Rebuild Franklin Street Now

The online comment period for Portland's Franklin Street redesign proposal recently closed. There was a lot to take in, and we wish the study team the best in processing all that public feedback, as well as that collected at the Sept. 10 workshop, and making refinements to their draft design.
FRA allie, and data engineer, Emma Morse, developed an AI tool to review and categorize all of the online responses. Those categories include topics such as on-street parking, housing and development, etc. We are developing graphic to share what Emma's work revealed.
Today we will focus on parking, specifically the addition of on-street parking along a new Franklin Street. This is what people said.
Does anything suprise you?
Does this raise any questions for you?
Share what you think!

ReBuild Franklin Street Right, Now!
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ReBuild Franklin Street Right, Now!
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We were thrilled to have urbanist Jeff Speck speak in Portland last week. If you were unable to attend, or want to revisit something he shared, or other comments by Mayor Dion, Planning Director Kevin Kraft, the Stantec consultant representative, or the panelist, the event has been posted online. We encourage folks to visit and enjoy.
Most of what Jeff shared is not new for FRA or for many who were in the audience that night. These events are kibnd of like going to church- our community comes together, we get fortified in our vision, hopefully we widen our perpective a bit, and we widen the circle. Not that we're all following a prescribed dogma, but we come together to strengthen our vision for our city (and our planet).
It's great that the consultant, staff, and elected officials all supported this effort.

Enjoy the talk.

https://youtu.be/QnsrUHqVpYg

ReBuild Franklin Street Right, Now!
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Today we have one last design concept for Portland's Boyd Street Park/Garden in response to the redesigning of Frannklin Street. These concepts were explored early on by the study team, which was clearly grappling with development opportunities, impacts to the current urban gardens, and the Boyd Street park.
All these designs were premised on a full reconnection of Oxford Street and Lancaster Street, which has been a loong standing goal for FRA, and for many in our local community.
In this concept, housing is concentrated between a reconnected Lancaster and Oxford St, with part of the gardens being shifted to the south of Oxford, and the park/garden space expanded inbto reclaimed land as Frankloin Street shifts to the west.
We understand that Cultivating Community has real concerns about beinbg moved up the hill in this design. Steep grading is an issue, and the land they do gain will require tremendous remediation for gardening and agriculturing programming.
This design does leave a significant gap in the Franklin street wall between Cumberland and Oxford. Relatedly, it probably does very little to activate the Franklin streetscape. Thi sis one of the few areas where active uses could front the street- uses that put people on the sidewalk creating activities that send important signals to drivers that this is a city street (not a parkway, not a highway, not a rural road). The more blocks that send this signal the more safe humane and inviting (economically successful) Franklin Street will be. These blocks are the most critical north of Cumberland Ave.

What do you think of this concept? What do you like? What concerns might you have?

ReBuild Franklin Street Right, Now!
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Last week we looked at some early draft ideas the Reimagining Franklin Street study team was exploring for the land reclaimed near the Boyd St. gardens. An early idea, pictured here, was to push the park/gardens towards a new Franklin St, but placing housing on the north end of the park/reclaimed land.
There are a couple interesting ideas here. Cumberland Ave sure needs some help here. The towering cathedral across from a terribly underused and uninteresting park does not creat an inviting space. The no-man's land of the Franklin St. corridor starts right here. A street wall, created by housing, would help to create a sense of place here. The Armenian Memorial here could surely be granted a more significant placement in the corridor.
However, this concept also leaves a block long gap in the street wall along Franklin St. You probably know what we think about that.

What do you think about this design concept? What do you like? What concerns do you have?

ReBuild Franklin Street Right, Now!
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There was a great turnout at last Wednesday's lecture by urbanist Jeff Speck. It was great to see Mayor Dion and at least half of the members of Portland's City Council engaged.
There were shout outs for redesigning Franklin Street and Forest Ave, as well as turning 295 into an urban boulevard (thank you Myles). There was also strong consensus among the panelists after Jeff's lecture about improving transportation options, particularly transit, and increasing safety for people biking and walking.

Folks will have to keep tabs on the Transportation Master Planning process tome sure it truly charts a visionary path forward. Just as importantly will be how we, collectively, draw up on it in the decades ahead to inform our thinking and guide or decision making.

ReBuild Franklin Street Right, Now!
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Community Gardens, Affordable Housing, Workforce Housing. What to do with land reclaimed in the Franklin Street redesign?
Such debates are often frequently framed in a way that pits two stakeholders against each other. Good policy making, good decision making can always be striving to find points of consensus, framing an issue so that as many as possible see that their interests are valued, and fairly balanced with the interests of others.
This is an early draft of a potential treatment for land reclaimed between a new Franklin Street and the existing communbity gardens and park. The Portland Planning Dept. gracioulsy shared this with us.
We see the similarities with the FRA road diet concept. The housing gain is significant.

Ultimately, these decisions will be made in the future. The current concpet design is just that, a concept. The upcoming Preliminary Design Review will go over things with a finer tooth comb, tease out next issues to address, and highlight decions that need to be made. Some of those decisions, like land use, will come to the City Council. Ideally, all these decisions are made with input from the public, and communication with the public about the tradeoffs- why certain decisions are being made.
It's helpful to see the study team exploring different ideas and working to grapple with important design issues.

ReBuild Franklin Street Right, Now!
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How Downtown Can Save America
Today, 6:30 pm at the Museum.
Get there early.

ReBuild Franklin Street Right, Now!
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What happens with the Boyd Street Gardens on a redesigned Franklin Street? This is perhaps one of the more significant debates emerging from the Reimagining Franklin Street study. Pitting beloved community gardens for disadvantaged members of our community against much needed housing, much of it potentially for that same community, seems like a perfect way to bring bad blood into a project that has so many benefits for our community,
When FRA conducted our Housing Study in 2023, we looked at a couple options. Following the 2015 Master Plan provided an important and useful baseliine.
However, we also played around with the roadway alignment, and experimented with a skinnier road.
The concept pictured here pushes the road to the west, similar to the current Reimaging concept. This created housing opportunities between the new street and the existing gardens and parks, Enough that nearly 300 homes could be provided on reclaimed land from Lancaster to Cumberland Ave. Now, this is a concept, there are imperfections, and plenty of issues to work out, but it does represent a way that housing and gardens/parks can coexist. Perhaps there could even be roof top gardens for residents.
Additionally, this concept strenthens the Franklin street wall in one of the places were it needs it most. This sense of enclosure, along with active street frontage putting people on the sidewalks will send clear signals that this is an urban space that is shared by all users. That is a huge cue to support safer driver behavior.

ReBuild Franklin Street Right, Now!
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One of the mot common questions about a redesigned Franklin Street, especially from skeptics, is how will i tbe paid for? That's a fair question, and there's more than one answer.
One of them involved TIF's or tax increment financing. In layman's terms a city creates a special tax district around a significant investment, like reclaiming buildable lnd in the Franklin corridor. Future increases in tax revenue within that district are shielded from state tax revenue sharing. It stays in Portland. Furthermore, it can be directed to specific uses, like paying off the cost of rodway construction, or supporting improved transportation options in the district.
We know that redesigned Franklin Street will create developmwnt opportunities. Reclaimed land could be sold. $. As reclaimed land gets developed it increases in value and is taxed at that higher value. $. That $$ stays in Portlands control and can be directed to offset construction costs.

Our friends at Build Maine had a great workshop on TIFs last June. On Oct 22 they are having a follow up event on how to improve Maine's TIF laws. Find our more: [email protected]

That's just one way rebuilding Franklin Street could be paid for.

ReBuild Franklin Street Right, Now!
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