OGUNQUIT, Maine — You won't find McDonald's golden arches or pink-and-orange Dunkin' Donuts signs in this seaside town. It'll stay that way if voters approve a proposed ordinance that would outlaw chain restaurants.

Ogunquit is the latest town nationwide to consider a law over so-called "formula" businesses. From Maine to California, more than a dozen municipalities now have laws that ban or restrict chain-run operations including restaurants, motels and retailers.

Supporters of the ban on chain restaurants say they don't want their seaside town to turn into just another congested strip of Subways, Applebee's and Burger Kings.

"This is a pristine and special community that we are stewards of," said Mary Breen, the owner of a high-end bakery who spearheaded a petition drive to get the question on the Nov. 8 ballot. "It's not about finance and marketing — it's about preserving this small fishing-and-arts community."

Opponents say Ogunquit's existing ban on drive-throughs and its design review process are enough to help the town maintain its character.

Market forces — not government regulation — should determine which restaurants locate in town, said Brian Aromando, who owns the Art and Soul art gallery with his wife.

"I think an anti-formula ordinance goes too far and isn't necessary to address the problem," said Aromando, who is on the town planning board.

As chain stores have spread in recent years, so has the movement to control them on the local level, said Stacy Mitchell, a senior researcher with the nonprofit Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

In the mid-1980s, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif., became the first municipality to enact a formula restaurant ban. Since then, other communities in California, Washington, New York, Florida, Rhode Island and Maine have passed similar laws, she said.

Local communities are given a lot of leeway over local zoning and land-use issues, and there have been few challenges of the laws. In Coronado, Calif., landowners sued over a formula retail ordinance but lost in a state court, Mitchell said.

In New England, officials in Bristol, R.I., last year adopted an ordinance restricting formula businesses in the town's historic downtown. York, which is next to Ogunquit, last year banned formula restaurants.

The issue is about more than just signs or drive-throughs — it's about economics, Mitchell said. Studies show that more money stays within a community when it is spent at locally owned businesses, she said.

A 2003 study in Maine, for instance, showed that 45 cents of every dollar spent at local businesses in three midcoast towns stayed in the communities and another 9 cents stayed in Maine. By contrast, the study found that only 15 cents of every dollar spent at national big-box retailers stayed in the state, she said.

While Mitchell supports the free-market concept, she also thinks communities have a responsibility to plan.

"This isn't a free-for-all, because there are costs and benefits borne by the community as a whole," she said. "There is a point where the community has to say: 'What direction are we going?' "