Council chambers filled up early before the Portland City Council held a public hearing Monday night on a moratorium on new concert halls, just one day before the city’s planning board is scheduled to vote on a 3,300-seat venue proposed by the concert giant Live Nation. (Derek Davis/Staff Photographer)
The Portland City Council voted Monday to approve a 180-day moratorium on new theaters and performance halls, a decision that will stall a proposal by the concert giant Live Nation to build a music venue downtown.
The decision came near midnight after nearly four hours of public comment. The city opened two overflow rooms to accommodate the crowd. More than 100 people spoke during the meeting, and nearly two-thirds voiced their support for the moratorium. Local musicians, independent venues and arts organizations told the City Council that they do not want Live Nation to operate a venue in the city.
“One of the first things musicians learn how to do is read the room,” Sonia Sturino, a member of the band Weakened Friends, said. “I encourage Live Nation to read the room. I don’t think you’re needed here in Portland.”
The City Council approved the moratorium on a 6-3 vote, one vote shy of the margin needed to pass it as an emergency. That means the pause will technically not go into effect for 30 days. The Portland Planning Board is scheduled to hold a public hearing and a vote on the project Tuesday. But even if they do, the moratorium is retroactive to any applications received since Dec. 1. That means this project would be subject to any changes made to city code in the interim.
The hours of public testimony did seem to impact the vote. Earlier in the meeting, Councilors Sarah Michniewicz and Ben Grant said they plan to bring forward at a future meeting a proposal to require large entertainment venues to pay a percentage of ticket sales to the city. But they both still supported the moratorium.
“I didn’t entirely expect to find myself in this position,” Michniewicz said. “I will be voting for the moratorium.”
It is not clear how the moratorium will impact the plans for the venue, which is tentatively called the Portland Music Hall. The project is a partnership between Live Nation, a global company that also owns Ticketmaster, and Mile Marker Investments, a real estate firm with a long history of development in Greater Portland. Together, they applied to the city in December to build the 3,300 seat venue at the intersection of Cumberland Avenue and Myrtle Street.
Last week, they told the Portland Press Herald a moratorium would not jeopardize the future of the Portland Music Hall.
“We’re committed to Portland,” Ryan Vangel, president of Live Nation New England, said at the time. “We’re going to make this venue happen, and we’re going to go through the planning board process and make sure it’s done per all their guidelines.”
PASSION FOR MUSIC
The project has been a source of controversy for months.
The developers have predicted that the venue would host 125 events a year. Supporters described themselves as music fans and downtown business owners. They said they hope the Portland Music Hall would bring acts that they currently have to go to Boston or Bangor to see. Vangel also talked about their plans to donate $50,000 to neighboring Merrill Auditorium, as well as to contribute ticket revenue to improve bus service and support arts organizations.
“What I’ve heard throughout this process is that many of us have a lot in common,” he said. “We’re passionate about music.”
They also argued that a retroactive moratorium would be unfair to the developers who have followed the city’s process and send the wrong signal to prospective builders. The Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce is among those who opposed the moratorium, saying that it would call into question the land use code that was just updated in November.
“Is it the job of the council to prevent competition?” asked Howard Goldenfarb, one of the developers from Mile Marker Investments.
Opponents included venues such as Geno’s Rock Club, the State Theatre, the Apohadion Theater, SPACE and the Portland House of Music. They rallied together with the Maine Music Alliance to gather more than 2,000 signatures on a petition that asked the City Council to block Live Nation from the city. They warned the City Council that Live Nation would crush the local music scene.
“If the city does not stand up for our music and arts community, our celebrated arts district will soon have a lot more empty storefronts and a lot less art,” said Peter McLaughlin, a local musician who also works at SPACE.
Councilors Wes Pelletier and Anna Bullett proposed the 180-day moratorium in April. The order asks officials to study the impact of these large concert venues for possible changes to the city’s land use code before the end of the moratorium. The other councilors who supported the proposal were April Fournier, Kate Sykes, Grant and Michniewicz. Those who voted against it were Councilors Regina Phillips and Pious Ali, as well as Mayor Mark Dion.
A CATALYST
“This particular project brought up things that had not been considered before,” Pelletier said in an interview last week. “I think of this project as a catalyst, but I don’t think it’s targeting.”
In June, the Sustainability and Transportation Committee voted 2-1 to recommend the moratorium. Last week, several councilors told the Portland Press Herald that they were unsure how they will vote on the proposal.
In the meantime, the planning board has held two workshops on the project and was planning to vote on it on Tuesday. Kevin Kraft, the planning director, wrote a memo in July saying that his department does not believe the proposed moratorium is justified. That document outlined relevant aspects of the city code, impact fees and strategies to mitigate congestion.
“We’re not looking at the moratorium in terms of Live Nation,” Kraft said in an interview last week. “That’s really important. We’re looking at our code and ordinances, and are they effective to mitigate potential impacts from any type of development.”
It’s not typical for the Portland City Council to have an opening act, but the local band Shank Painters was testing its mics outside City Hall on Monday afternoon. Nyx Leibiger, Fairn Stark and Charlie Swerdlow played while people streamed into the building for the meeting.
Next to their speakers was a cardboard sign with the message, “Say no to Live Nation!”
“We’re playing to lift hope,” Stark said.
“And remind people what’s at stake,” Leibiger added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
