As a past member of the South Portland Planning Board, I feel the proposed Waterfront Protection Ordinance is a poorly written and overbroad ordinance and I therefore will be voting against it.

Before you vote in November, I urge you to actually read the ordinance. As you read the ordinance, keep in mind that an ordinance is implemented as the enforcing body interprets the requirements as written. With an unclear ordinance, what you want or think you are getting may or may not be in fact what you get. Also, no industry can operate under any ordinance that allows for inconsistent interpretations.

The proposed WPO is a three-page ordinance with all the requirements crammed into just six sentences.

1. Section 3 (g) states, “Petroleum storage tank farms and accessory piers, pumping and distribution facilities for the unloading of petroleum products from ships docking in South Portland is a permitted use in the Shipyard District.”

2. Section 3(n) states, “Facilities for storing and handling of petroleum and /or petroleum products that have been unloaded from ships docking in South Portland is a permitted use in the Shipyard District”.

3. Section 4(a) states, “There shall be no enlargement or expansion of existing petroleum storage tank farms and accessory piers, pumping and distribution facilities, or facilities for the storing and handling of petroleum and/or petroleum products in the Shipyard District or within the Shore land Area of any Commercial District (C).” This is contrary to Section 3(g) and 3(n), which specifies it is a permitted use in the Shipyard District. Also, the ordinance does not define the difference between “enlargement” and “expansion.”

4. Section 4(b) states, “No new or expanded facility shall be constructed on an existing pier located in or extending seaward of the Shipyard District. This is contrary to Section 3(g) and 3 (n) which specifies it is a permitted use in the Shipyard District.

5. Section 4(c) states, “‘Expansion’ as used in this section includes, but is not limited to, reconstruction or alteration of any existing facility to change the function or capacity of such facilities; construction of any new combustion units, stacks, vapor recover systems, equipment structure, or machinery for transportation or storage of petroleum, including any pumping, distribution or other facility for loading tankers or other ships instead of unloading ships.” The words, “is not limited to,” are an open door for interpretation by the enforcing body. The phrase, “construction of any new combustion units, stacks, vapor recovery systems, equipment structure, or machinery for transportation or storage of petroleum, including any pumping, distribution or other facility for loading tankers or other ships instead of unloading ships,” is not a clear definition because the phrase does not contain a verb.

As stated before, an ordinance is interpreted and implemented based on what is written. It is not implemented based on what may or may not have been intended by the authors.

Under the premise of preventing the pumping of tar-sands oil through South Portland, this ordinance is going to have the effect of making the oil industry in South Portland a nonconforming industry. A non-conforming industry is an industry that can only exist as it is today. It cannot make improvements, modifications or expansions to keep up with new technology, new safety requirements, competition, etc. Basically being made non-conforming by an ordinance is a death sentence for any industry. This ordinance also does not address the loading of contaminated oil from spills, loading of oil for marinas along the waterfront or any other possible unforeseen needs for loading oil in South Portland.

I do not believe anyone can realize the total effect that this ordinance will have on businesses large and small, employment, salaries, property taxes and cost of energy. Also, if this ordinance is passed by referendum and later needs to be revised, it can be revised only by another difficult referendum.

If pumping tar-sands oil through South Portland is the issue, then let us demand the City Council issue a clear and concise ordinance specifically to address the pumping of tar-sands oil.

If the object is to someday make South Portland a green city, let us make long-range plans and implement them systematically and not through a single poorly conceived ordinance.

Whatever your long-range goals are for South Portland, I do not believe this poorly drafted ordinance is the way to achieve them. I therefore urge you to join me in voting against the proposed Waterfront Protection Ordinance in November.

Stanley L. Cox, of South Portland, is a former member of the Planning Board.