Penobscot
Landing
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Officials Discuss Brewer Waterfront Project BREWER — Making Brewer’s waterfront more attractive to residents and visitors, as well as potential investors, has been the thrust of much of Brewer officials’ time and energy over the past several months. During a public hearing Thursday, the public had a chance to learn more about some of the work done to date. The session at the Brewer Auditorium offered residents, business people and other waterfront stakeholders opportunities to see and comment on initial concepts and plans; learn about proposed land uses; offer suggestions for future versions of the waterfront plan; discuss funding; and meet the planning team, which consists of a blend of Brewer city staff, residents, business people and consultants hired especially for the waterfront revival project.Tapped for the work was the consulting team consisting of: MBIA Bartram & Cochran, a national commercial real estate and economic development firm from Hartford, Conn.; Civil Engineering Services Inc., a Brewer engineering firm; the Parrish Group, a Philadelphia-based consulting firm specializing in waterfront projects worldwide; Casey & Godfrey Consulting Engineers of Gardiner, experts in transportation and parking issues; Carol R. Johnson Associates of Cambridge, Mass., a landscape architectural design and environmental planning firm; and Marin Associates of Concord, N.H., an environmental consulting firm. The idea, city officials said earlier, was to hammer out an aggressive yet realistic redevelopment program for Brewer’s waterfront target area, the strip of land that runs along the Penobscot River from just north of the Penobscot River Bridge southward to the Orrington line. The biggest changes, however, would involve the portion between the Penobscot River, Chamberlain and Veterans Memorial bridges. The riverfront revival plan, as it has evolved to date, calls for some significant changes, but changes meant to reflect the people, the culture and the history of the area. Brewer officials also are working with their counterparts on the other side of the river in Bangor to make sure that the two cities’ efforts dovetail with one another. Bangor City Councilor Gerald Palmer and Lee Umphrey, who handles intergovernmental relations for Bangor, were among the 50 or so people who attended the hearing. During Thursday’s hearing, members of the planning team presented a draft master plan for Penobscot Landing, the name chosen for Brewer’s waterfront. The name — which MBIA Bartram & Cochran’s Richard Stoltz said so far has won widespread support here — will lend the area an instantly recognizable identity, much like Portland’s Old Port area. Penobscot Landing, he said, was selected to honor the river and its importance to the city, once a major player in the nation’s shipbuilding industry. Other proposals put forward during the hearing called for establishing an entertainment and niche retail district, developing a farmers and public market, creating space for artisans and crafters and for musical and theatrical productions, and building a riverfront recreational path and a full-service marina. Some of the projects, such as the recreational path, would be the city’s responsibility to tackle. Others, like the marina and restaurants and clubs, call for the involvement of private property owners and the business community. “This is definitely not pie-in-the-sky,’’ Stoltz said. ”This is scaled to what will work in Brewer.’’ Erosion, however, is one problem planners said will have to be dealt with before some aspects of the redevelopment plan can be implemented. According to James Parker of CES, shoreline in some spots on the Brewer side of the river has eroded at a rate of as much as 25 to 30 feet in two or three year’s time. “The rate at which it’s deteriorating is accelerating,’’ said Parker, also an avid boater. In his estimation, stopping further erosion could be perhaps the single most expensive waterfront problem to address. Initial estimates suggest shoring up the shore line could cost as much as $600 per linear foot for stone rip rap to $1,300 per linear foot for new timber cribbing. Sachs said the city would be looking into federal and state assistance for that part of the project. Redevelopment team members envision the entertainment and niche retail district as a place where both local folks and visitors could gather for food and drink and entertainment. Also proposed are a series of public events at the waterfront and activities and facilities that capitalize on the region’s rich history. Brewer planners also are considering developing a children’s garden to complement the children’s museum being built in Bangor, as well as a seasonal ferry to link the two waterfronts. This is a copyright article written by Dawn Gagnon of the NEWS Staff that appeared in the Bangor Daily News, Friday, September 1, 2000. |
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The
City of Brewer