Council to eye waterfront authority Penobscot Landing plan includes recreation path, retail district, marina

BREWER – During their meeting at 6:30 p.m. tonight, city councilors will consider creating an entity that would focus its energy on bringing the community’s waterfront redevelopment plan to fruition.

The redevelopment plan for Penobscot Landing, as Brewer’s waterfront is now known, was adopted by the council in November. It spells out proposed placements for waterfront attractions and features, as well as a timeline and cost estimates.

Among the attractions proposed for Penobscot Landing, which runs from just north of the Penobscot River Bridge southward to the Orrington line, are a riverside recreational path, an entertainment and niche retail district, a marina and a boat launch, a children’s garden, a public market and artisan cooperative, museums, a boat-building demonstration site and a small performing arts center, among other things.

Though it represents the largest-ever investment here, the project has received widespread support by most of the residents, business owners and others who have attended some of the public hearings on the matter over the past year.

Given their existing job responsibilities, however, current city staff lack the additional time needed to take the plan from vision to reality, economic development director Drew Sachs said this week.

“We’re moving very quickly right now. This will give us the flexibility and the responsiveness we need to make this project a resounding success,” Sachs said.

The city has more than $3 million in state and federal grant requests pending, Sachs said. The city wants to be ready to put some of that money to work as soon it arrives.

To that end, city councilors tonight will be asked to establish the Penobscot Landing Commission. Among the commission’s features would be an ability to act autonomously on a range of issues related to the effort, to access public funding sources such as bonds and revolving loan programs and to negotiate directly with contractors, property owners and others to implement project directives.

At this point, Sachs said, the councilors are being asked to approve a basic framework for the commission. The fine points will be hammered out once a commissioner has been hired. The city’s goal is to hire the commissioner this spring.

Some of the tasks the commission would take on include seeking and administering grants, operating and scheduling public venues and overseeing the committees that will be appointed to tackle waterfront beautification, sponsorship and events.

The commission initially would be funded by the city, though the goal is to have the organization eventually become self-sufficient, Sachs said. Start-up costs have not yet been estimated, he said.

Initially, the commission would be staffed by a full-time commissioner, or manager, though additional staff might be brought on board later, Sachs said. The commissioner would work closely with a seven-member advisory board comprising residents and businesspeople and reporting to City Manager Stephen Bost, as well as the council.

The redevelopment project, Sachs said earlier, will require between $35 million and $57 million in investments to be spread out over at least 10 years, with the work beginning this year.