CAPE ELIZABETH – The Cape Elizabeth Planning Board was scheduled to hold a special meeting this week on a proposal by the owners of The Good Table Restaurant to increase the number of seats allowed in restaurants located in the town’s Business A Zone from 80 to 100.

The meeting, which was set for Tuesday, after the Current’s deadline, follows a heated discussion held by the board on April 15, during which members expressed their disappointment that The Good Table, located on Ocean House Road, was offering more seating than allowed by ordinance.

However, in a memo sent to the Planning Board prior to this week’s meeting, Town Planner Maureen O’Meara said the issue is not about the code violations by The Good Table, but whether allowing a 100-seat restaurant “is generally consistent with a neighborhood business district.”

In her memo, O’Meara said, “While the Planning Board’s frustration with an individual enforcement action is understandable, the board’s responsibility and role is to take a broader, long-term view of overall appropriate activities in the Business A district.”

She added, “Before learning of the violation, the Planning Board was moving in the direction that 100 seats can be appropriate. Evidence of The Good Table operating with 100 seats without significant impact to the neighborhood suggests that 100 seats may be reasonable.”

Prior to the May 6 Planning Board meeting, Lisa Kostopoulos, who owns The Good Table with her father, Anthony, told the Current she never intentionally violated the town’s zoning ordinance.

“I just want to run the restaurant and employ the same number of people and feed the same number of people as I have been,” she said.

Since the issue of the number of seats allowed has been raised, Kostopoulos said The Good Table has scrupulously followed the rules, even though that means lost business and income.

That’s especially troublesome, she said, as the restaurant moves into its busy season.

“The summer months are when we bank money for the long winter,” Kostopoulos said, which is why she hopes the Town Council will approve the proposed amendment to allow up to 100 seats no later than July.

Town Manager Mike McGovern said this week he could not anticipate when the council might make a final decision on the question of the number of seats allowed in restaurants in the Business A Zone. He said the Planning Board must first hold a public hearing, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. on May 22, and then make a recommendation to the Town Council regarding the zoning amendment.

The council’s ordinance committee would have to review the proposal once it’s referred by the Planning Board and then the council would also likely have to hold a public hearing before voting on whether to allow the increased seating.

On her end, Kostopoulos said the town’s slow approval process is one reason she kept operating with more seats than allowed. She said no one ever told her the contrary, and she assumed that as long as the request for increased seating was in process she could continue to operate as usual.

She said The Good Table initially requested expanding from the 75 seats to 100 in September. With only 75 seats, she said, the restaurant could only serve 600 people a day, instead of the more typical 800.

“I understand the fear is having a huge, Clambake-type business,” Kostopoulos said, referring to the popular seasonal restaurant in the Pine Point area of Scarborough, “but, we are not expanding our footprint, or the parking lot.”

In addition, Kostopoulos said, The Good Table “is a really great asset to the town. We’ve been a part of this community for 28 years.”

What warms her heart, she said, has been the support from the customers and the staff.

“I’m impressed by how they’ve all rallied together, “Kostopoulos said. “We’ve had a lot of customer support. People have just been great. This town is a great place to be.”

Kostopoulos also said she’s not angry with the town, and said town staff and the Town Council all “have the best interests of (Cape Elizabeth) at heart.”

On the other hand, she just wants to run her business, which first opened in 1986. “I believe in fairness, and I always try to play by the rules,” Kostopoulos said. “But if I can seat the people who want to come and eat here, that’s what I want to do.”

According to the memo prepared by O’Meara for this week’s Planning Board meeting, the board has worked on the amendment to increase the number of allowable seats at restaurants in the Business A Zone three times.

“After reviewing regulations in other communities, discussing the merits of a seat cap and the impact of this potential change on both BA districts, the Planning Board agreed to a draft amendment that would increase the seat cap to 100 seats,” the memo said.

It was only during the meeting in April when the board learned that The Good Table was operating with more than 75 seats that board members removed the 100-seat amendment, O’Meara said.

The Good Table Restaurant on Ocean House Road in Cape Elizabeth is seeking a zoning amendment that would allow it to have up to 100 seats.