PORTLAND — Neighborhood and citywide planning policy will be open to discussion during four workshops this month, city spokeswoman Jessica Grondin said Sept. 1.

The meetings begin Tuesday, Sept. 15, with the first workshop on a transportation master plan for the Bayside neighborhood.

The 6 p.m. meeting at the Merrill Auditorium Rehearsal Hall at 20 Myrtle St. will look at traffic, land use, parking, and pedestrian and bicycling accessibility for the area bordered by Washington, Cumberland and Forest avenues and Interstate 295.

The study will look at recommendations for better connecting and configuring neighborhood streets, including Marginal Way, and Portland, Oxford, Lancaster, Pearl and Elm streets.

Public response will also be accepted online beginning Sept. 16 at portlandstudies.org, and Grondin said a more informal open house at an as-yet unnamed Bayside business will be held next month.

The Sept. 15 workshop will be one of three, with the study for recommendations for a master plan expected to be completed by the end of 2015.

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Cross-town connections

The final workshop for two studies on linking pedestrian and bicycle access from the Martin’s Point Bridge on U.S. Route 1 to the Tukey’s Bridge area on Interstate 295, and on the corridor of West Commercial Street, will be held Thursday, Sept. 17, also at the Merrill Auditorium Rehearsal Hall.

The studies seek input on the best ways to connect well-used paths from Back Cove and East End to the new Martin’s Point Bridge, which was constructed with bicycle lanes and a wider pedestrian path. The study has also looked into ways to merge or expand the paths on Tukey’s Bridge or along Veranda Street.

With new development on West Commercial Street, the second study also looks at ways to add sidewalks, possibly a bicycle lane, and methods for accommodating increased truck traffic at the International Marine Terminal.

The studies and final plans are being developed by Cambridge, Massachusetts,-based Alta Planning & Design, with support from the Falmouth-based office of TY Lin and Yarmouth-based MRLD Landscape Architecture & Urbanism.

Public input will also be accepted online beginning Sept. 16 at portlandstudies.org. For more information about the study, contact coordinator Carol Morris at cmorris@morriscomm.net or 329-6502.

Comprehensive Plan

Also on Sept. 17, the first of two open houses on the city Comprehensive Plan will be held from 3-7 p.m. in the cafeteria at Deering High School, 370 Stevens Ave.

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Hosted by the city Planning & Urban Development Department, the open houses will describe the facets of the plan while seeking input for future revisions.

Certification of the plan with the state Growth Management Act lapsed this spring. City Planning and Urban Development Director Jeff Levine has said he expects the current plan to be re-certified by the end of 2015.

A second open house will be held from 3-7 p.m. Sept. 24 at the Merrill Auditorium Rehearsal Hall.

For more information on the plan and open houses, contact city senior planner Christine Grimando at cdg@portlandmaine.gov or 874-8608. 

David Harry can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 110 or dharry@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidHarry8.

The final Portland workshop on linking paths on the Martin’s Point and Tukey’s bridges will be held Sept. 17 at the Merrill Auditorium rehearsal space, 20 Myrtle St. The workshop is one of four planning workshops that week.


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