Zelin: 'One Portsmouth's' Development Agenda

By Jerry Zelin

The upcoming Portsmouth City Council election has invigorated debate over development.

Sadly, some participants in this debate are guilty of black and white thinking. They falsely claim that critics of the largest, most inappropriate structures oppose all development. They pretend that trimming the size of a proposed building by any degree will reduce its property taxes to zero.

Former Mayor Steve Marchand recently joined this fray. A few months ago he created the website “One Portsmouth.” He calls this a “local grassroots effort,” but he is One Portsmouth’s only named member.

Writing on that website, Mr. Marchand reported that between 2010 and 2014 “Portsmouth increased it’s (sic) tax base by $279.4 million (from $3.9 million to over $4.1 billion).” He implied a major reason was recent commercial development downtown.

Building on that premise, Mr. Marchand quickly turned to negative campaigning. The website attacked city councilors who voted for temporary downtown height restrictions, labeling them “opponents to this expansion of the tax base.”

Here are some statistics Mr. Marchand overlooked. They cast doubt on his theory that recent downtown development played such a dominant role in the tax base.

In 2014, the assessed value of residential real estate in Portsmouth was $2.3 billion, an increase of $135 million from 2010. The assessed value of Portsmouth’s commercial real estate in 2014 was $1.6 billion, an increase of $117 million from 2010.

In other words, less than half the increase in property values was attributable to commercial property.

Much of this expansion of the city’s tax base was unrelated to downtown. For example, Service Credit Union’s new building on Route 1, far from downtown, contributed $26 million to the increase. The City Tax Assessor’s Office informs me that the increase was also fed by construction at Pease and appreciation in the value of commercial and residential real estate citywide.

In sum, One Portsmouth’s economic analysis is incomplete. It fails to isolate: (1) the assessed value of recent construction downtown; and (2) what the value would have been if these structures were somewhat smaller.

So why did One Portsmouth feed us unhelpful statistics?

Mr. Marchand’s short-term goal is obvious: to win the Nov. 3 election by packing the Portsmouth City Council with supporters of his development agenda. Acting through One Portsmouth, he recruited and endorsed a slate of “eight great candidates” he thinks he can count on. Those same candidates are backed by special interest groups standing to profit from maximum development downtown, such as real estate brokers, attorneys for commercial banks, and leaders of the Chamber of Commerce.

Do not be surprised if the Portsmouth Herald endorses a similar slate. Mr. Marchand and the Herald’s executive editor co-chaired the Chamber of Commerce’s Government Affairs Committee until January 2015. Mr. Marchand is also Portsmouth’s lone representative on the Herald’s Community Advisory Board. (To its credit, the Herald recognized this conflict of interest a few days ago and announced on Oct. 27 that Mr. Marchand “will not take part in our endorsement deliberations for city candidates.”)

Some speculate that Mr. Marchand’s long-term goal is to collect the rewards due a king-maker. His business website, stevermarchand.com, offers to help “commercial real estate” clients navigate “the legislative process at all levels of government,” including “land use ordinances.” How? In Mr. Marchand’s own words, by taking advantage of his “dense network of relationships” with “leaders in the community who you need to work with.” That’s a fancy way to describe influence peddling.

We need city councilors who are not beholden to any special interests. We need councilors committed to thoughtfully balancing the sometimes competing demands of growth, affordability, and preserving the historic scale that makes Portsmouth special.

Jerry Zelin lives in Portsmouth