WESTBROOK – New regulations for yard sales and bottle clubs are still pending in Westbrook after concerns were raised at a City Council meeting Monday that the rules flirted with “Big Brother” territory.

Bottle clubs allow customers to bring in their own alcohol and can operate without a liquor license. There are no bottle clubs operating in Westbrook, but Bill Baker, Westbrook’s assistant city administrator for business and community relations, said there has been some interest in opening a bottle club in a residential location on Elmwood Avenue.

Neighbors of the site of that potential bottle club, 33 Elmwood Ave., spoke out earlier this year when a restaurant and club attempted to open at that location and sought city permits. Residents cited multiple issues, including fights, car accidents and loud noises occurring anytime such a business opened at that location.

Meeting as the Committee of the Whole prior to the City Council meeting, the panel discussed restrictions on bottle clubs at length, asking city attorney Natalie Burns whether the city could impose even stricter regulations than those proposed, with the goal of keeping them out of residential areas and places near where children gather, like parks.

Burns said the city’s proposed regulations, including a 300-foot restriction around churches and schools and limiting the hours of operation between 9:01 a.m. and 12:59 a.m., are already going beyond the state’s regulations around bottle clubs. She said she feared the more restrictive the rules, the harder it would be to uphold if they were challenged.

Councilors did not recommend taking any action on the rules at the Committee of the Whole meeting, instead asking for more information, including how much the bottle club license would cost and if it were possible to restrict the clubs in residential zones.

Regulations of yard sales, the other hot-button issue on Monday’s agenda, are also under review by the Committee of the Whole after the City Council decided to push the regulations back to the committee, essentially starting the process at square one.

The regulations, which stipulate that a resident can hold yard sales only twice in a calendar year, for two days at a time, were approved and recommended by the Planning Board, but councilors said on Monday that those rules were too restrictive and the city maybe over regulating.

“We’re stepping on toes of individual people in the city,” said Councilor Mike Sanphy. “Yard sales have served as a social venue and an economic tool for people who need money. We should be focused on the problems of parking and signage. This goes too far.”

“Two words: Big Brother,” said Councilor Paul Emery

Council President Brendan Rielly also said he wouldn’t support the measure because only allowing for two yard sales a year was too few.

Mayor Colleen Hilton, an advocate for the regulations, said the new rules would protect the multiple residents who called to complain about their neighbors essentially running businesses from their homes by holding sales every week.

“I’ve heard from a number of people on this issue. It’s not for the average person. It’s for those running businesses out of their private homes. When you back up a U-Haul and unload a quantity of goods like a big lot sale, that’s a problem,” Hilton said.

The yard sale and bottle club regulations will be reviewed again by the Committee of the Whole during an upcoming meeting.