Cape Elizabeth residents don’t like bars, and they really don’t like living near them, about 10 residents told the Town Council Monday.

The residents spoke out in response to an ordinance proposed by council Chairman Mary Ann Lynch that would regulate the hours of operation, capacity and location of bars and taverns in Cape Elizabeth.

Currently, town zoning doesn’t regulate bars at all.

The focus of most of the comments was on Rudy’s of the Cape, the small convenience store/eatery located in a mostly residential neighborhood on Ocean House Road. Owner Mary Page recently obtained town and state permission to serve alcohol and has installed a small bar counter.

She is also seeking to expand her seating and make other improvements to the property.

Page says she has no intention of operating a rowdy bar, and that Rudy’s will remain a family-friendly place for folks to gather, have a slice of pizza, and, if they wish, a beer.

“This has just been blown totally out of proportion,” she said. “It’s still a restaurant, it’s still a pizza place, it’s still a family place … I’m not a bar. I have a restaurant that serves beer and wine.”

She called the comments “very hurtful.”

“No one’s come to speak to me about it,” she added.

Neighbors aren’t buying it. Several shook their heads as she spoke. About 11 people spoke against bars in Cape Elizabeth in general, or at Rudy’s in particular. Only one, besides Page, spoke positively of the changes at Rudy’s.

Patrick Babcock, who lives five houses from Rudy’s, said he is unhappy with the current situation at Rudy’s and doesn’t want to see it get any worse.

“Right now, we have a bar there, in my opinion,” he said.

He said he is concerned about the impact badly behaved bar patrons, squealing their tires and playing loud music, could have on the neighborhood, and the possibility that Cape Elizabeth could become “another potential Old Orchard Beach” if bars were allowed to spring up among the town’s quiet homes.

Morris Kreitz said having an ordinance that allows bars and taverns “presupposes there should be bars in Cape Elizabeth.

“… I don’t think there is anyplace (in town) where a bar would be helpful, particularly in the (neighborhood business) district,” he said. “(A bar is) inherently incompatible with the homes adjacent and next door.”

He said the ordinance should prohibit bars or allow them only in the downtown business district, in the area of the IGA.

Dan Fishbein agreed, adding that a bar should be defined as “any place that serves alcohol to people who are not seated eating a meal,” and, if allowed, should be required to close at 9 p.m. and not serve alcohol before 4 p.m.

According to councilors, Cape Elizabeth already has at least two “bars” in addition to the small bar at Rudy’s – a lounge at the Inn by the Sea and a small bar area at The Good Table.

Several restaurants in town serve alcoholic beverages and at least one encourages patrons to bring their own.

Only one person, Car Dittrich, spoke in support of the changes at Rudy’s.

“(Rudy’s is) the only place in town where you can go to socialize,” he said. He called it “far-fetched” to imagine that Rudy’s would ever become a hotspot for an out-of-town bar crowd.

“I would say, go there on a Friday night and check it out,” he said.

Lynch said she proposed the ordinance largely because Cape Elizabeth doesn’t have one, and doesn’t have a strong opinion on where, or if, bars should be permitted in Cape Elizabeth.

“I was as shocked as anyone to find out there were no ordinances regarding bars,” she said. “It struck me that if we had bars and taverns, we should have (an ordinance).”

As proposed, the ordinance defines a bar or tavern as a place where the sale of alcoholic beverages for on-site consumption accounts for more than 50 percent of the gross retail revenue. It would limit the location, hours, and capacity of bars and taverns, although details have not been worked out.

As Councilor Cynthia Dill noted, the Town Council itself approved the now-unpopular liquor license for Rudy’s months ago.

However, Lynch said, she did not expect that Page would install a bar counter.

“I don’t think that any of us envisioned that a physical bar would be constructed and people would sit, or stand (and consume alcohol),” she said.

The council voted unanimously to refer the proposed ordinance to the planning board for further consideration.

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