The Cape Elizabeth Town Council will hold a special meeting Monday to consider giving the Cookie Jar a license that would allow its customers to continue using four parking spaces that violate the town’s zoning ordinance. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

CAPE ELIZABETH — Michael Doyle parked his car right in front of the Cookie Jar and stopped in for a treat Friday afternoon, as he has for decades.

“This is the place to go for pastries,” he said, holding a package of goodies. “Their customers come from everywhere.”

Doyle and other customers often park directly in front of the building, in one of several informal, unmarked parking spaces. But, he said, that may no longer be possible if a proposed change to the bakery’s site plan forces the removal of those spaces.

For weeks, tensions have been escalating in town over a perception that the Cape Elizabeth Planning Board is trying to remove those four parking spaces. Campaign signs across town urge locals to “Save the Cookie Jar,” as does an online petition that’s garnered more than 3,000 signatures in less than a week.

But it’s unclear whether the spaces are actually in jeopardy at this time.

The planning board has not formally asked for the spaces to be eliminated, but it is currently reviewing an updated site plan for the Cookie Jar, which would allow its owners to build a second exit from the rear parking lot. That update includes formalizing the four spaces, which planning officials say violate the town’s zoning ordinance and bleed into the public walkway.

Doyle, like several customers walking out of the bakery Friday afternoon, was frustrated by what he perceived to be an attempt by the town planning board to unfairly target the bakery and “take all their parking, which is not nice.”

“Where else would you park?” he asked.

The Cape Elizabeth Town Council will hold a special meeting on Monday to consider giving the Cookie Jar a license to keep the four spaces in place, despite violating the town’s zoning ordinance. Councilors will convene in Town Hall at 7:30 p.m.

Michael Doyle, 76, who grew up in Cape Elizabeth, leaves the Cookie Jar on Friday. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

The proposed license would permit the Cookie Jar to let cars park in front of the building in spaces extending roughly 2 ½ feet into the public right of way, an area used by cyclists and pedestrians. Planning officials have argued those spaces violate local ordinances and create a safety hazard by encouraging cars to back into the public street when exiting the space.

Council Chair Timothy Reiniger, who called the meeting, said he was optimistic that the body would approve the license in some form. There are two drafts up for discussion: one that would go into effect immediately – Reiniger’s preference – and another that would require approval by the planning board.

“It would be a strong signal to the greater Portland region that Cape wants to work collaboratively with businesses,” he said.

If approved, the license would require the bakery to carry at least $1 million in liability insurance for bodily injury and property damage relating to its use of the public way. It would also bar the Cookie Jar from making any changes or improvements to the area where the spaces sit.

Cookie Jar owners Donna and Tom Piscopo did not respond to messages left over the phone and in person with bakery staff by a reporter asking to speak about the parking lot.

An employee standing behind the counter Friday said the bakery “didn’t have anything to do” with either the signs or the petition but said the business is worried about losing the spaces.

Cape Elizabeth Town Council Chair Tim Reiniger talks about the parking issue while stopping for a cup of coffee at the Cookie Jar on Friday. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

NEIGHBORLY DISPUTE

The fight over parking began earlier this year after Jeff Larrabee and Lisa Galea-Larrabee purchased the Cape Elizabeth Service Center, an auto shop that sits just across the lot from the Cookie Jar.

For years, Cookie Jar patrons would exit the bakery’s parking lot via a private road behind the service center. But Larrabee said that usage was a dangerous nuisance. Over the summer, he parked a pickup truck in the path.

“We basically share a parking lot. However, the repair shop owns the majority,” said Larrabee, who lives in Cape Elizabeth. “The Cookie Jar is extremely, extremely busy. … It’s like buzzing bees.”

Larrabee said Cookie Jar customers speed through his parking lot, use it to exit the Cookie Jar’s lot and, at times, park in front of his business, taking up spaces that should go to Larrabee’s customers. He also worries whether the extra traffic might impact his insurance.

“I do not want to be the cause of the Cookie Jar losing even one donut sale,” Larrabee said. But “I’m not going to compromise my employees’ safety or my customers’ safety for a sale of donuts.”

So he spoke to Donna Piscopo in April, hoping to work out a solution. But he said she resisted talking about the parking lot and argued that there was no issue.

Finally, when city construction prompted drivers to cut between the bakery and the auto shop, Larrabee parked his truck in the way, he said. That truck was still parked there Friday.

That blockade is largely what prompted the Piscopos to submit the new site plan, as they hoped to install a second egress from the lot on their own land, said John Mitchell, a landscape architect working on behalf of the Piscopos.

Larrabee said the parking space question turned political after a pair of candidates for Town Council – David Andrews and David Hughes – began aligning the debate with broader concerns about overregulation and a perceived lack of support for local businesses from town government.

Both candidates offer statements of support on their new website, SaveTheCookieJar.com. Andrews also started the online petition.

“They’re trying to use the Cookie Jar to get elected,” Larrabee said.

Melody Staszko, 70, of Cape Elizabeth, leaves the Cookie Jar on Friday. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

STRONG PUBLIC SUPPORT

In the petition, Andrews calls for the Town Council to prevent the removal of the front parking spaces and “find a permanent solution that allows this beloved bakery to continue serving our community for generations to come.”

“This family-owned bakery has been a cornerstone of our community for decades, and its closure would be a tremendous loss for our town. The planning board’s repeated attempts to target small businesses, like the Cookie Jar and The Lumbery, must stop,” Andrews wrote.

Andrews is running for a seat on the Town Council and describes himself in campaign materials as a supporter of local businesses and preserving the town’s charm. He did not respond to interview requests sent through the petition website and did not return phone calls Thursday night and Friday afternoon.

Hughes said he got involved after watching the planning board’s meeting earlier this month and speaking to Donna Piscopo. He said the issue relates closely to his platform, which emphasizes supporting local businesses, and he noted that the bakery is something of a “local legend.”

“Frankly, it got teed up for me. It’s right in my wheelhouse,” he said in a Friday evening phone call. “It could be any business. If, all of a sudden, they’re getting in a situation where the planning board is giving them a hard time, I would certainly step up and try to help.”

Hughes said the bakery’s fight seemed to mirror an earlier conflict over the Lumbery, a hardware and lumber store that faced a multimillion-dollar lawsuit from the town over years of zoning violations.

“That was not right,” he said.

The Lumbery had been storing and displaying wares in its parking lot without a permit. Town officials dropped the lawsuit in November, but the store went up for sale months later.

NEAR-MISSES 

Grace and Ikey Piscopo purchased the Cookie Jar, originally founded in the 1950s, in 1972, according to the bakery’s website. The Piscopo family has maintained ownership for more than five decades since. It is currently owned and operated by Donna and Tom Piscopo and their children.

For years, customers have parked right out front, albeit without the town’s explicit approval.

Arthur Johnson, 68, of Cape Elizabeth, leaves the Cookie Jar on Friday. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Mitchell, the landscape architect working with the Piscopos, submitted a plan to “formalize the vehicular circulation and parking arrangements” already in use at the bakery and connect its parking lot to Preble Street in September, triggering the planning board’s review. He spoke at the board’s Oct. 15 meeting,

That plan would create 13 parking spaces – one more than the minimum of 12 the bakery says it needs to fulfill the zoning ordinance based on its size and number of employees. That includes six spots behind the bakery, three along its driveway edge and the four in front, one of which would be designated for handicapped parking.

Planning officials have argued that the front parking spaces present a safety issue. Town planner Maureen O’Meara said the pull-in spaces are in an area that already sees heavy pedestrian and bicycle traffic, and they force parked cars to back directly into the public road.

“And there’s a lot of public documentation that there’s been a lot of near-misses, so we do have a fundamental safety issue here,” she said during the meeting.

Customers poured in and out of the business Friday, and in less than two hours, there were at least two near-misses between traffic on Shore Road and vehicles exiting the lot.

O’Meara also argued that the bakery does not necessarily need those four spaces to fulfill the town’s minimum parking requirements. She noted in a memo to the planning board that it has the authority to lower the parking requirement for existing businesses, including the Cookie Jar, by as much as 30%.

“If the planning board is able to reduce the parking required by 30%, nine parking spaces would be needed and the parking spaces shown on the side and rear of the building could meet that requirement,” O’Meara said in the memo. She declined to be interviewed for this story.

But Donna Piscopo argued that those four parking spaces are integral to maintaining business.

“We feel like if we lose the front parking, we’re going to lose the bakery,” she told the planning board. She spoke briefly, appearing to hold back tears, and said she just came from a funeral. “We’ve had people tell us that they won’t come back if they have to park in the back of the bakery.”