KENNEBUNK, Maine (AP) — Plans to open a new eating spot on Port Road have been canceled.
In a May 23 interview, candidate Matthew Dyer declined to provide the main points on why he and his wife, Mariah, ended their hopes for a new place to eat at the old Market Day resort. Dyer said he did not need to comment “for or against” the city of Kennebunk.
But Dyer made one clear.
“We’re making progress in Kennebunk,” he said.
Dyer said he would “continue to make wood-fired pizzas” at Wandby Landing, the restaurant that opened on Western Avenue last summer.
“We open on July 1, so we’re coming to our first anniversary,” he said. “We’re in for a busy season in Kennebunk. “
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Dyer said he and his wife made their resolution in mid-May, more than a week after the city’s site plan review committee approved his request, but with more than a dozen conditions, adding similar ones to traffic, lighting, signage and parking. as well as restrictions on seating, dining and entertainment.
Gary Dugas, chair of the Site Review Board, can be reached for comment.
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Market Day at 135, LLC, of Portland, owns the property. As plaintiffs, the dry cleaners hoped to renovate the 2,300-square-foot building on a dining venue that can accommodate up to a hundred consumers indoors and on a terrace.
Through their representative at Sebago Technics, the applicants presented their proposal to the village earlier this year. The Site Plan Review Committee conducted its initial reviews of the proposal at its March 16 and April 20 meetings and also took a tour of the asset site.
Dry cleaners are not the first applicants to abandon plans to open a business in Kennebunk after experiencing the procedure of the local site review committee. rebuild it as an inn. The couple blamed the city’s plan-making procedure for their resolution to abandon their proposal after delays began to clash with their timelines for securing hard work and funding.
At a public hearing on May 4, Gates was among a handful of citizens who addressed the review panel. She accused the board of demonstrating “double standards” by failing to demand from Dyers the same kinds of needs to which she and her husband were bound. She gave examples related to buffering and right-of-way parking as two of the few issues where she felt Post Road applicants were treated the way she thought she and her husband were treated.
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“There has to be a transparent understanding of what is smart for one task and deserves to be smart for the next,” Gates said.
Other citizens who spoke at the hearing expressed concerns about traffic, parking, lighting and the effects the new restaurant could have on adjacent wetlands and noise levels in the neighborhood.
Henry Hess of Sebago Technics addressed the concerns, saying Dyers had developed parking arrangements, involved LED lighting on site, planted flowers and plants along a slope to protect wetlands and did not play music or feature live bands.
“They intend to be a neighbor,” Hess told the board, according to the draft minutes.