Wedding Cake House owner threatens to sell amid planning delays for proposed inn

KENNEBUNK, Maine — The owner of the historic Wedding Cake House on Summer Street expressed his growing frustration with the town’s planning process during a meeting on Monday, Oct. 23.

Hunt Edwards pushed back against the Kennebunk Planning Board as members began discussing holding another public hearing for the contract zone he and his wife, Katie, are seeking so they can turn the Wedding Cake House into an inn and events venue.

Edwards explained the proposal he has put forth, amendments and all, is the plan that is needed to establish the inn and venue and, therefore, create a revenue stream to help improve and maintain the structure, which currently is in disrepair.

“If you don’t think that’s right, I can walk out of here and sell the house and be done,” Edwards said. “It’ll be someone else’s problem. And you might not want the other person who ends up with this house.”

The Planning Board held a public hearing back in July but on Monday felt another one was needed, given the changes that have been made in the proposal since then.

As well, the board still has more it wants the applicant to do: ensure consistency in the proposal as to how many rooms are proposed for the inn; to clarify language pertaining to plans to fix the property; and to provide a general punch list of repairs and renovations which the inn’s revenue would fund.

“I understand the process can be frustrating and take longer than you want at times,” Planning Board Chair Chris MacClinchy told Edwards. “We have to go through our process to make sure what we put forward is consistent with our zoning and ordinances.”

The board scheduled a public hearing for its next meeting on Monday, Nov. 13, a date members asserted is within the timeline remaining for the proposed contract zone to go before voters during a special meeting in March.

Following the public hearing on Nov. 13, the Planning Board could decide whether or not to recommend the proposal to the Kennebunk Select Board. The Planning Board also could wait to do so until its next meeting on Nov. 27, if members feel there is still more to discuss or amend.

Either way, the proposal would need to be forwarded to the Select Board by Dec. 9, in order to advance its chances to appear on the ballot this spring. The Select Board would have until Jan. 9, 2024, to make that decision.

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Wedding Cake House owner loses patience with Planning Board

Edwards began expressing frustration before the Planning Board proposed another public hearing. At one point, member Ed Trainer questioned the consistency of the language in the contract zone, as it related to revenue uses and the prospect of future owners of the house.

Edwards maintained that he could not put restrictions in place to stop a future owner of the Wedding Cake House from doing what he or she wanted to do.

“I’m the last person to tell someone what to do with their properties,” he said. “Being an old Kentucky boy, that’s just the way it is.”

Edwards said he has a five-year history of caring for the Wedding Cake House to prove what his intentions are for the property. He also said he cannot afford to keep spending money on the house without a revenue stream in place.

“I may have to take ... advice and sell the damn place,” he said. “I can’t afford it. Nobody can afford it. It’s got to be able to support itself. That’s where this house is at today.”

Edwards reiterated his concerns about spending later in the meeting when board members and Town Engineer Chris Osterrieder said they wanted to see a list of repairs and improvements the public could expect to see at the house in coming years. Such a list would help the local code enforcement office in the future, Osterrieder said.

Edwards said he could “supply a wish list,” but he added that the project needed to move forward. He referred to the thousands of dollars paid to his lawyer, Gregory Braun, who has been representing him at the Planning Board meetings.

“There’s money being spent, standing here, that’s not getting spent on the house,” Edwards said. “I have a problem with that.”

At the start of the meeting, Braun outlined some of the amendments made to the contract zone proposal since the Planning Board last discussed it on Sept. 25. Among them: a new cap of 150 guests for events at the venue.

Braun said his applicant had acted on a majority of the 14 items the Planning Board said it wanted to see addressed at the Sept. 25 meeting. Earlier that night, Braun and Edwards had mentioned the amendments they had made to their proposal, following the questions and concerns residents expressed at the public hearing in late July.

At that public hearing, residents expressed concerns about traffic, noise pollution, soil erosion at the nearby river, buffers, the preservation of the character of Summer Street, and more.

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History of the Wedding Cake House in Kennebunk

Once called the most photographed home in the state of Maine, the structure is formally known as the George W. Bourne House and gets its nickname from its wedding cake-like appearance. According to local legend, Bourne, a sea captain and shipbuilder, had the house built in 1825 to “atone for having not taken his bride, Jane, on a proper honeymoon.”

The home has been restored on several occasions, most recently in 1984. James Hunt Barker – Hunt Edwards’ uncle – bought the house in 1998. Hunt Edwards began renovating it in 2019.

Edwards is not the first owner of a major historic property in Kennebunk to express frustration with the town’s planning process. This past spring, Kari and Randy Gates dropped their plans to rebuild the demolished Barnard Tavern and open an inn there when the timeline of the town’s procedures began to conflict with their timetables for securing financing and contractors.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Wedding Cake House owner threatens to sell amid planning delays