By Amanda Estes

Staff Writer

When tourists visit Carl Dittrich’s Cape Elizabeth antique shop, they
often ask him four questions: Where can we stay, where can I get a
lobster, where’s Portland Head Light and how much are houses along the
water?

Dittrich, owner of Off the Wall Antiques & The Unusual on Ocean
House Road, hopes, in regard to the first question, he might someday be
able to direct tourists to his own bed and breakfast establishment.

Dittrich brought his request to the planning board at a Nov. 6
workshop. He said his two-acre property with frontage on Route 77 and
room for 10 cars to park would be an ideal location for the “low
impact” business that he said would likely attract “empty-nesters.”

Visitors to Cape Elizabeth have limited lodging options, Dittrich said.
Rooms at the town’s only hotel, Inn By the Sea, are frequently
unavailable for people traveling on short notice and too expensive for
many visitors, he said.

According to the Inn By the Sea Web site, a one-bedroom suite with a
two-night minimum and including a full kitchen, living room and dining
area can range in price from $349 to $379 during the months of July and
August. The Inn is currently closed due to extensive renovations
underway.

Currently bed and breakfast establishments are only permitted in the
town center district, which doesn’t have many buildings that would suit
that type of use, said Code Enforcement Officer Bruce Smith. The
residential A district, which encompasses Dittrich’s property and the
majority of town land, has a number of properties that could qualify
for a bed and breakfast establishment if the town were to allow them,
Smith said.

“In concept, I like the idea because I think the need is there,” said
Planning Board Vice-Chairman Peter Hatem. “The issue we’re going to
struggle with is performance standards.”

A possible standard may include limiting the establishments to 40,000
square foot lots or dwelling units of a certain size. Town Planner
Maureen O’Meara also suggested requiring frontage on an arterial road,
like Route 77.

Planning Board Chairman Barbara Schenkel said limiting bed and
breakfasts to arterial roads was unfair. She said running a bed and
breakfast is not easy work and there likely wouldn’t be a lot of people
attracted to the idea of opening one in town. 

Gorham Code Enforcement Officer Clint Cushman said there are probably
three bed and breakfast establishments in his town, with the last
inquiry dating back to the late 1990s.

A bed and breakfast is a permitted use in Gorham under the heading of a
“rooming house,” Cushman said. The town’s zoning ordinance defines a
rooming house as “any dwelling in which more than three persons,
whether individually or as families are housed for compensation with or
without meals.”

Typically the rooming houses are permitted in the more compact, built
up areas of town such as the Gorham Village Center District and not
rural districts, Cushman said.

Applicants interested in opening a bed and breakfast are required to
put their business proposal in writing which would then be reviewed by
a site plan review committee of town department heads.

O’Meara said she expects Cape Elizabeth residents to have concerns
about “anything other than a single family home next to their single
family home.”

The planning board requested more information regarding how other
communities treat bed and breakfast establishments in their ordinances.
The item could come forward for more discussion at the Nov. 26 planning
board meeting.