A developer is asking the town of Cape Elizabeth to allow an exit from a proposed 8,000-square-foot retail building to feed onto the high school access road.
The Cape Commerce Center development, which would contain a Dunkin’ Donuts, would take the place of a house just south of Cape Elizabeth High School’s access road.
The exit would cross town-owned property to get to the high school road.
Jim Fisher of Northeast Civil Solutions, representing the owner of the property, Cafua Management, presented the proposal to the Town Council and members of the School Board on Monday evening. Fisher is a Cape resident and the president and founder of Northeast Civil Solutions.
The increased traffic onto the high school access road would be fed to a traffic light that is expected to be at the intersection of Route 77 by the time the high school renovations are done in February 2006.
Town Manager Mike McGovern said the Planning Board required a traffic light at that intersection as part of the high school renovations, but the funding for a light, which can cost upwards of $100,000, had not yet been found.
Fisher said the Maine Department of Transportation told them to send exiting traffic to a lighted intersection if they could. “So, that’s why we’re here tonight,” he said.
Town Councilor Mary Ann Lynch said that safety is obviously paramount, but she questioned if the developer was willing to compensate the town for granting an easement.
The Town Council has final say on the exit proposal because it would need to cross town-owned land. Fisher said the development could occur without the proposed high school access road exit, in which case the entrance and exit to the development would both be on Route 77.
This proposal has become known as the Dunkin’ Donuts proposal, but Fisher tried to avoid the subject of tenancy at this point.
“One of the proposed tenants is a Dunkin’ Donuts, but the tenancy could change 20 times in 100 years,” he said.
Cafua Management is owned by Fernando Cafua of Massachusetts, who owns nearly 100 Dunkin’ Donuts franchises nationwide, including two in Scarborough and three in South Portland. The company is also proposing another Dunkin’ Donuts for Route 1 in Scarborough.
Town Councilor David Backer said it was hard to judge the proposal without taking into account whether the tenants are “professional offices with low traffic flow or a Dunkin’ Donuts with high traffic flow.”
Fisher said traffic studies had been done and the information would be provided through the town manager’s office when it was compiled.
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