Sprague land offers room, and a view

PressHerald: "Although the Planning Board unanimously endorsed the plan, the City Council never changed the zoning. As a result, any significant development on the Portland Co. property would require council approval.

Sprague, 58, has developed an antagonistic relationship with City Hall in recent years. He sued the city last year to block its effort to take rail-access rights that the company owns on the eastern waterfront.

He also fought the state's plan to give the city an easement along an abandoned railroad line through a part of Bayside that the city had targeted for redevelopment.

The Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad, a nonprofit group that Sprague has supported over the years, had hoped to extend its track to that area.

Sprague said he has made too many "enemies" at City Hall and he needs a developer to usher a project through the political process. "