The plan was proposed during unprecedented commercial development in southern Maine that has sparked debate about what makes the state that calls itself Vacationland attractive to outsiders.
Ogunquit, a coastal resort 70 miles north of Boston with just 1,200 year-round residents, would become the second Maine town to ban restaurant chains in less than two years. Voters in neighboring York approved a similar new rule last spring.
''People aren't going to pay $200 a night to come to a place that's just like the place they just left," said Mary Breen, a town native who owns Bread & Roses, the cozy bakery on Main Street famous for its cinnamon butter puffs. ''That sameness is creeping in everywhere."
Ogunquit boasts a beachside dairy bar where sunburned families line up for soft-serve cones; a rustic lobster pound with a fireplace and picnic tables, where diners pick their own lobsters; and a restaurant in an 18th-century farmhouse once ranked by Gourmet magazine as one of the best in the country, where for $41.95 diners can order two roasted quail with fennel and saffron couscous.
Local officials said no chains have tried to set up shop in recent memory, probably because the offerings are many and the year-round population so small.
Not everyone has embraced the proposed ban, which was placed on the ballot after Breen collected signatures from 125 residents. Three of five local Planning Board members oppose it, though the board chairman, who runs a bed and breakfast, said he supports it.
Some residents say it is unfair to block one kind of business. Others say they would not be bothered by fast-food restaurants that resemble those in Freeport, the Maine shopping mecca where strict zoning guidelines require chain outlets to affect a rustic, Down East look.
Drive-through windows are already banned in Ogunquit, and under the existing design review process, town officials can regulate the size of signs, style of architecture, and building materials.
''I'm not sure what people are afraid of," said Karen Maxwell, a former selectman who has a real estate business and opposes the proposed ban.
