Ogunquit to vote on chain-restaurant ban

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OGUNQUIT – You won’t find McDonald’s golden arches or pink-and-orange Dunkin’ Donuts signs in this seaside town. It’ll stay that way if voters approve a proposed ordinance that would outlaw chain restaurants.

Ogunquit is the latest town nationwide to consider a law over so-called “formula” businesses. From Maine to California, more than a dozen municipalities now have laws that ban or restrict chain restaurants, motels, retailers and other establishments.

Supporters of the chain restaurant ban say they don’t want their seaside town to turn into just another congested strip of Subways, Applebee’s and Burger Kings.

“This is a pristine and special community that we are stewards of,” said Mary Breen, the owner of a high-end bakery who spearheaded a petition drive to get the question on the Nov. 8 ballot. “It’s not about finance and marketing; it’s about preserving this small fishing and arts community.”

Opponents say Ogunquit’s existing ban on drive-throughs and its design review process are enough to help the town maintain its character.

Market forces – not government regulation – should determine which restaurants locate in town, said Brian Aromando, who owns Art and Soul art gallery with his wife.

“I think an anti-formula ordinance goes too far and isn’t necessary to address the problem,” said Aromando, who is on the town planning board.

As chain stores ranging from Wal-Marts to Rite Aids to Applebee’s have spread in recent years, so has the movement to control them on the local level, said Stacy Mitchell, a senior researcher with the nonprofit Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

In the mid-1980s, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif., became the first city to enact a formula restaurant ban. Since then, other communities in California, Washington, New York, Florida, Rhode Island and Maine have passed similar laws, she said.

Local communities are given a lot of leeway over zoning and land-use issues, and there have been few challenges of the laws. In Coronado, Calif., landowners sued over a formula retail ordinance but lost in a state court, Mitchell said.

In New England, Bristol, R.I., last year adopted an ordinance restricting formula businesses in the town’s historic downtown. York, which is next to Ogunquit, last year banned formula restaurants.

The issue is about more than just signs or drive-throughs – it’s about economics, Mitchell said. Studies show that more money stays within a community when it is spent at locally owned businesses, she said.

A 2003 study in Maine, for instance, showed that 45 cents of every dollar spent at local businesses in three midcoast towns stayed in the communities and another 9 cents stayed in Maine.

By contrast, the study found that only 15 cents of every dollars spent at national big-box retailers stayed in the state, she said.

While Mitchell supports the free market concept, she also thinks communities have a responsibility to plan.

“This isn’t a free-for-all, because there are costs and benefits borne by the community as a whole,” she said. “There is a point where the community has to say, ‘What direction are we going?'”

Ogunquit, a community of 1,200 year-round residents on the southern Maine coast, is a popular summer destination known for its quaint bed-and-breakfasts, art galleries, restaurants, summer playhouse and white-sand beaches.

There’s already at least one chain restaurant in Ogunquit. The upscale Joe Allen Restaurant is part of a chain with locations in New York, Miami Beach, Paris and London.

The town also has chain convenience stores, banks, gas stations, real estate agencies and a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream counter inside a local drugstore.

Breen, who started the Bread and Roses Bakery in 1989, became alarmed last spring when rumors spread that a Dunkin’ Donuts was coming to town.

She and others circulated a petition and collected 125 signatures to force a vote on whether to ban formula restaurants, defined as establishments with the same name, employee uniforms, color schemes, architectural design, signage, or similar standardized features as another restaurant regardless of location or ownership.

While chains might be appropriate elsewhere, Breen said they don’t belong in Ogunquit.

“Once you have a Dunkin’ Donuts, you’re going to have a TCBY, a Subway and a McDonald’s,” she said.

Reaction in town has been mixed. The planning board voted 3-2 against banning formula restaurants, but the vote didn’t stop the referendum.

The Chamber of Commerce got a mixed reaction in an informal survey of members. Some business were all for a ban, but others thought existing local laws were enough, said Eleanor Vadenais, executive director of the chamber.

Dick Grotton, president and chief executive officer of the Maine Restaurant Association, said if people don’t want chain restaurants in town, they won’t support them.

“It doesn’t get done by the ballot box. People vote with their feet,” he said.

But if the town doesn’t approve the ban, Ogunquit could end up looking like just any other place, Breen said. On a recent bike ride from Boston to the Cape Cod Canal, she said she counted 54 Dunkin’ Donuts signs.

“It’s changing the whole color of our landscape,” she said. “I don’t have anything against Dunkin’ Donuts or other restaurants, but where are the local flavors?”