SOUTH PORTLAND — Residents in District 1 received an informational session from city representatives about various projects in and around the area at Small School on Feb. 27.

Over the last two months, each of the city’s five districts have met individually — except for Districts 3 and 4, which were combined into one assembly — as a way for residents to learn about updates that will impact their specific neighborhoods.

District 1, the eastern-most part of South Portland, includes Willard Beach and neighbors the Portland International Jetport.

Water Resource Protection Director Patrick Cloutier talked about a storm water pipe replacement project for Willard Beach.

“The pipe goes underneath the beach to a chamber, and there are two pipes that exit the chamber,” he said. “So what’s been happening is that the system is really old. The chamber’s been leaking and we’ve tried to fix it but it can’t be done anymore.”

He said that with city council approval, the department has undergone a bidding process to find a contractor to replace the system, but so far no bid has met the budget.

“So what we wound up doing is having to scale back the project a little bit,” said Cloutier. “What we’ll do is replace the storm line all the way back from the high tide mark back toward Willard. What we expect is we’ll be able to take care of the problem but we’ve changed different materials to hopefully get the project under budget.”

Doug Howard, director of the public works department, went over three projects that are in or near District One. He said that there will be a project to improve the intersection of Angell Avenue and Preble Street, with an extending sidewalk to be added at Angell Avenue.

He also gave an update to the Cottage Road Traffic and Safety Project, which is scheduled for construction in 2022. The proposal needs to pass through the Maine Department of Transportation first.

As a city-wide update, Lucy Perkins, South Portland’s sustainability coordinator discussed the city’s partnership with Portland on a climate action plan.

“One Climate Future is the joint climate adaptation plan the city is doing with Portland,” said Perkins. “It’s an 18-month plan guided by two main goals: The first is to transition to 100 percent renewable energy in municipal operations by 2040, and the second is to reduce our emissions 80 percent by 2050 and that’s community-wide. In the fall, the city council declared a climate emergency and in doing so we’re also exploring pathways to accelerate that work to 2030.”

She said that the four components of the project include buildings and energy use, transportation and land use, waste reduction, and climate resilience.

Perkins provided a survey to the attendees that listed possible ideas and policies the city could approve to make the goal a reality.

“Want to engage the whole community and gather everyone’s voice in the process so we can ensure the plan works for everyone,” she said. “The vision is to ensure our community is inclusive and vibrant for all residents and businesses in a changing climate.”

She added that a new food waste drop-off bin had been placed near South Portland High School, a free service for residents to use.

City Manager Scott Morelli said that the city council had recently created the Clean Air Advisory Committee, hiring a consultant to “dig into” air quality issues after alleged violations from Global LLC were uncovered. He added that there will be a March 31 meeting in the high school’s lecture hall, where the Department of Environmental Protections will discuss the issue further.

Mayor Katherine Lewis attended as a member of the public to remind residents to vote in the Special State Referendum election on March 3.

Residents presented questions to the city representatives about a variety of topics, ranging from concerns about airplanes flying over homes, creating too much noise, to questions about sidewalk plowing near Cottage Street.

Claude Morgan, District One’s city councilor, which encapsulates the eastern-most parts of the city, said that holding public hearings each year by district is unique to South Portland.

“This is a part of a larger city policy we’ve been exercising for the last three years, maybe four, where we bring government to your doorstep,” he said. “I love the model myself. I can’t think of another city that does this.”