PORTLAND, Maine — Fishermen have launched a campaign to contain development and protect Portland’s waterfront.
The Portland Press Herald reports a group of fishermen and their supporters gathered Sunday at Andy’s Old Port Pub to collect petition signatures and start fundraising in pursuit of a citywide referendum to restore a water-dependency use requirement in the zoning along the city’s working waterfront.
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Developers are currently proposing hotel and garage projects along the waterfront.
Local fishermen say development could harm fishing. The group says protections requiring water-dependency uses have been weakened by zoning amendments since their adoption — also by referendum — in 1987.
[Portland residents seek to limit development on the waterfront]
Yarmouth resident Willis Spear says waterfront development is “outpacing what can be handled.” The lobsterman says parking and hotels can be built virtually anywhere but fishermen need the waterfront, and are rapidly running out of space to work.
Organizers need at least 1,500 signatures by January in order to move forward with the initiative.
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