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Planning staff reports $2.5M brownfields grant, active-transport plan and summer permits
Summary
At the May 21 meeting staff told the Bell House Planning Board the city is a likely recipient of a roughly $2.5 million Brownfields grant to demolish and remediate contaminated sites and outlined planning initiatives including a finalized Active Transportation Plan, several summer permit approvals and an update on short-term rental counts.
City planning staff used the planning report portion of the May 21 meeting to update the Bell House Planning Board on several ongoing initiatives and recent developments.
Staff said the city was notified it is likely to receive a Brownfields grant in the neighborhood of $2.5 million to address contaminated sites, including funds to demolish the Bradbury building, and about $1.5 million to begin renovations at the adjacent courthouse to abate PCBs, asbestos and lead paint. Staff cautioned that the exact grant awards and scopes will be finalized during grant administration and procurement processes.
The report also covered permitting and seasonal activity: a food-truck park at 139 Searsport Ave is expected to open soon; the 1st National Bank received permits for a renovation and temporary drive-through window; rooftop photovoltaic permits were issued for a cooperative solar project; and the Belfast Historical Museum received an interior-demo permit for the Opera House block. Staff said the city issued four curbside permits for restaurants for the summer season and that the number of short-term rentals being tracked dropped to 66 this year, down about 10 from the previous year.
On transportation planning, staff summarized a finalized Active Transportation Plan presented to council on May 6. The plan contains a range of suggested treatments—from bike lanes and improved sidewalks to longer-term ideas such as a traffic circle—and will be used to pursue state transportation funding for smaller-scale pedestrian and bicycle improvements and to guide future design work. Staff invited board members and the public to engage with the Pedestrian Transportation and Accessibility Committee as projects are developed.
Staff also noted upcoming planning-board work on subdivision ordinance revisions and encouraged applicants to secure planning approvals before a fall grant cycle to improve competitiveness for Maine State Housing funding. The board set tentative June meeting dates to continue that work.
The meeting moved on after the report to other agenda items and then adjourned.
