Representatives for the University of New England returned to the City of Portland Planning Board on Jan. 28 for a second workshop on a proposed Institutional Overlay Zone (IOZ) for the UNE Portland campus at 716 Stevens Ave. The submission seeks to convert the campus’s underlying zone to B2 community business, create a regulatory framework for campus growth in the city code, and reserve several forested and streamside parcels as dedicated open space.

Planning staff summarized comments from the board’s November workshop and said the applicant had updated the Institutional Development Plan (IDP) and the proposed "open space and maximum height map." Staff asked the board for feedback on several items, including the rationale for a limited number of parcels shown at 85 feet, the exact geography and regulatory consequences of the open‑space designations, and whether some open‑space parcels should be rezoned to the city’s OSP (open space preservation) base zone so protections are permanent and not only embedded in the overlay.

Caitlin Swore of Verrill (representing UNE) walked the board through revisions made since the first workshop. The IDP now includes additional data on existing and projected patient visits, expanded baseline institutional characteristics (building inventory, parking counts including ADA and EV‑ready spaces), and more comprehensive transportation figures showing transit routes, sidewalks and pedestrian connections. The transportation chapter also contains more detail about historical and projected parking occupancy and an updated discussion of required traffic movement permits and delegated review comments from the city’s third‑party traffic reviewer.

Swore and UNE staff said the updated draft map identifies dedicated open‑space areas—principally forested tracts, wetland buffer areas, and the Kapissick Brook corridor—that the university proposes to preserve and that were selected to protect natural resources on campus. The IDP now labels a 25‑foot transition zone along campus edges with a 50‑foot maximum height and retains a 75‑foot maximum height in B2. A few campus parcels remain shown at 85 feet to accommodate potential student housing or an athletic facility, and the university provided a Mayfield Street vantage rendering showing how future buildings might appear from a nearby residential block.

Board members asked for more programmatic justification for the 85‑foot areas (how much square footage is needed and why the heights cannot be achieved by altering footprint), and sought a clearer geographic depiction of the proposed open‑space boundaries. Some board members suggested rezoning the highest‑value open‑space parcels to the city’s OSP zone rather than relying solely on overlay language within the IDP. Staff confirmed it had drafted a regulatory framework (development standards, phasing and monitoring, parking and TDM requirements, environmental protections, and neighborhood‑integration commitments) and is working with the applicant to refine technical language that will eventually be codified in the city’s land use code.

Public comment at the workshop included neighborhood concerns about the scale of buildings facing Mayfield Street and requests for larger buffers and more detailed information on building placement and setbacks; one commenter asked whether the IDP’s open‑space areas would meaningfully reduce impacts when trees lose leaves in winter months. UNE representatives said the open‑space tracts were selected based on wetland mapping and to protect high‑value natural resources and said they were open to refining boundaries and discussing rezoning where appropriate.

The Planning Board did not take a final vote; staff said revisions addressing the board’s and public’s comments will be prepared for a public hearing expected in February.

Ending: Staff and the applicant agreed to refine the IDP, provide more detailed mapping and program justification for taller campus parcels, and consider formal OSP rezoning for high‑value open‑space tracts before the public hearing.