maxine Beecher said she found comments insinuating the council was dazzled by tax revenues offensive. 
    Mayor Claude Morgan added that he had heard “nary a squeak” about tax revenues. While the city may gain new sources of tax revenue, the result is a reduction in state aid, particularly for the city’s schools, Morgan said.