PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 9, 2024
For the past 12 years, I’ve worked in Wells and lived in South Portland. There are smart ways to grow and … less smart ways to grow. As someone who works in climate adaptation and coastal science, I’d prefer to see development concentrated into vacant, servable areas than rampaging over Maine’s precious forests and fields. Redeveloping existing brownfields and vacant urban lots, as many Maine towns are doing, is smarter than clearcutting forests or paving farms. Should South Portland permit building units next to the sea, though? Yes, if the development is built suitably above sea level, as the Yard South plan proposes. Build? If we do it wisely and over time, I say: yes, in my backyard. ~ Nik Charov, president of Laudholm Trust and chairman of Wells Reserve at Laudholm, South Portland