Staff Writer 

 Lisa Foster has waited nearly five years to redevelop the building at 408 Preble Street in South Portland’s Willard Square neighborhood, and she may have to wait a little longer.

“She’s a very patient person,” Willard Neighborhood Association member Devon Gray said of Foster, who lives in England and inherited the property from her grandmother in 2004. “She’s continuing to explore her options.”

In June 2006, Foster worked with city officials to create a new “Village Commerical – Willard Zone,” which would allow her to convert the .39-acre parcel – formerly home to a five-unit apartment building – into a building complex including an art studio, café and apartments for visiting artists. Jeanelle Demers, the future studio manager for the property, said Foster originally planned to tear down the current structure – built in 1790 and valued at less than $10,000 – and construct three new buildings for the project. 

“[The existing building] is in pretty bad shape at the moment. It has been vacant for a long time,” Demers said.

Ultimately, the council approved the zone change for the area despite some councilors’ concerns about parking and changes to density within the area. On Monday, Councilor Linda Boudreau said she voted against the zone change in 2006 not because of Foster’s plans, but implications it could have had for the entire neighborhood. 

“[The zone change] wasn’t for just her property,” Boudreau said. “It doesn’t matter what [Foster] does, it’s that we opened it up to other things.”

Since the rezoning, Boudreau said she was unaware of any property owner taking advantage of the “Village Commercial – Willard Zone” ordinance, which requires less parking than the city’s Limited Business Zone. Demers said Foster has waited for a favorable financial climate to begin the project at 408 Preble Street. 

“I think just as the timing went bad for [Foster] it went bad for everybody else,” Boudreau said.

Last week, Foster and Demers presented a new plan to the Willard Neighborhood Association more suited to the current economic climate. Rather than construct three new buildings, Demers said Foster met with contractors to discuss renovating the existing building. The renovation would include constructing a shared studio space for parent-child art lessons, a gym for yoga and pilates classes and residential apartments for artists, she said.

“We want to make it more affordable than the high end studios in Portland. It’s really for people who don’t have hundreds and hundreds of dollars,” she said. “We want it to be a place where artists can meet each other and share ideas.” 

South Portland Code Enforcement Officer Patricia Doucette said the renovation could be subject to the city’s site plan review process – required of all new developments exceeding 1,000 square feet – something Demers said could delay the project.

“We were told [by the city planning office] there would be no site plan review if we just renovated,” Demers said. “We still really want to open this summer, we don’t want to wait any longer.”

Demers said she believed the renovation would involve less than 1,000 square feet of new space, although according to the city assessor’s office the building has a total of more than 2,200 square feet of living space with additional outbuildings. If the proposal for the building does trigger the site plan review requirement, Demers said Foster would most likely seek approval for her original plans: demolishing the existing building and constructing three new ones.

“Until we get some firm plans about the uses and square footage I can’t confirm [the project] will have to go to the planning board,” Doucette said. 

Gray said the Willard Neighborhood Association has not taken a collective position on the redevelopment of 408 Preble Street and Boudreau said the city would be unlikely to make any changes that could affect the project without the organization’s input.

“The city usually doesn’t go back and amend their zoning ordinances ‘just because,’” she said.