A rendering of the proposed Portland Music Hall, presented to the city planning board by Mile Marker Investments and Live Nation. (Image by Leonardo Ruben Merlos)
The Portland Planning Board voted Tuesday to table an application by Live Nation and a local developer to build a new concert venue downtown, one day after the City Council approved a moratorium on such projects.
The planning board has held two workshops on the proposed Portland Music Hall and was scheduled to vote on it Tuesday. The moratorium doesn't actually take effect until next month, but it will be retroactive to any applications submitted since Dec. 1, so the project will still be caught in the freeze.
"We are objecting to the postponement of the public hearing," said David Farmer of Bernstein Shur, a representative of Live Nation and Mile Marker Investments. "The moratorium that passed was not passed as an emergency and therefore will not take effect for 30 days. There is currently no moratorium in effect, and the project is ready for review."
The planning board tabled the application until March 24, its next meeting after the moratorium's expiration date, but could take it up sooner if the City Council decides to end it before then.
Brandon Mazer, the planning board chair, said he knows that the applicant isn't pleased with the item being tabled, "but I do think that it makes a lot of sense," given the moratorium.
"I think it would have been cleaner had it been passed as an emergency, but it didn't," Mazer said. "Public comment has been coming in, we appreciate everybody's time on both sides of it. ... I'm going to support the tabling here and, if the council can figure out what they're truly looking for, (and) if it does touch recode, it will be back here as well."
Advertisement Related Portland City Council approves moratorium on large concert venues
Live Nation has proposed to build a new concert venue at the corner of Cumberland Avenue and Myrtle Street in Portland. The lot is currently used for parking. Merrill Auditorium is on the other side of Myrtle Street at right. (Daryn Slover/Staff Photographer)
The moratorium will pause all applications for large theaters and concert halls for 180 days. The measure grew out of local outcry against Live Nation, the concert giant that also owns Ticketmaster. The City Council heard nearly four hours of public comment on Monday night, and nearly two-thirds of the speakers voiced their support for the moratorium. Local musicians, independent venues and arts organizations said over and over that they do not want Live Nation to operate a venue in the city.
"By allowing this project to proceed unchecked, it is saying that Portland and its creative economy and its cultural identity is up for sale," said Scott Mohler, executive director of the Maine Music Alliance, which rallied support for the moratorium. "There should be no fear in imposing this moratorium. It's a legally viable tool at your fingertips to be used to prevent serious public harm, and people losing jobs and businesses is public harm."
The project is a partnership between Live Nation and Mile Marker Investments, a real estate firm with a long history of development in Greater Portland. Together, they applied in December to build the 3,300-seat venue at the intersection of Cumberland Avenue and Myrtle Street. The developers have said that Portland doesn't have a venue of this size and is missing out on acts who want to perform here. Supporters told the City Council on Monday that they didn't think the moratorium was fair to developers who have followed the city's process.
A memo that would have been part of the hearing at the planning board on Tuesday night outlines a lengthy list of recommended conditions for approval. The staff noted that the applicants had agreed to make a $50,000 donation to Merrill Auditorium and also to contribute $1 from every ticket sold to the city. Half of that revenue would go toward improving bus service, while the other half would be allocated to performing arts organizations in Portland.
"In a few years, after the doors have been open for a little while, it will seem like the Portland Music Hall was always destined to be a good thing," Todd Goldenfarb, the developer from Mile Marker Investments, told the City Council at its meeting Monday. "People won't remember the apocalyptic warnings that we've heard here tonight."
People sit in the State of Maine room and watch a stream of the Portland City Council hearing on Monday. (Derek Davis/Staff Photographer)
COMMITTED TO THE PROJECT
Last week, the developers told the Portland Press Herald a moratorium would not jeopardize the future of the Portland Music Hall.
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"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."
It is not clear what the next six months will mean for the project. During the moratorium, the Housing and Economic Development Committee will study how these venues impact parking, traffic and the broader arts community. They could recommend changes to the city code that would impact this application. Separately, Councilors Sarah Michniewicz and Ben Grant said Monday that 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.
"It's so clear from the outpouring of the community that this is what our constituents want," Councilor Wes Pelletier, who sponsored the moratorium with Councilor Anna Bullett, said Monday during the discussion. "They want us to take time. They want us to do this intelligently."
Related What to know about Portland's upcoming votes on a proposed Live Nation venue
The councilors could vote to end the moratorium earlier than 180 days or to extend it if needed. Otherwise, it will expire in March 2026. Dave Godowsky, who recently launched his own music business in artist relations, pointed out to the City Council on Monday that the timeline would coincide with the ongoing federal antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation.
"The trial begins in about 180 days," Godowsky said.
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