SOUTH PORTLAND — The City Council agreed Tuesday to reconsider its votes to not renew the operating licenses of two low-budget motels on Route 1 because of alleged illegal activity by guests in the last year.

The owners of The Knights Inn and the Maine Motel filed a lawsuit last month in Cumberland County Superior Court seeking to overturn the council’s decisions not to renew their lodging establishment licenses, which expired May 31.

At a court hearing last week, Justice Thomas Warren called for compromise and questioned the validity of the council’s May 15 action based on what he described as single incidents of prostitution and drug-related activity.

Warren stayed the council’s closure of the two motels and urged the council and the motels’ owners to agree to conditions that would allow the businesses to remain open.

The council voted 7-0 Tuesday to reconsider its decisions on June 19. A judicial settlement conference has been scheduled for June 14.

Sally Daggett, the city’s attorney, said she would inform councilors of any recommendations that might result from the settlement conference before they reconsider their previous votes.

The council decided May 15 to pull the motels’ licenses because their attorney said they were unwilling to abide by any special conditions, Daggett said.

David Lourie, the motels’ lawyer, said last week that the owners have since complied with suggested conditions that they install video surveillance cameras in public areas and have staff attend police training sessions to help them identify and report possible illegal activity.

The council decided not to renew the motels’ operating licenses following several incidents of alleged prostitution or drug-related activity at the family-owned-and-operated motels.

The council voted 5-2 and 7-0, respectively, not to renew licenses for The Knights Inn, at 634 Main St., owned by Kantilal Patel, and the Maine Motel, at 606 Main St., owned by Ibrahim Dhamdachhawala.

In the lawsuit filed by Lourie, the owners claim that the council’s action against the Main Street motels and the city ordinance on which it was based are discriminatory and unconstitutional.

The owner-occupied motels are in the center of Thornton Heights, a residential neighborhood on the west side of South Portland, where homeowners increasingly have asked the city to respond to their concerns.

In so-called “findings of fact” that the council unanimously approved on May 22, Daggett, the city attorney, recounted the testimony and rare closure recommendations of Police Chief Ed Googins that prompted the council’s action.

The findings focused on two prostitution incidents at The Knights Inn – one that resulted in an arrest – and three overdoses and a SWAT team drug raid at the Maine Motel. One of the overdoses resulted in a death, and four people were arrested in the drug raid.

City officials said the repeated calls for police service triggered a city ordinance that allows operating licenses to be denied, suspended or revoked for repeats of incidents such as breaches of the peace, disorderly conduct and other violations of law by anyone on the premises.

At last week’s court hearing, Lourie disputed the city’s right to hold the motels’ owners accountable for their patrons’ actions. Daggett said state law and local ordinances require innkeepers to pay attention to what’s happening on their premises and not allow nuisance or criminal activity.

In response, Justice Warren questioned whether that was a reasonable expectation given the frequency of drug-related arrests at local hotels, suggesting that it might lead to widespread closures.

Lourie has asked the court to overturn the council’s action “so as not to hold the owners responsible for unproven conduct or events merely appearing in police incident reports, of which (the owners) have no prior knowledge and have no control.”

Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at:

kbouchard@pressherald.com

Twitter: KelleyBouchard

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