Formula biz limits repealed
New task force to tackle issue
By Chris Busby
It’s back to business as usual in Portland, Maine. By a 5-2 vote, the City Council has repealed the controversial limits on so-called “formula” businesses in the Old Port, Bayside and parts of downtown, re-opening the door for Hooters and any other chain or franchise business to set up shop.
“The only way to go forward with this is to take a step backward,” said Councilor Dave Marshall, co-sponsor of the repeal motion.
A new task force will be formed to study the effects of chain and franchise businesses citywide and report back to the Council, likely later this year, on any recommendations to curtail those types of enterprises. The 15-member body will be comprised of two city councilors; a citizen representative from each of the city’s five election districts; a formula business owner; a downtown property owner; the owner of an independent, local business; and one representative each from the Maine Real Estate and Developers Association, the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Portland Independent Business and Community Alliance (PIBCA, the group behind the “Portland Buy Local” campaign), the Bayside Community Development Corporation, and Portland’s Downtown District, a quasi-municipal organization of Old Port and downtown businesses of all types.
Voting in the majority were Marshall and co-sponsor Kevin Donoghue, Cheryl Leeman, Jim Cohen and Ed Suslovic. Councilor Jim Cloutier and Mayor Nick Mavodones voted to keep the limits in place while a task force studies the issue, but that amendment was defeated 5-2. Councilors Donna Carr and Jill Duson, both supporters of the limits as written, were absent, though their votes would not have affected the outcome. After the amendment to keep the limits in place failed, the vote for repeal was unanimous.
In contrast to past Council meetings on this matter, turnout was small for the Feb. 21 vote. All five speakers from the public supported immediate repeal.
The prospect a Hooters restaurant will open in part of the downtown building occupied by The Stadium is still in limbo. Police are still investigating the incident just before New Year’s Eve in which the sports bar suffered an estimated $750,000 in damages during a late-night orgy of vandalism.
In other Council action – or, rather, inaction – the order to exempt the YWCA’s Spring Street property from the city’s housing replacement ordinance again failed to win five votes either for or against it. Having deadlocked 3-3 during the Feb. 5 Council meeting, councilors considered the same proposal again, but this time the tally was 4-2, with Marshall, Donoghue, Cloutier and Mavodones in the majority. Cohen recused himself given his law firm’s work on the Y’s behalf.
Roger Clement, attorney for the Y, told councilors the non-profit is in no hurry to get closure on the matter from the city, though that closure is expected to come at the next Council meeting. Duson voted against the exception earlier this month, and if she and the four councilors who opposed the exemption last night are present at the March 5 meeting, their five votes will officially nix the exemption request.
An order to change the way police overtime coverage in the Old Port is paid for also failed to get five votes. Councilors Marshall and Donoghue and Mayor Mavodones voted in favor of adding the $61,000 expense to the general city budget; Cloutier, Cohen, Leeman and Suslovic supported the creation of a new special-tax zone that would make restaurants and bars with liquor licenses in the Old Port and much of downtown pay higher liquor license fees to cover the cost.
This matter is expected to come back before the Council on March 19.
