City Council agrees to hearing on
conditional use of South Portland jail
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
In February, with no debate, the Port-
land City Council unanimously agreed
to give neighbors of the proposed South
Waterfront immigrant processing what
they have been seeking for months: a
hearing on their concerns and issues.
Previously, the Bureau of Develop-
ment Services had ruled that the pro-
posed facility at 4310 SW Macadam
Ave., to be operated by the Federal Gov-
ernment’s Immigration and Customs
Enforcement on a long-term lease, was
primarily an office building, an exten-
sion of the previous use of the site, and
allowed by right.
The proposed facility was subject
only to design review to determine its
operation and aesthetic qualities.
The South Portland Neighborhood
Association, led by land use chair Jim
Davis, had argued that in all important
respects the proposed facility is a jail,
and as such should be subjected to a
conditional use review that would deal
with safety issues and its suitability for
its site.
When the Portland Design Commis-
sion approved the project (after ruling
that the use issue was outside their
scope), Davis and South Portland ap-
pealed the decision to Council. It was
the subject of a three-hour hearing in
January.
Commissioner Randy Leonard at first
moved to deny the appeal and approve
the project. However, Commissioner
Amanda Fritz then proposed an amend-
ment whereby the detention facilities
– comprising 4,000 square feet of the
65,000 square foot building – would
be subject to a conditional use process.
Leonard accepted this as a friendly
amendment without argument.
In previous testimony, representa-
tives of Lindquist Development LLC,
the property owner, and the Federal
Government had argued that the pro-
posed facilities would hold people who
had not been charged with a crime, that
they would be held there for no more
than 12 hours at a time, and that there
were no beds or other facilities to ac-
commodate a longer stay.
Also, the detention areas comprised
only a miniscule portion of the total
square footage. Based on this, they ar-
gued, the use would be a “processing,”
not a “detention,” center, and allowed
by right.
“It was very clear that the character-
ization of this as a detention facility was
erroneous,” Leonard told Council. “I
disagree,” Fritz responded. “The square
footage is only one factor.”
Another Council member, Nick Fish,
chimed in. “This is not the Wapato Jail,
but not an office building,” he said. “It
doesn’t comfortably fit any of our use
definitions.”
Therefore, he said, the best course
is to decide that the building has two
primary use definitions, one of which
inquires a conditional use permit. “This
is the only way we don’t do violence to
the code,” Fish said.
Moreover, he said, “This allows the
neighborhood to weigh in on issues
such as safety. It doesn’t preclude such
a facility; it just calls for public review.”
Fritz added, “It recognizes the neigh-
bors’ concerns while allowing the office
(Continued on Page 5)
This building located at 4310 SW Macadam Ave in South Portland could be home
to a new federal jail. (Post file photo by Don Snedecor)
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