Emily Hricko, of Portland, sits on Cliff House Beach in Cape Elizabeth on Tuesday while watching her 4-year-old son, Elliot, play in the water. She said parking restrictions the town is considering would be a “bummer.” Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer
CAPE ELIZABETH — On a hot and sunny summer day, the tiny beach at the end of Sea View Avenue was postcard-perfect.
A few yards offshore, a group of teenagers swam and splashed in the water. Parents sat on blankets as small children played in the sand. Others lounged on rocks or soaked up the sun from their beach chairs. A small boat chugged through the water toward Cushing Island.
Cliff House Beach, formerly known as “the secret spot” and cherished by locals, has seen an increase in visitors from outside Cape Elizabeth in recent years. These visitors seek to enjoy a peaceful beach without the usual tourist crowds. However, the parked cars along Shore Road have caused tension in the neighborhood. Residents report constant dangerous situations as they navigate their roads and driveways.
Residents say they are concerned someone is going to be seriously hurt or killed if the town doesn’t do something to get it under control.
“It’s a zoo,” resident Nancy Ross told town leaders at a meeting last week. “I wish it could go back to what it was – a lovely neighborhood beach.”
However, discussions about whether to extend a parking ban in the area for non-Cape residents have ignited concerns about public access to the coastline.
“I think it’s terribly elitist,” said Brendan Eyre of Portland, who was at the beach this week with his daughter. They said they come to the beach 15 to 20 times each summer, and he likes that it is accessible and free.
“It’s quiet. It’s calm. It’s a little bit more relaxed than some of the bigger beaches,” Eyre said.
The town’s ordinance committee has been gathering public feedback on a proposal that would eliminate parking on Shore Road near Sea View Avenue and limit parking in neighborhoods within a half-mile radius – possibly eliminating on-street parking altogether, restricting it to residents only, or only allowing parking on one side of the street.
During a June 27 meeting, nearly all of the two dozen people who spoke said they supported some parking restriction. Many also noted that they don’t want to prevent people from going to the beach.
If the ban were approved, the nearest place non-residents could park could be a half mile away.
On Monday night, the Town Council will consider a recommendation from the committee to conduct a traffic engineering study on the side streets near Cliff House Beach to determine what changes would be needed if parking is banned on Shore Road. Town officials say it is likely that people would try to park in nearby neighborhoods if they can’t park on Shore Road.
SAFETY CONCERNS
On Tuesday, temperatures were in the mid-80s as several people unloaded beach chairs and headed for the stairs down to Cliff House Beach. Some of the cars parked along Sea View had resident stickers, but a few had out-of-state plates.
Cape Elizabeth is considering restricting parking along Shore Road and in some local neighborhoods near Cliff House Beach after some neighbors have complained about the traffic. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer
Emily Hricko, of Portland, watched her 4-year-old son, Elliot Nylund, play in the sand and run into the water. She said they come to this beach a half-dozen times each summer and wish they could come more. She wasn’t excited about the prospect of more parking restrictions.
“I think it would be a major bummer,” she said. “It is so nice to be able to use this beach and come here for a little picnic.”
Breda White lives nearby and was at the beach with her daughter and grandson. She isn’t quite sure how she feels about the potential for restricting parking. She worries about pedestrian safety on Shore Road, but she also thinks it’s important for people to have access to the water.
“It’s a tough decision,” she said.
Concerns about parking near the beach have simmered for years but reached a tipping point in 2020. The beach began to show up in online guides and it was clear the secret was out. Residents complained about the traffic and told town leaders they now avoided the beach. Others described how the character of the neighborhood has changed.
The following year, the Town Council voted to ban parking on one side of Sea View Avenue and restrict parking on the other side to residents only. Parking on Glen Avenue also was restricted to residents only. This pushed beach visitors out onto Shore Road, where they can park on wide shoulders on both sides of the street.
Breda White of Cape Elizabeth hands a stone to her 4-year-old grandson John so that he can toss into the waves at Cliff House Beach on Tuesday. White said it’s a tough matter to weigh. Public access to the beach is important, but so is safety, she said. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer
But some residents still worry that the road isn’t built for this much traffic.
“Someone is going to get killed if something isn’t done. Having 90 cars parked on Shore Road is asinine. It never used to be like this,” Cynthia Troiano, who lives nearby and grew up going to Cliff House Beach, told the ordinance committee last week.
Resident Sandy Shapiro-Hurt said the time has come for the town to deal with an acute traffic situation that has worsened as Cliff House Beach has become more popular. She said there is little room for cyclists on Shore Road, especially at times when 80 cars are parked along a road being used by trolleys and tour buses.
Brian Batson, a Portland resident who said he has been going to Cliff House Beach for several years, called the parking proposal “a pretty baffling exhibition of privilege.”
“Honestly, this strikes me as nothing other than an attempt to make a public and beloved beach privatized,” he said.
Cliff House Beach as viewed from the top of the stairs on Tuesday. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer
Shapiro-Hurt, who often cycles to the beach with her family, said in an interview that it’s been disheartening to see people accuse Cape Elizabeth residents of trying to stop people from going to the beach. She said she’s a huge advocate for public access to beautiful places but doesn’t want the concerns about public safety and quality of life to be lost.
Police Chief Paul Fenton urged the committee to recommend the traffic engineering study. He said the roads vary and what works on one may not be a good choice for another. The committee, comprising three town councilors, agreed that this was the right approach, even if it meant that changes wouldn’t happen this year.
In the meantime, the committee asked Fenton to work with the public works director to put up emergency no-parking signs as needed along Shore Road to improve car sightlines and explore ways to make crosswalks more visible.
Shapiro-Hurt said she was discouraged that town leaders are calling for a traffic study and wish they would just try a solution and respond to problems if they arise.
“We can’t just keep kicking the can down the road,” she said.
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