PORTLAND — The Stade family took no chances Monday as they prepared for their flight to South Carolina.
They were traveling with a toddler and an infant, so they built in extra time for diaper changes — and the short shuttle ride from the discount parking lot where Kaylin Stade reserved a spot days earlier. They had no way to get to the Portland International Jetport from their home in Pittston except by car.
“If the lot was full, I don’t know what we’d do,” Stade said.
February to April is the busiest time in the parking lots at the jetport, Assistant Airport Director Zachary Sundquist said, as Mainers try to get out of town for school breaks and warmer weather. The 2,795 long-term spots are routinely at or near capacity. A bold yellow banner on the jetport website encourages passengers from the Greater Portland area to get rides if possible.
Last year, the Portland City Council rejected a plan to build a new surface parking lot at the jetport over concerns about environmental impact and cost. Now, jetport officials are back with a smaller proposal that would add 537 long-term parking spots by reconfiguring two existing lots, while starting a design for an expanded garage.
“What we heard from the council was, we want to focus more on garage and less on surface moving forward,” Sundquist said. “That has been the pivot.”
The City Council is scheduled to vote on the proposal later this month.
The Stroudwater Neighborhood Association opposed earlier proposals from the jetport. President Woody Howard said in an interview Tuesday that he feels the latest is “a very good compromise.”
“While the plan is not perfect, it does reflect several meaningful improvements,” the association wrote in an update to residents.
‘A SMALLER FOOTPRINT’
In 2023, jetport officials proposed more than 700 new spaces that would have extended into a wooded area bordering the Stroudwater neighborhood.
Residents worried about increased noise and light pollution from the jetport, as well as damage to nearby wetlands. The Portland Planning Board approved a scaled-back project but questioned whether the jetport had considered all options.
“I’m disappointed,” Chairman Brandon Mazer said in a meeting in January 2025. “I would rather see a garage built before we build in a wetland. We need to do better and hold ourselves to a higher standard.”
The City Council ultimately voted down the project in October.
“That’s why you’re seeing us propose a smaller footprint,” Sundquist said this week.
Under the new proposal, two lots would be reconfigured — a gravel lot with more than 300 spaces that is only used for valet parking on very busy days and a cell phone lot with 100 spaces where people can currently wait to pick up arriving travelers.
The jetport would pave the gravel lot and add the markings and other fixtures that would bring it up to standards for self parking, Sundquist said. The construction would also include 2.1 acres next to the gravel lot that was cleared by the previous owner but would not touch existing woodlands.
The changes would result in a new public lot with 537 spots for long-term parking, 130 fewer than the jetport’s last proposal.
“We will likely still be running shuttles just to assist in getting passengers and their bags to the terminal, but it is definitely still within walking distance,” Sundquist said.
The jetport would also spend $1.5 million to design an expansion for the existing parking garage.
“That investment is just to help us get an engineering firm to really look at the existing site and help us strategically figure out how much garage we build in this next phase of parking garage expansion,” Sundquist said.
The Stroudwater Neighborhood Association highlighted what they described as positive improvements in the plan, including less land use and a permanent conservation easement for wetlands north of Jetport Boulevard.
Howard said he is particularly glad that the jetport will shift its focus to planning a garage expansion instead of more surface parking. He said he hopes officials will consider using environmentally friendly building materials and adding more solar panels as part of the design.
“That was our big plus,” Howard said. “That’s building up, not out.”
VOTE EXPECTED THIS MONTH
The $10.1 million for both projects would come from the jetport’s unrestricted fund. The Sustainability and Transportation Committee voted 3-0 in March to send the plan to the City Council.
Councilor Regina Phillips, who chairs that committee, said she was proud of the community for coming forward to raise concerns and give input over many months.
“With this second go around, there was a lot more community engagement,” Phillips said. “It’s a good plan. We went back to the drawing board.”
Phillips said Airport Director Paul Bradbury “really looked at things a little bit differently, and because of that, I’m hoping that he has the full support of the council.”
The City Council held a first reading on the proposal Monday and is scheduled to vote on it April 27.
If approved, Sundquist said, the surface lot would likely be ready in 2027, while the garage would take three to five years to build.
It can’t come soon enough for Jessica Smith, who flies out of the jetport as often as five times a month for work.
The Yarmouth resident was headed to a meeting in New Jersey on Monday afternoon and was turned away at the jetport garage. She reluctantly parked in the discount Pink Lot and boarded the shuttle. It’s a short trip — less than 10 minutes — but one more leg to any journey.
“If you come in late and you have to make it out here,” Smith said, “it makes a long day even longer.”