WARD 5 COUNCIL UPDATES

January 2026

Greetings from your Ward 5 City Councilor!

Since my election in November, there have been only three regular Council meetings. The first two were blessedly rather mild. The third one? Straight into spicy!

There was also a council retreat & a council workshop. I will provide some summaries that might be relevant to our Ward.

STRUCTURAL STUFF

• My biography can be found here: https://www.biddefordmaine.org/2450/David-Kurtz-Ward-5

• Yes, I look like Palmer from FFVII. C'est la vie!

• Other Council bios, photos, and committee assignments, can be found on the Council web site: https://www.biddefordmaine.org/2437/City-Council

• The Councilor from Ward 3, Roger Beaupre, was elected Council President. Roger previously had a brief career as Biddeford Police Chief (a mere 42 years!) and is serving his second term on the Council. His bio and contact information can be found here: https://www.biddefordmaine.org/3252/Roger-P-Beaupre-Council-President---Ward

• I have been appointed to three committees: Policy; DEI; and the Citizens' Advisory Committee (CAC). Policy is responsible for drafting new ordinances for the City. DEI addresses issues affecting people in Biddeford who aren't exactly like me. The CAC works with spending our federal grant money. I thank Mayor Liam LaFountain for his trust in my commitment to the City.

• I have also become Liaison to two non-City agencies, the Biddeford Housing Authority (BHA), and the Heart Of Biddeford (HOB). I am not a voting member of either - which is good for avoiding conflicts of interest in relevant votes.

• My mother has also taken my place on the Waste Management And Recycling Committee. This is mostly because she's actually way more knowledgeable about the subject matter than I am. But also... because I think it's really funny. Thanks for serving, Mom!

• The City Solicitor has been reappointed to a six-month contract while the City considers other options, including bringing the position in-house. I fully support this for, oh, six or seven different reasons. We'll see where it goes.

  ICE IN OUR CITY

• UPDATE: The Mayor has now released two (2) statements. They may be found here: https://www.biddefordmaine.org/m/newsflash

• It has been suggested that goverment officials may not wish to address this issue more stridently. A more strident statement might give our residents a measure of reassurance. It could also paint a big fat target on our backs. And also... local residents should not feel reassured right now. I certainly would not want people to expose themselves to danger because they were given false hope.

• I have often heard it expressed that Randy Weaver did not deserve to be killed by federal agents. I have been thinking about that a lot these days.

• Speaking about Minneapolis, Jonathan Ladd said this: "It’s hard to accurately describe what is happening without sounding crazy. Unmarked rental vans all over the city, with people in military gear and no id jumping out of them to take captive anyone who looks nonwhite or who makes political speech they disagree with. [They're] operating totally outside of our constitutional rules. Habeas corpus , due process of law, equal protection, freedom of speech, 4th amendment protections against search and seizure, are all not being enforced in any common sense or meaningful way."

• Obviously, we are watching. The world is watching.

  PLANNING

• The City recieved a comprehensive overview of development projects currently at any stage of the process. You can watch the City Planner speak of this at https://biddefordme.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3262/files/agenda/5889 at the 1:00:00 mark. The packet is very clearly laid out. It is included as attachment (b) in CivicClerk.

• Upshots of the presentation include:

  • The Pearl Street developments - that is, to either side of the Parking Garage - will be breaking ground in about a month.

  • The Diamond Match development - that is, across Elm Street from Upper Falls Road - is in limbo.

  • Developments to the RiverWalk, the Pearl Street Park, or the Pedestrian Bridge to the Amtrak station... also in limbo.

• The City Planning Department is desperately , COMICALLY understaffed. We're working on it. Uncritical support to David Galbraith and Adi Iriqat.

• This city is no longer going to be a welcome mat for every developer who comes to us. Biddeford is taking its pride back.

• My comments can be heard at 1:53:40 at https://biddefordme.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3262/media

  MORATORIA

• The Council passed a moratorium on development by the University of New England (UNE) pending a review of their intitutional zone (IZ) ordinance. The vote was 9-0.

• UNE, as usual, made things so much worse for themselves. They really are just so good at tripping over their own... piers.

• There's a very good overview by the Gazette here: https://biddeford-gazette.com/2026/01/21/council-unanimously-halts-une-development/

• The Council discussed a moratorium on outrageous lot fees being charged at mobile home parks. It failed to pass 3-6. The votes in favor were from Councilors Abigail Woods (Ward 2), Brad Cote (Ward 7), and ya boi.

• There's a very good article by the Gazette here: https://biddeford-gazette.com/2026/01/21/council-rejects-moratorium-on-mobile-home-park-fees/

• My comments can be found just after Brad Cote speaks at 1:44:25: https://biddefordme.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3072/media

• This issue will hopefully go to either a Policy Committee to discuss things, or to an ad hoc committee.

  SNOW

• Map of NWS Snow Forecast can be found here: https://www.weather.gov/gyx/winter

• This is what it looks like when an atmospheric river occurs during below-freezing temperatures.

• It's gonna be very windy, extremely cold, and we may see 19-20 inches of snow.

• There is ABSOLUTELY a parking ban. The most parking ban that has ever parking banned.

• Stay safe.