It was the day before a big show at The Dance Hall in Kittery, Maine, and Drika Overton was frustrated. The director of the nonprofit had spent a recent Friday morning lobbying for the town to remove snow from in front of the building and was not sure it would be done.
“I’ve got 150 people coming and it’s a mess out there,” she said.
The snow was removed a few hours later, but it was one of those problems that’s a reminder of how Kittery’s Foreside neighborhood is beginning to straddle two identities. Its restaurants are being recognized as top dining destinations and its arts scene is booming. But Kittery is still a small town, and little things like snow removal in a single neighborhood can have a big impact. Many residents and business owners are wondering how Foreside’s newfound popularity will play out. Some are excited, but others are worried. Foreside’s renaissance has been driven largely by local businesses with an eye toward building community, and locals are concerned that the condos and hotels that have characterized development in Portsmouth for the last few years will soon make their way over the bridge.
Much of that concern is focused on one development: a proposal to tear down a pre-Civil War house to build three condos and an eight-slip marina on Old Armory Way. A public hearing before the town’s planning board is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 12 at 6 p.m. at town hall.
When Ken McDavitt bought the property in 2004 with plans to eventually retire in one of the condos, he didn’t expect residents to object to the project.
“When I first started the project, I thought people would actually embrace it because I’m allowing those who are landlocked the opportunity to use the water within walking distance,” McDavitt said.
A rendering of a proposed condo development in Kittery Foreside.
McDavitt, who currently lives in New Hampshire, is a sailing hobbyist. When he saw the property in 2004, he fell in love with the idea of putting his boat right outside his home. The property was expensive, so he created a plan to build the condos and a marina as a way to finance his retirement and waited for the housing market to improve.
But, instead of embracing the project, neighbors became outraged at the prospect of tearing down the old house, which is now a three-unit apartment building. They say it will change the look of the entire street, that history will be lost, and that the marina will turn their narrow road into a traffic nightmare in the summer.
“Everyone is appalled at the size of the project and the impact it would have on the street,” said Terry Lochhead, a neighbor of the property.
McDavitt said it would be financially impossible for him to restore the house rather than tearing it down and building a new structure. And, he said, all of his plans meet current laws and requirements.
“I am not looking for any special exemptions, I’m not looking for any variances. I’m just looking to do what I can legally do,” McDavitt said.
A larger conversation
It’s not unusual for neighbors to speak out against a project on their street. But this project — small by some standards — has also brought to the surface a larger conversation about planning, development, and Foreside’s future. Last summer, residents filled Lil’s Café to discuss the neighborhood’s future. The meetings were prompted by the proposed Old Armory Way development, but they were really about the big picture: What form will future development take?
“This is the beginning. This is the first example of where it will go. This is the bellwether,” Drika Overton said. “If it goes through, every other developer is going to look at whatever house they can buy on the water and turn into luxury condos. I think that’s a big concern.”
Overton has seen it happen. Originally from San Francisco and also having spent time in Manhattan, two places where luxury has supplanted the affordable, she moved to the Seacoast decades ago. At the time, she said, Portsmouth was a “funky” town with a lot of diversity.
“This is the beginning. This is the first example of where it will go. This is the bellwether.”
— Drika Overton
She moved over the bridge to Kittery in the early ’90s and watched as Portsmouth evolved from a town that was rough around the edges, to a haven for artists, to a tourist destination, and now the center of a luxury condo market.
“I watched it year by year happening in Portsmouth. That’s what is scary to us in the Foreside,” Overton said. “We want people to come here; we need people to come here for what we are doing. But this is a byproduct and we have to figure out how to deal with it.”
But not all development is equal, Overton said. While she is personally opposed to the Old Armory Way condo project, she said the “organic” development that has occurred in Kittery Foreside in recent years has been overwhelmingly positive. This includes the addition of Lil’s Café, MEat, Maine Squeeze, Black Birch, Buoy, Tulsi, Anju, and Anneke Jans. Those developments occurred in existing buildings — the projects were “thoughtful,” she said.
Thoughtful planning
The planning board is now considering reestablishing a Kittery Foreside committee, which would essentially act with powers similar to a conservation commission, reviewing plans in its purview — in this case, proposed projects or improvements to the Foreside area — and providing recommendations to the Planning Board. While this committee currently exists in the town code, it was dissolved several years ago. At a meeting last month, the board decided to discuss reviving the committee with the town council.
While most residents agree change is going to happen, Overton and Lochhead say they want to make sure the town drives development and that the public is involved with shaping how it looks.
“I think we all know that development is coming. there’s no argument about that,” Lochhead said. “I think people really want to make sure it is slow and thoughtful.”
The public hearing on the Old Armory Way development will be held on Thursday, Feb. 12 at 6 p.m. Kittery Town Hall, 200 Rogers Road Ext.