May 12—Neighbors of the Portland International Jetport are asking city officials to create a municipal commission to improve oversight of Maine's largest airport.
Residents raised the idea at a recent annual meeting of the Stroudwater Neighborhood Association that was attended by Mayor Mark Dion and several other local and state officials, who are invited each year.
The call for an airport commission follows the Portland Planning Board's recent approval of a controversial surface parking expansion project at the city-owned jetport. The association filed a court appeal in February claiming that the board ignored the jetport's 2018 Sustainable Airport Master Plan by approving waivers impacting wetlands, trees and other environmental factors.
Association leaders say the board failed to consider alternatives to expanding surface parking, such as moving ahead with a planned parking garage expansion and providing shuttle service to unused parking spaces at The Maine Mall nearby in South Portland.
They say the $8 million parking project shows how Airport Director Paul Bradbury is allowed to run the jetport with minimal oversight by the Portland City Council or other municipal boards. The jetport operates without taxpayer dollars using fees paid by tenants, travelers, transit providers and other vendors, and the council approves projects and expenditures as they are presented.
An airport commission, including representatives from other neighborhoods and cities, would help ensure public input is fully considered as projects are developed, rather than an afterthought just before final approval, group leaders say.
"Something needs to be done to improve communication about very complex issues and to ensure more citizen participation," said Woody Howard, president of the 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
"We'd like to see what's in the master plan actually be enforced," Howard said. "What's the point of having the plan if you're going to grant the project five waivers?"
The association has reached out and found support for an airport commission among several Portland neighborhood associations, as well as officials in South Portland and Westbrook, Howard said.
The group is developing a proposal for a commission, which it plans to submit to the council's Sustainability & Transportation Committee this summer, as city officials advised at the association's annual meeting.
When the topic came up at the meeting, Dion said he had discussed the idea of forming an airport commission "internally," but he wasn't prepared to commit to anything now.
"I think what we have here is a problem with communication," Dion said in a phone interview Friday. "Are the residents really being heard?"
Dion declined to discuss the parking dispute, saying that topic is off limits since the association filed its lawsuit.
But Dion strongly disputed that Bradbury runs the jetport with little oversight. He noted that the council sets policies relevant to airport operations and reviews his annual budget, and that all jetport employees are city employees.
"(Bradbury is) a department head," Dion said. "We're well aware of the projects he has to do and he has an added level of ( Federal Aviation Administration) scrutiny."
For his part, Bradbury said he's neutral on the idea of having a board oversee jetport operations.
"There are pros and cons to each form of governance," he said. "As of this time, I have not been involved in conversations about this. It's really up to the City Council to decide."
Dion said the neighborhood group may resolve its communication concerns if it goes before the council's transportation committee, which is chaired by District 3 Councilor Regina Phillips, who represents the Stroudwater area.
Phillips didn't attend the group's annual meeting on April 26, notifying members afterward that she attended a funeral. She also chairs the jetport's Noise Advisory Committee and has attended one of nine quarterly meetings held since May 2023, according to minutes posted on the jetport's website. Bradbury runs those meetings in her absence.
Howard said association members plan to meet in the next two weeks with Phillips and Councilor-At-Large Benjamin Grant, who attended the group's annual meeting. Neither councilor responded immediately to requests for interviews.
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