KENNEBUNK – The July 21 Kennebunk Select Board meeting was unusually well attended due to a single agenda item to consider sending the beach parking permit ordinance back to the ordinance subcommittee for review.

The discussion lasted an hour and was at times contentious.  However, as the meeting went on, there was a respectful exchange of ideas. At the end, the board decided by a vote of 6 to 1 to send the ordinance back to the subcommittee for reconsideration.

It was clear from the board’s discussion that the primary issue was always one of logistics, not discrimination against non-resident property owners. The current “in person” process of issuing thousands of permit applications uses up a lot of resources and distracts town hall staff from their other duties. Under the new ordinance, the passes would be managed entirely online, and the qualifying element to acquire a parking pass would be a locally registered license plate.

The unintended consequence of this policy is to exclude passes for cars that are not registered in the town, i.e. those of most nonresident property tax payers. The challenge is to adapt the system to handle non-local license plates that can be tagged to local property owners. It was noted that the Town of Kennebunkport does currently have such a system in place

There were multiple references on both sides of the podium to the question of fairness and the treatment of nonresidents as “second class citizens.”  Letters, emails and petitions emphasized that nonresident property-tax payers fund a significant part of the town’s budget but use a relatively low share of the town’s services. They believe they deserve the same beach parking privileges as full-time residents.

The meeting ended more or less amicably.  Board Chair Miriam Whitehouse noted “it was never our intent … to make people feel like second class citizens. We were trying to solve multiple problems. We’ll go back to the drawing board and see if we can come up with something that works for more people.”

The next ordinance subcommittee meeting has not been scheduled.  When it is, it will be posted on the town website (www.kennebunkmaine.us).  It is also possible to sign up on the town website for meeting notifications (www.kennebunkmaine.us/list.aspx#agendaCenter).  The July 21 meeting can be viewed on Cablecast or by clicking on the video icon attached to the meeting agenda on the town website: https://www.kennebunkmaine.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_07212026-3963