“Yes to Responsible Housing. No to Belfort Landing.”
The message is impossible to miss. White signs stand in front yards throughout Portland’s Belfort neighborhood.
Residents say the signs were never meant to represent opposition to housing.
They represent something else: a neighborhood that believes it became collateral damage in Portland’s housing crisis.
For decades, Belfort and the adjoining stretch of Verrill Street felt like a suburban cul-de-sac tucked inside one of Maine’s fastest-changing cities.
The closed-loop neighborhood, made up of modest homes on mid-sized lots, has long had a middle-class residential character without a formal neighborhood association or organized community group.
At the top of Belfort Street sits Moran’s Market, a neighborhood institution that has quietly served Riverton for nearly six decades.
The Larsen brothers, who own and operate the market today, were raised in the Victorian home behind the store, where their father lived until his death in 2018.
Behind that home stood 1.5 acres of wooded hillside that helped define the character of Belfort.
The large trees separated homes from the adjacent Talbot Elementary School and Riverton Community Center, creating a natural buffer between them.
Today, that hillside is gone.
In its place is the sound of diesel engines and excavators carving through the earth.
The project replacing that hillside is Belfort Landing, a 50-unit apartment complex proposed by Portland developer Alex Coupe.
Coupe also purchased the Victorian home behind Moran’s Market, converting it into a sober living residence.
The development consists of two buildings containing 25 apartments each, a mix of one- and two-bedroom units, and 50 off-street parking spaces beneath the buildings.
Supporters say Belfort Landing is the type of housing Portland desperately needs.
Opponents argue the project is not as affordable as presented. Of the 50 units, 13 are designated as workforce-priced units, while the remaining 37 are market-rate apartments.
The Damage
From Belfort Street, the entrance to Belfort Landing does not resemble the entrance to a traditional 50-unit apartment complex.
Construction vehicles drive through a small residential area, squeezing between two single-family homes before reaching the construction site.
The reason: the development property had no dedicated vehicle access from Forest Avenue.
To reach the site, Coupe relied on a narrow, 30-foot-wide panhandle parcel connecting Belfort Street to the development lot behind Moran’s Market.
Residents say they never expected the wooded lot behind Moran’s Market to become a 50-unit apartment complex because the property had historically been zoned as single-family residential land.
The property was eventually sold to Coupe by Larsen family members who inherited the parcel.
Residents say the current design creates significant concerns about traffic, safety, and neighborhood impact.
According to a municipal traffic study, the project is expected to generate approximately 327 additional vehicle trips per day.
They argue increased traffic and street parking could create safety hazards, including emergency access issues and challenges for children walking to Talbot Elementary School.
They say these concerns were repeatedly raised but ignored throughout the approval process.
The ReCode Question
The fight over Belfort Landing did not begin with bulldozers.
It began with ReCode.
Portland’s updated land-use ordinance was designed to encourage more housing. After ReCode was approved by the City Council on December 1, 2024, Alex Coupe submitted a complete major site plan application for Belfort Landing the next day.
The proposal already included architectural drawings, engineering studies, traffic plans, and other required documents.
Residents say the timing raised a serious question:
If a 50-unit development was ready within 24 hours of ReCode passing, how long had it been waiting behind the scenes?
Residents also point to the zoning change itself. The Belfort parcel, previously zoned R3, became RN-5 under ReCode, allowing high-density multifamily development.
Residents argue the property received a dramatic zoning increase that fundamentally changes the character of their neighborhood.
City officials maintain the project complied with Portland’s updated zoning regulations.
Residents remain unconvinced, pointing to concerns that Coupe accessed the site through a recreational conservation easement to begin tree removal and site preparation before the plan received final approval, actions they argue violated city ordinances.
When the Portland Planning Board voted 6–1 to approve Belfort Landing on July 8, 2025, many residents walked away feeling betrayed by the process and their elected officials.
A Neighborhood Fights Back
Residents did what citizens are told to do when they believe government is making the wrong decision.
They showed up, spoke, organized, raised money, and hired lawyers.
Through Friends of Belfort, later expanding into Friends of Riverton, residents created an organized effort to challenge the project.
The group filed a seven-count complaint against Coupe and the City of Portland, along with an 80-B appeal challenging the Planning Board’s approval.
Throughout the dispute, several residents described their interactions with Coupe as unpleasant, pointing to tense exchanges during public meetings and conversations surrounding the project.
The organization raised approximately $25,000 from residents and supporters to fund the legal challenge.
Although a judge denied their request for a preliminary injunction that would have stopped construction from moving forward, Friends of Belfort continues its legal challenge against the project.
A Question of Representation
As Belfort Landing moved from plans on paper to concrete and steel, the fight became about more than a development proposal.
For many residents, it became a question of representation.
At the center of that frustration was District 5 City Councilor Kate Sykes, a democratic socialist who built her political identity around being a voice for ordinary people.
For residents who supported Sykes’ message of putting ordinary people first, Belfort Landing is a glaring contradiction: a politician who built her identity around challenging power now faces accusations from her own constituents that they are the ones left powerless.
Many Riverton residents say they feel abandoned by the representative they expected to stand beside them.
Residents say Sykes told them she could not intervene because the project was outside her purview.
However, residents have also raised concerns that Sykes previously communicated with Portland’s Planning Department about exploring ways to make the project work despite the zoning mismatch.
For those residents, Belfort Landing represents a larger concern: what happens when elected officials ignore the very people they represent.
The Housing Debate
Supporters of Belfort Landing argue Portland cannot solve its housing shortage without increasing density in established neighborhoods.
Residents agree Portland needs housing and that working families need places to live. But they believe the rules, process, location, and neighborhood voices matter.
For many Belfort homeowners, the frustration comes down to a simple question:
After years of paying taxes and investing in their community, shouldn’t residents have some say in the future of the neighborhood they call home?
Residents argue that while ReCode included opportunities for public input, the Riverton community was not involved in this specific zoning change.
When overwhelming opposition comes from the neighborhood, residents believe the city should listen. Yet Belfort discovered that showing up, speaking out, hiring lawyers, and following the rules still may not be enough.
Although construction continues and Belfort Landing rises behind Moran’s Market, the legal battle is not over.
Friends of Riverton remains active and continues raising funds in support of its challenge to this development and the City of Portland.
Those wishing to learn more or contribute to the organization’s legal fund can do so at:
https://www.friendsofriverton.com/
https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-belfort
-Article written by Neil Harper
