CAPE ELIZABETH – Three years ago, Cape Elizabeth residents voted down a proposal to charge a fee to park at popular Fort Williams Park by a margin of nearly 2 to 1.

But now the idea is back on the table again. The Fort Williams Advisory Commission says that the park needs the fees to operate self-sufficiently, without depending on town tax dollars. The proposed fees include a $10 annual parking pass for residents and $20 annual passes for visitors in passenger cars or small vehicles who don’t live in Cape Elizabeth.

Buses, depending on such factors as whether they’re associated with a cruise ship visit, would be charged daily fees ranging from $30 to $50. Trolleys and shuttle buses that visit the park on a regular basis would pay an annual fee of $1,000. Buses for educational groups could enter free of charge.

The Town Council has set a workshop for Jan. 4 to listen to public comment and questions on the proposal. The workshop will be at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall. At a second workshop, slated for Jan. 25 at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, the council is expected to discuss the issue. The council could vote on the proposal as early as its Feb. 8 council meeting.

Beautiful Fort Williams Park, with its stunning views of Casco Bay, draws nearly a million visitors a year from around the world, according to the town. Many are eager to see Portland Head Light, the historic lighthouse that stands at the head of Portland Harbor.

In November 2006, town residents voted 3,145 to 1,951 against a proposal for a pay/display parking fee at the park. Under that plan, Cape Elizabeth residents could have parked free of charge. Other visitors in cars would have paid $5 a day or $25 for a seasonal pass. Buses and trolleys would have been charged $20 a day or $100 for a seasonal pass.

The Fort Williams Advisory Commission acknowledges voters’ previous rejection of parking fees at the park. But the commission says in a report it issued this month that this proposal is different because the previous one was made to raise money for capital improvements and to offset operating expenses.

Dan Chase, the chairman of the commission, writes in the report that the new parking fee proposal is designed to help the park become self-sustaining. “There has not been a prior proposal to raise a specific amount of money, in this case the amount necessary to make the park self-sufficient,” Chase writes in the report.

The Town Council last March directed the commission to develop a proposal to make the park self-sustaining, the report says. The park’s operating budget for the current fiscal year is just over $173,000 and covers such expenses as utilities, park personnel salaries and maintenance. The park’s operating expenses currently are paid by tax dollars, the report says. It says that the commission, after exploratory discussions with consultants, “concluded that the only way to raise this amount of money would be to institute parking or entrance fees.”

The commission decided parking fees were preferable to entrance fees because they’d be easier to implement and “would interfere less with traditional uses of the park.” The park also has a capital budget, which is supported by revenues generated in such ways as the rental of picnic shelters and through coin-operated binoculars and by donations. Transfers from the Portland Head Light budget also have supported some larger projects, like the southerly extension of a cliff walk trail in the park.