Maine State Pier: Pricing the Options

If you live in or near Portland, Maine, you may be interested in participating in tomorrow's public workshops on the future of the city-owned Maine State Pier, an issue that has dominated local politics and waterfront planning for the past three years.

You also may want to read my new piece at The Bollard, which discusses the challenges you will face in comparing potential costs and benefits of various repair scenarios. These include the city's failure to price non-development repair scenarios (e.g., the use as a ship berth and waterfront park) alongside development ones (which presume the construction of a hotel or office tower on the northern half of the pier), as well as the explicit discouragement of discussion of the future of the adjacent Ocean Gateway Terminal.

After reading, you may wish to consult the following documents: the 24-page public process planning memo (with the city's cost estimates for various development scenarios) and the August 2006 memos related to Appledore Marine Engineering's repair estimates.