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Stroudwater residents press council over Jetport plan to clear wetlands for surface parking; neighbors cite master plan conflict
Summary
Multiple Stroudwater and other Portland residents urged the council to reject proposed surface parking at the Jetport, saying it conflicts with the 2018 Jetport sustainable master plan and harms wetlands and tree buffers. Speakers presented tree counts and contested Jetport staff claims on sound buffering and ash borer removals.
A group of Stroudwater neighborhood residents and nearby homeowners used the council's public‑comment period to press Portland leaders on a proposed surface parking expansion at the Jetport, urging the city to withhold funding and to enforce the airport master plan and wetland protections.
Residents said Jetport staff and the planning board have relied on incomplete or inaccurate analysis and that an alternative — expanding the terminal garage — would be more consistent with the 2018 Jetport Sustainable Master Plan. The speakers said the planning board’s approval of a surface‑parking plan conflicts with the master plan and with multiple prior rejections of similar proposals.
Key points from public comment
Woody Howard, representing the Stroud Water Neighborhood Association, said Jetport leadership repeatedly told the neighborhood "trees are not an effective buffer for sound waves," a claim he challenged. Howard said the JetPort director overstated ash‑borer impacts: "Of the 160 trees to be cut, exactly 19 are affected by ash borers. The other 141 trees... are healthy trees," he told the council.
Other residents and attorneys urged the council to withhold funding for what they described as a $9.1 million surface‑lot option that would add roughly 265 spaces, while noting that a garage expansion could yield 2,000 spaces. Deborah Napier and Philip Ogden presented the master plan and capital improvement maps showing the master plan’s designated garage footprints and said the proposed surface lot is not included.
What the council heard about process and policy
Speakers said the Jetport's facility planning should be driven by demand forecasts and capital improvement blocks in the master plan rather than ad hoc engineering studies. They pointed to enplanement data presented at committee meetings showing passenger activity exceeded 2035 forecast levels and asked the city to demand more accurate analyses before approving wetland alterations.
Ending note
Speakers asked the council to delay or withhold funding decisions and to require the Jetport to pursue garage expansion or other alternatives that avoid clearing wetlands and mature tree buffers. City staff and the council did not take action on the Jetport proposals during the meeting; councilors noted the concerns and referred the record to the appropriate committees and staff for follow‑up.
