New deli planned for Cape

Proposed business proposed for a vacant lot next to the high school entrance.

CAPE ELIZABETH — Cape Elizabeth residents Michael and Stephanie Concannon hope to open a “gourmet deli” in town, at 349 Ocean House Road, on a 0.76-acre vacant lot next to the high school entrance on Route 77.

However, they still must broker the same easement deal with the town that reportedly scuttled a previous development proposal at that location.

At a Planning Board workshop Dec. 6, landscape architect John Mitchell, of Portland-based Mitchell & Associates, presented a sketch plan for a 3,500-square-foot, two-story structure, to be built, he said, in a “Cape Cod style, with clapboard siding.”

The new deli, yet to be named, will be a “high-end market,” said Michael Concannon, who listed among its planned offerings bagels, coffee, sandwiches, bottled wine and “gourmet foods you can’t get at the IGA.”

Concannon said he will move his other business, Port Printing Solutions, now located on Thadeus Street in South Portland, onto the second floor of the new building, although he assured planners no actual printing will take place on site.

“We don’t do any manufacturing,” he said. “It’ll just be an office space, for taking calls.”

The business entrance will be located on Route 77, about 200 feet from the high school driveway. On Monday, the Concannons met in executive session with town councilors to negotiate a price to use the driveway as an exit from their business, back on to Route 77. According to Town Manager Michael McGovern, the meeting lasted “about 15 minutes” and no action was taken when councilors emerged from behind closed doors.

On Tuesday, McGovern declined to say whether the talks were fruitful, or even what exactly was negotiated – apparent options being the sale of a permanent easement or a recurring rental fee of some kind.

The town engaged in similar talks when the need for a traffic light on Route 77 came up as part of the high school renovation project approved by voters in 2003. The following year, Fernando Cafua, now of Palm Garden, Fla., introduced plans to turn the corner lot now eyed by the Concannons into the “Cape Commerce Center” – a mixture of office space and retail shops anchored by a Dunkin’ Donuts. Cafua agreed to rebuild the intersection if the town would pay for the streetlight. According to McGovern, the Town Council could not agree with Cafua on a price for use of the high school driveway as the Commerce Center exit. Around the same time, bids for roadwork estimated at $100,000, tops, came in at more than $200,000. Finally, at an Oct. 12, 2006, meeting, McGovern told councilors Cafua was “pursuing other projects during a challenging bidding environment.”

A building on the lot was cleared in 2007, but the Commerce Center never materialized. The town rebuilt the intersection on its own in 2008, at a cost of $284,021.

“When I met with the applicant, I pushed very hard for them to again ask the town for permission to connect up to the high school driveway,” O’Meara told the Planning Board. “Being able to have exiting traffic go through that signalized intersection I think would enhance public safety.”

However, O’Meara added, there is “no obligation for the town to grant that request.”

“I advised the applicant that they need to make a good-faith effort to obtain that approval and then, if they don’t get it, they need to demonstrate that they tried and the town said no,” O’Meara explained. “If the town says no, then they can still come back and ask for two-lane access out of their own driveway [on Route 77], as long as they can demonstrate that that is still safe.”

O’Meara said the Concannons must obtain a traffic study for the area, a requirement taken as good news by planners, given the proximity of the site’s entrance to the high school light, where traffic can be “very intense” at certain times of the day.

“For this location I want a lot of assurance that this [proposal] is going to be OK for traffic,” said board member Josef Chalat, noting that cars at the light can easily back up past the planned entrance to the deli

Still, others welcomed the development news.

“It’s exciting. [That lot] is an eyesore the way it looks now,” said board member Liza Quinn.

“I would say that, because of where it is located at the entrance to our high school, I would be concerned about how it [the new building] looks,” said Planning Board Chairman Elaine Falender.

The board spent some time discussing design standards – zoning rules that generally require that new construction conform to the character of a neighborhood. However, that rule might not be a course worth pursuing in this case, some suggested.

“If you take the IGA next door, it’s just a straight-line block,” said Planning Board member Henry Steinberg.

“One could argue that’s why we have design standards,” quipped O’Meara.

According to Mitchell, the plan includes 26 parking spaces behind the deli/printing office, which will be placed about 25 feet from the Route 77 property line. A “small, outdoor seating area” is planned for the south side of the building. Zoning rules in the Town Center zoning district call on the Concannons to build a sidewalk along their property’s 210-feet of Route 77 frontage, as part of site development.

Mitchell said the Concannons do prefer the high school driveway exit suggested by O’Meara.

“It would be a lot safer and more convenient for their patrons,” he said.

After the Cape Commerce Center plan collapsed, Catua sold the property to Peter and Ann Konstantino, now of Iveryton, Conn., in August 2007. They owned it as Slick Rock LLC until transferring the property into their own names this past January. The Concannons have a purchase and sale agreement signed on the site, contingent on town approval of their development. The lot is currently assessed by the town at $337,500.