A businessman who owned a Bed & Breakfast in a residential part of Kennebunkport knew the importance of maintaining a balance between residential character and tourism-related businesses. He understood the value of the character of the village historic district – hearing and seeing songbirds by day and stars by night - because his guests sought out its quiet neighborhoods within walking distance of the restaurants and shops downtown. During conversations we had 15 years ago, we agreed that Kennebunkport had achieved a good balance of these competing interests and that it was worth preserving.
It’s a testament to the property owners that our two historic residential districts remain intact. There is no historic preservation ordinance providing protection from tear down or alteration of these hundreds of structures, even though Kennebunkport has two National Register Historic Districts.
Another reason these homes haven’t been cannibalized for multi-family units or converted into shops is the Kennebunkport Land Use Ordinance (LUO). It has been described by a local lawyer as a “Cadillac” zoning ordinance. According to a member of the Planning Board who worked on the passage of the original ordinance in the early 1970’s, it was balanced with sufficient protections to make it worth enacting without alienating residents who despised the idea of anyone telling them what to do or not do with their land.
Kennebunkport has a small commercial district where tourist-dependent businesses are concentrated, called Dock Square. When the zoning ordinance was passed, existing commercial enterprises all over town were permitted to continue under a grandfathering provision, even if they were located in residential zones.
Because the Zoning Ordinance limits further commercial development within the residential zones, the scale of the intermixing works. When the businesses and their needs – parking lots – or their offerings – amplified music – intrude into residential areas, the quality of life and character of neighborhoods suffer.
When you hear people clamber for more business development in a community whose property tax base is nearly 90% residential, as it is in Kennebunkport, one wonders about the wisdom of the speaker. As the tax base proves, rather than a tourist town with homes, Kennebunkport is primarily a bedroom community with a summer resort component.
During the last 10 years, our Town has lost a major hotel, the Shawmut Inn, and its hundreds of rooms. The structure was torn down and replaced by what was at the time of construction the most expensive and largest home built in the community. During this same period, a large restaurant and 2 Bed and Breakfasts were converted back to residential use. These properties were among the grandfathered commercial properties and are now in conformity with the residences around them. The free market, driven by demand, seems to have tipped the property use scale here toward residential, not commercial uses.
Not long ago, the Maine Coast Heritage Trust conducted a study of 3 coastal communities in Maine to measure the economic impact on towns which have a high percentage of second homes and a lot of undeveloped land in conservation. The findings confirm that towns which have both, as Kennebunkport does, usually have low tax rates. This is because the demand for municipal services – roads, schools, police and fire – is lower when there is more open land and many seasonal property owners.
There are tangible economic benefits, translated into reduced demand for property tax-funded services, when municipalities contain a good percentage of land in conservation and lots of seasonally-occupied homes.
For many of us who happen to live in communities which experience an influx of summer residents and visitors, our best hope of maintaining property values and therefore preserving the value of our greatest asset, our home, is to preserve the qualities which attract visitors here in the first place. It’s about maintaining character of place.
There are sound economic reasons to maintain a healthy balance between residential and commercial uses. Respect for one to the detriment of the other is foolish public policy.
