Call her Big Bertha. As in: Out of nowhere, Big Bertha burst into Portland City Council Chambers last week and threw the process of redeveloping the Maine State Pier on its head.

Big Bertha is my slang term for the big piece of marine infrastructure more commonly referred to around town as “the megaberth.” As lovingly described by city officials in Portland, she’s a long, floating pier capable of handling cruise ships up to and exceeding 1,000 feet in length – the length most fancy party-barges cruising the world today are attaining.

Portland officials want to build Big Bertha on the end of Ocean Gateway, the public cruise ship and ferry terminal nearing completion right next to the Maine State Pier. As city Ports and Transportation Director Jeff Monroe has said, Big Bertha is pretty cheap compared to the cost of other marine projects in the area – like Ocean Gateway itself, which cost over $20 million to build.

Actually, Ocean Gateway’s steep price tag is the reason Big Bertha’s still on the drawing board, rather than boarding passengers. The project went way over its original construction budget estimate, and the city hasn’t been able to muster enough cash – or, more accurately, enough political will at the local, state or federal level – to pay for Big Bertha yet.

Which is a shame, because as Monroe has also noted, if Big Bertha were around, the need to berth big cruise ships at the deteriorating Maine State Pier would be all but eliminated. Monroe further reminds us that the city originally considered building Ocean Gateway at the Maine State Pier, but the logistics of adding all that activity and traffic to the site were so daunting that officials figured it made more sense to construct an entirely new marine-passenger facility next door.

Which brings us to the current proposals from two private developers seeking to fix the Maine State Pier in exchange for the right to build upwards of $90 million worth of commercial development on the prime public site. Ocean Properties and The Olympia Companies are both pitching a mix of luxury hotels, office buildings, restaurants and retail for the pier property, in addition to some marine-related space.

But, as Monroe pointed out during the Aug. 13 City Council workshop on the proposals, both plans present big challenges in terms of managing traffic (vehicular and pedestrian), passengers and security at the pier, which sits at the busy intersection of Commercial Street and Franklin Arterial.

And in response to a councilor’s inquiry, Monroe said he’s only considering the additional traffic from marine operations – cruise ships, mostly – not all the non-marine development being proposed.

To some councilors, Big Bertha’s entrance on the scene is reason to call a time out. If, as the city’s waterfront director is saying, building Big Bertha solves all sorts of problems posed by berthing big cruise ships at the Maine State Pier, these officials think it’d be wise to consider talking about Big Bertha in the context of the pier’s future.

“I think the merits of [further] developing Ocean Gateway calls into question the merits of doing anything on the pier right now,” said Councilor Kevin Donoghue, whose district includes this part of the waterfront. At a public hearing Donoghue hosted on the issue last week, several speakers urged the city to step back and take the time necessary to consider the wider implications of the state pier’s redevelopment – like its relationship to Ocean Gateway and the prospect of building Big Bertha there.

But not all of Donoghue’s colleagues are willing to slow the current process down to accommodate such discussion. In fact, a vote to enter private negotiations with Ocean Properties or Olympia for both the Maine State Pier and Ocean Gateway could take place as soon as Sept. 5.

At-large Councilor Ed Suslovic, one of four citywide representatives on the council, thinks Big Bertha and Ocean Gateway can and probably should be part of the city’s closed-door negotiations with Ocean Properties or Olympia. Though Ocean Gateway was not part of the official Request for Proposals (RFP) the city advertised for redevelopment of the pier, both companies have expressed keen interest in building Big Bertha there and running the public facility themselves.

To say that Donoghue and other observers of the process thus far are aghast at the prospect of the city suddenly throwing another huge piece of public waterfront into the deal would be an understatement. There’s already widespread suspicion that the process of selecting a private developer for the pier has been unfairly, even illegally, twisted in favor of Ocean Properties, which has far deeper political connections, and pockets, than Olympia.

Big Bertha just showed up, and she’s not leaving anytime soon. If you thought the fight over the pier was nasty so far, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

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