City may mandate sprinklers

South Portland ordinance change would require systems in all new buildings, including residences.

SOUTH PORTLAND — South Portland is mulling a complete “repeal and replace” of its Fire Protection and Prevention Ordinance and, although there are a host of changes, the one referred to by city officials as “the big, scary one” would mandate use of sprinkler systems.

If the changes were adopted, any new construction in South Portland would require installation of a sprinkler system. Although existing homes are exempt, any renovation that increases a building’s living space by 50 percent would likewise trigger the requirement.

Sprinkler systems already are required in South Portland wherever a home is located more than 500 feet from a hydrant.

Placement of sprinkler heads would be dictated in the ordinance. However, Deputy Chief Miles Haskell, who spent nearly 18 months drafting the new rules, summed them up this way: “Essentially, any place you lay your head to sleep will require a sprinkler,” he said, during a workshop session of the City Council on Monday.

The sprinkler requirement would bring the city in line with national fire codes, said Fire Chief Kevin Guimond. He added that similar rules already are in place in Portland, Scarborough and Gorham.

“We had a fire the other night out to Red Oak Drive,” Guimond told councilors. “It was a serious fire in the kitchen, with about 20 people in that building, and the sprinkler put the fire out. It saved lives.

“You are better off being alive and having a little water damage than not being alive,” said Guimond.

According to Haskell, 78 percent of fires and 80 percent of fire-related deaths occur in residential structures, which are targeted in the new ordinance.

“That usually happens when people are sleeping, or defenseless,” said Haskell.

The deputy chief also noted that “flashover” – the time it takes for a room to become fully engulfed on flame once a fire starts – can occur within six to 10 minutes. Ten minutes, he says, is the average time it takes a fire crew to arrive on scene, while sprinklers generally kick in within two to five minutes.

“Survivability is 95 percent if the sprinkler system is there and working,” said Haskell.

According to estimates given at Monday’s meeting, installation of a sprinkler system under the proposed ordinance (which would allow plastic pipes) would range from $1.70 to $3 per square foot. Haskell said inclusion of a sprinkler system would add about $3,000 to the cost of a new home, based on the average house size in South Portland.

“Good job on this,” said Councilor Tom Coward. “I’m fully in favor of residential sprinklers. I think that’s what it’s coming to. It’ll be a big improvement, I think.”

But not everyone agrees, including some who build homes for a living. Larry Duell owns Father & Son Builders in Lebanon and sits as president of the Home Builders are Remodelers Association of Maine, a group that has fought making sprinklers part of the statewide building code.

“So far, only two states, California and Maryland, have mandated that,” he said. “The other 48 states have repealed it out of the [national] code. That tells you, basically, that no one in the country wants it.

“Our biggest concern is the affordability issue,” said Duell. By his estimate, sprinkler systems cost between $4,000 and $8,000 – adding about 3 percent to the cost of a $200,000 “entry-level home.”

“That takes affordability for the purchase of a house away from many Mainers,” said Duell. “It knocks a lot of people right out of the housing market, especially with the tight credit market right now.”

Duell said he gives his customers the option of adding a sprinkler system and, to date, “not one person has ever taken it.”

The reason, he says, is that hard-wired smoke detectors – which are required under the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code – are “99 percent effective.”

Duell characterizes sprinkler installation as a “personal responsibility” issue that municipalities needn’t mandate. While his group has fought spinkler requirements, it “probably would” support rules requiring hard-wired smoke detectors in all homes, “although it’s hard to tell somebody what to do with a home once they own it.”

“Maine has the oldest building stock in the country and, when you look at the statistics, it’s generally not the new homes that are burning,” he said.

According to City Manager James Gailey, the new ordinance will not go before the council for a first reading until its July 18 meeting, at the soonest. The ordinance would require a public hearing and final reading before adoption.

A CLOSER LOOK

Other proposed changes to South Portland’s fire safety ordinance include:

• Giving the fire chief a second hat as director of Emergency Management (with four pages of instruction on how he or she will function in that role);

• Authorizing the fire department to erect color-coded signs on vacant buildings, indicating its response in case of a fire (a red sign, for example, means firefighters will not enter the structure);

• Updated codes for installation, wiring and testing of fire alarm systems;

• A ban on the use of combustible mulch, open fires (without a permit) and burning of “domestic refuse;”

• Controls on the location and design of so-called “recreational fires,” and bonfires, including submission of a written request 10 days before igniting the latter;

• Rules on the maintenance of private fire hydrants;

• A ban on automatic handles on all gas pumps;

• A requirement that all marinas report the number of boats and people living on site during the winter months, and a ban on allowing anyone to live on board a boar year-round if it is moored more than 200 feet from shore;

• A requirement of double-walled construction on all fuel tanks between 700 and 25,000 gallons in size;

• Fines ranging from $100 to $1,000 per day for each violation.

City seniors to get property tax break

SOUTH PORTLAND — It started last fall, with a hand-written note from a group of senior citizens. It was brief, according to South Portland City Councilor Patti Smith – “Times are tough, what can you do for me?”

On June 20, after many months of work by city staffers, Smith and her peers passed an ordinance to extend a helping hand to members of the South Portland community aged 70 and older.

Beginning Dec. 1, those residents will be able to apply for property tax relief – perhaps as much as $400 a year – provided they have lived in the city for 10 of the last 12 years and owned or rented a homestead on the tax rolls for the two most recent years prior to application. Anyone interested in a tax break also must have first applied for and been accepted to the state’s “circuit-breaker” program.

“I feel that this is a strong step for us, as a city, of taking care of everyone in our city,” said Smith, just prior to the vote.

“I think it’s great to honor seniors that have been residents of South Portland,” agreed Councilor Alan Livingston.

Later during the same meeting, Councilor Tom Blake decried a zoning change needed to allow a South Portland Housing Authority project for low-cost senior apartments. Rank-and-file taxpayers are shouldering an ever-increasing burden, he said, because South Portland does “more than its fair share” to help the poor and elderly. Blake did not speak to the tax-break issue, and joined the council in unanimously adopting it.

The relative lack of debate may be due to the fact that councilors have already spent so much time on the issue, making it the primary topic of workshop sessions in September 2010, and again in May.

The issue really came to the forefront last spring, however. That’s when the 124^th Legislature passed a new law under which towns could allow seniors to defer property tax payments. Designed to keep senior citizens from losing their homes to foreclosure, the law allows qualifying seniors to put off taxes until a transfer of the deed or death, whichever comes first. Municipalities are not compelled to provide deferrals, however. Instead, they must first pass an ordinance to authorize the program.

However, it was clear from the onset that outright deferral of property taxes won’t come soon to South Portland.

“In my opinion [the law] was developed with too many administrative pitfalls and could expose the city to losing thousands of dollars, with no recourse,” wrote City Manager James Gailey, in a Sept. 13, 2010 memo to councilors.

Gailey’s primary concern was a mandate that municipalities offering waivers must record a list of all tax-deferred properties each year with the Registry of Deeds. Miss a name, or a date, Gailey noted, and the city loses its ability to collect back taxes once its elderly owner dies or sells.

However, in his note to city councilors, Gailey wrote, “I believe the intent of the program is good and is needed.” Thus, the alternative, offered up in May, and passed in July, with minor modifications.

As adopted, South Portland’s Property Tax Assistance Program requires seniors to apply for relief “no later than December 1st of each year.” In addition to age and residency restrictions, applicants must also have first applied for a homestead exemption, and prove receipt of a rebate from the state’s so-called “circuit-breaker” program for property tax relief.

Under that law, households with a senior aged 62 or older can receive a rebate of 25 percent off a property tax bill, or “rent constituting property taxes accrued” (to a maximum of $100 returned), provided annual household income is $9,200 or less. Benefits increase as income decreases, peaking at 100 percent of a tax bill (to a maximum of $400) on incomes less than $8,100. Benefit eligibility for individuals kicks in at an annual income of $7,400.  

“If a person qualifies for the state circuit-breaker program, they’ll certainly qualify for this [local] one, if they meet the residency requirements,” Gailey advised the council at the June 20 meeting.

The maximum local rebate is $400. However, the ordinance does require that South Portland’s finance director, Greg L’Heureux, pick a lesser amount – either one-quarter of the state circuit-breaker refund, or a pro-rated share of the kitty South Portland has set aside for refunds – if possible.

“We have the maximum, but if we then get inundated with applications, we’ll try to do a pro-rated share, so that all applications are funded at some level,” said Gailey.

As part of South Portland’s FY 2012 budget, the council appropriated $30,000 from taxation of all property owners to fund the senior relief program. Per the ordinance, any money not dolled out will roll over into the fund.

In order to make certain all seniors in the city are aware of tax relief possibilities, Gailey said the program will be “heavily announced come October.”

National Semiconductor’s next move is up in the air

SOUTH PORTLAND — When Texas Instruments (TI) completes its $5.6 billion purchase of National Semiconductor, the computer chip maker might continue to invest in its South Portland facility, or it might pick up stakes and move on down the metaphorical road.

At Monday’s City Council workshop not even a trio of National honchos, or their lawyer, could say for certain what might happen.

“On day one [after the sale is complete], the National flag will come down, the TI flag will go up, and we’ll have a little celebration,” said Doug Wilson, National’s VP of operations. “Then, on day two, we’ll look at the books.”

Wilson said he expects the company to stay in Maine, based on its higher-than-expected purchase price, and a sales force that could increase National sales “by 10 times.”

“The fear I have is that if TI does what they say they are going to do, we’ll actually run out of capacity,” he said.

Still, Wilson acknowledged there will be some redundancies once the two companies merge and, for now, a planned $100 million build-out of National’s Western Avenue facility is on hold “until the dust settles.”

Councilors spared no breath in praising National as an “amazing corporate citizen” of the city, just as they made no bones about a plan hatched to roll out the red carpet to TI.

A TIF (tax increment financing) deal between South Portland and National was set to expire this year. Created in 1995 when National built its $200 million plant expansion, the deal has returned to National 50 percent of all taxes derived from new construction and increased property value assessments since then.

That’s amounted to $45 million dollars returned to National coffers. A considerable amount, but a fraction of the $1.3 billion Wilson says National has invested in South Portland since then. The other $45 million went into the city’s general fund, while South Portland also enjoyed the benefits of hosting a business with 550 employees earning anywhere from $28,000 to $200,000 (the plant’s 123 engineers earn between $53,000 and $170,000).

According to City Manager James Gailey, he and city staff have “worked diligently” with National over the past three months to hammer out a new TIF deal. The deal presented to councilors Monday included a one-year extension, this time splitting new tax revenue on a 60/40 basis.

“There’s not a lot to say,” said Gailey. “We’re just proposing a one-year extension in hopes of giving National Semiconductor and Texas Instruments a smooth transition over the next couple of months.

“It’s kind of hard for National Semiconductor to say, ‘We are going to invest this much money into the plant over the next few years,’ because they don’t know what Texas Instruments is going to do. We hope that over the next six to eight months, Texas Instruments will have better guidance for managers here at the local plant, to then talk about new investment and possibly extending the TIF agreement out further. But until that day comes, we have this.”

According to the city’s attorney, Shana Cook-Mueller of Portland-based Bernstein Shur, the city will get the larger share of the new deal.

“What we are proposing in this one-year extension is that that 40 percent of TIF revenues that are captures will be returned to the company,” said Cook-Mueller. “Ten percent will go to the city’s TIF fund and the 50 percent that has gone to the general fund will continue to do that.”

“I think it’s important that we do this because it provides the playing board for the potential growth of the facility,” said the city’s finance director, Greg L’Heureux. “There’s the income for the city, but the real intent of any TIF is to support redevelopment of the facility and to maintain jobs.”

“Essentially, what we are doing is throwing a place-holder down,” said Councilor Tom Coward. “We’re saying, we want you guys to be here, now sort it out and then come back and talk to us a year from now.”

South Portland News Briefs

Willard Fest

The South Portland City Council has unanimously approved a request to close Preble Street to non-emergency traffic on July 16 for the first-ever Willard Fest.

The downtown celebration, described by organizers as a “family-focused festival [with] music, food, games, crafts, and residents sharing their memories of Willard Square,” will take place from 3 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 16. To facilitate the event, councilors agreed to close Preble Street from the intersection of Willow and Day streets to 444 Preble St., from 1:30 to 8 p.m. The square intersection with Thompson and Pillsbury streets also will be barricaded during this time. A rain date, with similar timeframes, has been set for Sunday, July 17.

Members of the Willard Fest Committee, chaired by Wynne Wirth, presented the council with a petition containing 88 names in support of the measure. Mayor Rosemarie De Angelis said, to date, the city has received just one email opposed to the closure.

“Neighborhood representatives have met with the fire and police chiefs, and everything is copasetic with them,” said City Manager James Gailey. “We have worked out an alternative route for the bus service during the time the festival is going on.”

“I think this will be a wonderful activity,” said Councilor Tom Coward. “This things really add to the community spirit.”

HoJo happenings

The Howard Johnson motel at 675 Main St. has a new owner. According to records at the Cumberland County Registry of Deeds, New Gen Group LLC acquired the building and its 6.4-acre lot May 27 from Zyacorp Hotels Inc. City councilors signed off on a lodging establishment license for the 121-room business at their June 20 meeting. Records show that New Gen took out a mortgage on the property with Bangor Savings Bank for $2.8 million. New Gen also owns the Econo Lodge and Days Inn motels in South Portland.

Appointments

At their June 20 meeting, city councilors appointed Joan Kushner, of Bayberry Way – a retired social worker who has lived in South Portland for four years – to fill an unexpired term (expiring May 5, 2013) on the city’s Energy and Recycling Committee.

“She was a founding member of the city’s ‘Green Team,’” said Mayor Rosemarie De Angelis, who made the nomination. “She’s very committed to this [conservation] work.”

Kushner replaces Christopher Kessler, who resigned due to commitments from a new job.

Lion eyes

The South Portland City Council has granted a sign permit to the local Lion’s Club, allowing it to post a permanent notice of its meetings. The 30-inch, circular signs will be placed on Main Street (at the Scarborough town line) and the Casco Bay Bridge (at the Broadway intersection).

“In the Internet age it’s a little easier to find a meeting when you’re traveling, but this is the traditional way to do it,” said Councilor Tom Coward. “This is consistent with what other places have allowed, you see these all over the place.”

“It’s only modestly bigger than a campaign sign,” joked Mayor Rosemarie De Angelis.

“Exactly,” said Coward. “And there’s only two of these, not 32. I think it’s a minimal impact and the Lions and other service clubs are definitely a benefit to the community.”