Residents concerned about the “inappropriate behavior” of beachgoers at Higgins Beach have asked the Scarborough Ordinance Committee to eliminate public parking on Bayview Avenue in favor of handicap or senior only spots instead.

The proposal by residents – upset with behavior such as tailgating, nudity, urinating and obstructing the sidewalk with surfboards and other beach gear – would replace the free, one-hour public parking on Bayview with handicapped-only spots, a drop-off and an official-use parking spot or limit parking to seniors with beach passes only.

The town maintains a public parking lot, changing room and restroom in Higgins Beach, but those facilities do not have direct access to the beach. During the summer season, those without beach permits must pay a daily fee to use the town-owned lot.

Saying the best solution would be to bring the stakeholders together to resolve the issues being raised, Councilor Kate St. Clair, chairwoman of the Ordinance Committee, called for a “dialogue” instead of imposing new restrictions.

“We need to bring people together to solve this outside of the council,” she said at the Feb. 19 meeting. “An informal working group should be able to sit in a room and work through this. This doesn’t need to be contentious.”

St. Clair said anyone interested in discussing the concerns “with an open mind” should email her and she would set up a time for the stakeholders to meet together and talk through their issues.

As of the Current’s deadline Tuesday, that informal group had not met, but Barbara Bombaci, a resident of Higgins Beach who spoke in favor of the proposed parking restrictions on Bayview Avenue at last week’s meeting, hopes that a plan “all parties can agree upon” can be created through the working group St. Clair is putting together.

During the Ordinance Committee meeting, St. Clair said she had “sympathy for both sides,” but added she also believes, “We should all have the right to use the beaches.”

After the meeting, Bombaci told the Current, “We’re simply asking the beach users to respect our neighborhood and eliminate the inappropriate behavior.” She said residents felt one way of mitigating problem behavior would be to restrict the parking available on Bayview Avenue.

“Higgins is a neighborhood of families, and this behavior, although not illegal, is at the very least inappropriate and would not be tolerated in any other neighborhood in Scarborough. We believe that changing the parking ordinance would mitigate these behavior issues,” Bombaci said.

During the Ordinance Committee meeting last week, Douglas Lund-Yates called the latest parking restrictions part of the “long-term attack on beach access.”

He added, “We keep compromising and (now) there are only a few free public parking spots available. Hundreds of people came out a couple years ago, but here we are again trying to reduce use of the beach.”

In addition, Liam Somers, who ran for a spot on the Town Council this past fall, said, “Why is it so difficult for the public to come and enjoy the beach? Why is there always a push to keep people away from Higgins Beach? It should not be exclusive.”

In a Facebook post following last week’s Ordinance Committee meeting, the Maine chapter of the Surfrider Foundation said it “rallied with local citizens including surfers, (those) who use the parking spots to walk dogs along this popular beach, residents and other beach users to urge the town not to restrict public access to Higgins Beach by removing parking, but to instead look at common-sense solutions for perceived behavioral issues.”

The post continued, “Previous attacks on public access at Higgins Beach (has) resulted in the slow chipping away of public parking and access, bit by bit. This is the first time in the countless attacks on public access at Higgins Beach (that’s resulted in no) further compromising.”

However, the post also reminded surfers and others who use the beach to “do our part to enjoy, protect and respect the ocean, waves and beaches we love and the human communities that surround them.”

Councilor Jean Marie Caterina, another member of the Ordinance Committee, said she’s used Higgins Beach all her life and never witnessed the behavior that some residents are complaining about.

She’s supportive of possibly adding a third handicapped spot to Bayview, but also said she doesn’t want to further “limit public parking on a public street. I would hate to see that access go away. My disappointment is that (Higgins Beach) is becoming more exclusive.”

Councilor Ed Blaise, the third member of the Ordinance Committee, argued that the issues residents are complaining about are not related to parking, but are behavioral, and agreed with Caterina and St. Clair it’s disappointing that the only solution being proposed is to further limit beach access.

On the other hand, Blaise pointed out that the town-owned parking lot is only a 3-minute walk from the beach and he wondered why it was not possible for surfers and other beachgoers to park there and use the changing and restroom facilities.

Bombaci, who has lived at Higgins Beach for nearly 30 years, agreed.

“The parking lot is rarely full and is free most of the year. It’s only a 3-minute walk to the beach (and the new parking rules would ensure that) street parking is available to those who need it most – senior citizens,” she said.

However, she also said, “I want to emphasize that the majority of beach users are responsible and respectful, and many use the parking lot and walk to the beach. It’s the minority who are responsible for these behavior issues. (But), we are not attempting to change or restrict beach access.”

This story was updated to clarify the parking proposal.