City planning director resigns amid clashes over Portsmouth development boom - Seacoastonline.com

PORTSMOUTH – Planning Director Juliet Walker resigned this week, saying she planned to “pursue other opportunities.”

In her letter to City Manager Karen Conard, Walker stated “while I have every confidence in the Planning Department staff, as you know this is a very busy time and workloads are stretched to capacity.”

Walker added she hopes “that my position can be filled as quickly as possible and am happy to assist in developing a transition plan.”

“I did not make this decision lightly and am grateful and appreciative of my time with the city of Portsmouth. I have grown professionally and personally since joining the city in September of 2012 and am proud of all we have accomplished together,” Walker said.

Walker worked as Planning Director during a perhaps unprecedented period of development in Portsmouth’s history.

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Conard said Walker’s departure is “going to be a huge loss for the city and I’m sad to see her go.”

“She was a good steward of our zoning ordinance and a good manager of projects and people,” Conard said about Walker during an interview Thursday.

“I respect her decision and think highly of her as a colleague,” Conard added.

Walker’s last day will be Friday, Sept. 10, she said in her resignation letter.

Others, including some city councilors and community members, were more critical of Walker and the Planning Department she ran.

Mayor Rick Becksted said he was “a little surprised" when he heard Walker had resigned.

“I know several city councilors and myself are looking at addressing what the public has said about our zoning and the way we do our development, which the majority of Portsmouth doesn’t care for,” he said. “I would have liked to have Juliet there to work on that.”

Moving forward, Becksted said it’s important that there’s “more diverse” development in the city, particularly projects that build “more affordable or work-force housing than what we’re getting now.”

Assistant Mayor Jim Splaine praised the outgoing Planning Director, stating, “I greatly respect Juliet Walker. I think she’s done fantastic work.”

“I haven’t always agreed with her recommendations, but she runs her staff professionally and efficiently,” Splaine said Thursday.

He does not believe members of the community or City Council who are troubled by development in the city should blame Walker.

“If councilors or others are upset with what the Planning Department does, we have a Planning Board and a city manager through whom we can address those concerns,” Splaine said. “Those concerns should not be thrown at the Director of Planning.”

“Her role is to run the department with honesty and credibility, and I think she did that,” Splaine added.

City Councilor Paige Trace, who has been a critic of both Walker and the Planning Department, said she was “very saddened that she has chosen to resign.”

“I respect the fact that she has decided it’s time to do something else,” Trace said Thursday.

Differing opinions about development

But Trace stands by her criticism of Walker and the Planning Department, stating, “I respect the fact that we have differing opinions about what is good for the city.”

Trace blames the Planning Department and a previous City Council for voting to change the zoning in the city’s booming North End, which she believes paved the way for the larger, 5-story buildings that have been built or proposed there.

The City Council in 2015 approved the switch from traditional zoning to character-based zoning, which planners said at the time focuses “less on specific land uses and instead emphasizes building placement, scale and design.”

The zoning also allows developers to receive incentives to build as high as five stories in parts of the North End by providing amenities like wider sidewalks, community space and/or open space.

“It’s not the fault of the developers, they’re doing what they know how to do and that’s make money,” Trace said previously. “I blame the Planning Department for creating the zoning and incentives that allows them to do that.”

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She maintains that as Walker gets ready to step down Portsmouth is at a crossroads, which she described as “one of those critical points where perhaps the residents have found a voice to fight overdevelopment.”

“At the same time, there are a lot of large, possibly controversial projects coming forth either at the planning stage or building stage,” Trace said.

An 'eyesore'

She has repeatedly pointed to the approval of the 252-unit apartment project called West End Yards off the Route 1 Bypass as a failure of the Planning Department’s oversight.

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Trace describes the development as “an eyesore” and stated, because none of the apartments are affordable or meet the legal definition of work-force housing, “It’s a double insult.”

The Planning Board granted a conditional use permit (CUP) for the length of buildings, units per building and units per acre.

The board also agreed to allow the developers to make 10 percent of the apartment’s workforce units at 80 percent area median income. The ordinance requires 20 percent of the units be workforce at 60 percent of the area median income, but the Planning Board is allowed to reduce that requirement. The board also granted a CUP for work inside the wetland buffer.

“The fact that West End Yards is as large as it is and as monotonous as it is unfortunately rests on the shoulders of the Planning Director,” Trace said. “And yet at the end of the day, she gets in her car and goes back to very pretty Newburyport.”

Neither Walker nor Planning Board Chairman Dexter Legg could be immediately reached for comment Friday.

Longtime city resident and Association of Portsmouth Taxpayers leader Mark Brighton criticized Walker and previous City Councils for bringing CUPs into the city’s zoning and doing away with impact fees.

“There has been absolutely no benefit to the taxpayers,” Brighton said this week about the development in Portsmouth. “The lack of impact fees means that taxpayers have had to absorb all the necessary infrastructure costs, the strain on our water supply and sewers, and the added cost to the fire and police.”

“The skyline is permanently marred with cheap plastic overbuilding, and the taxpayers are left carrying the can,” Brighton added.

Planning Director job search

Conard is “putting together a job description” as part of her efforts to find a new Planning Director, but declined to estimate how long it would take to fill the position.

She hasn’t decided if she will appoint an acting Planning Director while her search is ongoing.

Asked if she thought Walker was unfairly criticized during her tenure, Conard said, “Yes, absolutely I do,” but didn’t share any further details.

In her resignation letter, Walker pointed toward “initiatives we have implemented in my tenure with the city.”

They included, she said, “design and construction of Complete Streets, building out a bicycle and pedestrian network, land-use and regulatory amendments to foster Smart Growth, and continued work around climate resiliency and protecting the city’s built and natural environment.”

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