Christian Roadman, senior planner at the Greater Portland Council of Governments, leads a discussion with members of the business community at the Cape Elizabeth Business Summit on Dec. 18. Contributed / Town of Cape Elizabeth

Following recent scuffles with small businesses in town, Cape Elizabeth held its first business forum in December to open a dialogue between business owners and town representatives.

Councilor Stephanie Anderson proposed to hold a summit earlier this fall following controversies around site plans for The Lumbery and parking issues at the Cookie Jar. Those instances have sparked criticism from some business owners who say it is difficult to work with the town.

The summit was organized in conjunction with the Greater Portland Council of Governments, an organization that has held similar meetings in other communities. More than 15 current and aspiring Cape Elizabeth business owners attended the summit while many others were interviewed by council representatives.

“What really pleased me in watching the whole thing was that it seemed that everybody was participating, it wasn’t being dominated by one or two people,” Anderson told the Sentry last week.

Council Chair Penny Jordan said the summit was a great starting point.

“There’s a lot of interest on the part of business owners to simplify (town) processes and procedures,” Jordan said. “There was much discussion about a navigator, somebody that can help and answer questions.”

One of those who attended the summit was Mike Friedland, co-owner of The Lumbery. The town had a lawsuit against his business, which was ultimately dropped late last year, for being in and out of compliance with its site plan by moving products around the storefront and parking lot.

Friedland said he was interested in having a third party in the community who is able to act as a tool for both the town and business owners, such as an economic development department or corporation. He noted the director of the Scarborough Economic Development Corp. led one of four discussion groups at the summit.

“It’s hard for a representative of the town to really guide an applicant to navigate their way through the town’s processes,” Friedland said. “Setting up an independent body seems to be a good way to represent the (business owners).”

Friedland said there was also a lot of discussion about how Cape Elizabeth is perceived by the region’s business community.

“It seems like the outside perspective is that Cape Elizabeth doesn’t really want business development,” Friedland said. “I’m curious to see what comes of this. I hope it’s not small changes.”

Anderson said she was pleased with the result of the summit.

“I think we got a very balanced and diverse point of view among the Cape Elizabeth business community,” she said.

The council will receive a report on the summit and other feedback Greater Portland Council of Governments solicited for business owners not in attendance in February.