In Kennebunkport, it’s easier to buy a decorative souvenir of Maine than legally park a car. And the average person could get lost just trying to find the three public toilets in Dock Square managed by the Chamber of Commerce. So it’s summer again, and Kennebunkport faces its annual identity crisis: “Just what kind of town do we want to be, and who needs those tourists anyway?”
“It’s a complicated problem, but we’re lucky to have a town that’s alive so we have these problems,” admits town manager Nathan Poore.
Shoppers can pay $3 per hour to park in the public lot behind Allison’s Restaurant, but that facility is often jammed. There’s talk about expanding the public lot one-and-a-half miles from Dock Square by 50 more spaces, according to Poore.
The roads around town can’t handle any more traffic than current capacity. And more parking might result in more crowded sidewalks. A plan to analyze the infrastructure necessary for conquering traffic problems was discussed in conjunction with the next-door town of Kennebunk, but the proposed $50,00 study was recently vetoed.
Alternative modes of transportation have also been suggested. Deena Pewtherer, the new executive director of the Kennebunk/Kennebunkport Chamber of Commerce, thinks more bike racks everywhere would be helpful. She also suggests that the sightseeing trolley might shuttle more visitors while continuing to provide sightseeing tours.
Tourists headed for the local beaches face a further vehicular challenge. Beach parking requires definite forethought, for example: car-permit stickers for non-residents run $5 per day, $20 per week and $50 per season, and are sold weekdays in the town hall on Elm Street and 24 hours a day at the police station on Route 9. Some inns in the area sell them directly to guests. Even with the appropriate sticker, early beach parking is essential. “On a hot summer day, even if you have a ticket you can’t find a space,” comments Poore.
On Goose Rocks Beach, you can’t find a public toilet anywhere, which suits the majority of residents on this fine stretch of white sand. Every so often the subject comes up in a meeting of the board of selectman, and the “not-in-my-backyard” attitude prevails, according to Don Fiske, Sr., chairman of the board of selectman. At present, anyone is welcome to use the police station’s restroom – the pink-and-purple flower boxes on the front porch suggest that this place is tourist friendly. Meanwhile, Kennebunk services the scene from Gooch’s Beach to Mothers Beach with two portable toilets.
If public parking and toilets are controversial, well, the subject of tour buses really gets the dialogue going in Kennebunkport and Kennebunk. For the past year, each commercial tour bus – defined by ordinance #12B as “a motor vehicle designed for carrying more than 15 persons, including the operator” – has been subject to a $35 fee just for stopping in Kennebunkport. “All we’re doing is charging them for the pleasure of pulling in, parking, unloading and loading,” complains Fiske, who believes that the town’s economy and self-respect relies on accommodating tourists.
“We must acknowledge that we are tourist oriented,” argues Fiske. “This town has been tourist oriented since the late 1950s, and everyone from the fisherman who sells his wares to the restaurants to the shop owners depends on tourists.”
At present, the town is considering the repeal or revision of the bus ordinance, requiring a similar “reservation” plan – designed to manage the flow of buses into town – while dropping the $35 fee. Area businesses believe that fewer tour buses have come to town this season thanks to the $35 parking fee. “I know from talking to my members that they feel the effect – fewer buses mean less money,” argues Pewtherer.
“Those buses on a scenic tour to the Bush house also seem to only stop to use the rest rooms,” she continues. “We like the buses that stay an hour, an hour-and-a-half, for shopping – although a frenzied woman with a half hour can spend a lot of money.”
Fiske believes these bus tourists, like all travelers, should be greeted warmly and “treated like welcome visitors.”
Not everyone agrees with Fiske, but then this becomes the parable of the tourist who comes to town, likes it, buys real estate, and then doesn’t want to share his fun with any of the new tourists. “In any tourist town, there are people who hunker down and weather the crowds of the season, and others try to turn the town into the place they came from,” concludes Pewtherer, who recently relocated to Maine from upstate New York and is quite bullish about Kennebunkport tourism.
Clearly, the seasonal debate of traffic and toilets in Kennebunkport isn’t over yet.