“They brought this into our consciousness and forced us to act,”
Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling thanked the fishermen for raising the issue of protecting the working waterfront from development.
Listen to our podcast for an update from Monique Coombs
Last January, in response to concerned fishermen who had started a city-wide referendum to limit the unconstrained and unplanned development along the working waterfront in Portland, a moratorium was placed on development projects on the working waterfront and a waterfront advisory group was created.
After months of hard work, in June, the moratorium on development came to an end and the City Council voted in favor of the amendments agreed upon by the Working Waterfront Advisory Group which included fishermen and wharf owners who together helped develop a set of ordinances that will protect access for fishermen. The outcome from this process was a huge win for the fishing industry as it shrunk the non-marine use overlay zone (area where non-marine related development can take place near the water) and reaffirmed the City's commitment to it's fishing heritage, and stopped several development projects (including the proposed hotel which initiated this fight).
To learn a bit more about the importance of Portland's working waterfront, you can listen to our three part podcast series..
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