Bar Harbor Public Will Have Its Say on Temporary Camping Vehicles and Individual Private Campsites
Planning Board moves multiple proposed changes to public hearing.
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Acadia Shops.
BAR HARBOR—After the Bar Harbor Planning Board advanced multiple potential land use amendments to public hearing January 2, the town’s rules involving temporary camping vehicles and individual private campsites might be changing.
It would no longer allow temporary camping vehicles in the village residential district and the Hulls Cove business district, but would allow them in over 20 other districts.
The changes would adjust and add review standards for campground uses, add standards for individual private campsites and temporary camping vehicles, change the definition of campground and individual private campsites, add a definition of temporary camping vehicles, amend an article to allow individual private campsites in resource protection, shoreland limited residential, and stream protection districts, and allow temporary camping vehicles in 24 districts.
The amendment would also clarify that tiny homes are not considered temporary camping vehicles. There are two types of tiny houses allowed in Maine. One is through the division of motor vehicles, Code Enforcement Officer Michael Gurtler said, which was the impetus of former Code Enforcement Officer Angela Chamberlain’s clarification to the board in a December 12 memo.
In that memo, Chamberlain also created a chart to show where it is proposed to allow temporary camping vehicles and where it is not proposed. The chart also shows minimum lot sizes, and minimum area per family. The districts in dark blue do not have the use proposed.
Planning Board member Guy Dunphey was concerned that a shed or a boat could be on a trailer and called a temporary camping vehicle. Gurtler said if that happened, the trailer would be registered by the state, but the trailer and boat would not meet the state definition.
Resident Carol Chappell said she was glad to see the campsite work coming back and believed it was important to define campgrounds, but had some concerns about temporary camping vehicles and individual private campsites. She was particularly concerned about individual private campsites being added to districts that are water recharge areas. She also predicted that there would be pushback from the town.
“They are called ‘resource protection’ for a reason,” she said.
Only seven districts currently allow temporary camping vehicles and the increase to over 20 may also cause pushback. She said she was afraid that because there are so many elements to the article, it might not be able to pass.
Bar Harbor Planning Director Michele Gagnon said the shoreland zoning districts’ allowances are still meeting the state guidelines for those areas and the town is actually slightly more restrictive than the state rules. An individual campsite does not have to be an RV. It can be something as small as a tent.
Town Hill resident Diane Vreeland asked about campers and age of those allowed.
“I don’t want them out by me, either,” she said. “I’m just afraid that we’re just going to have them all over the place.”
“How is Mike going to control this?” Vreeland asked, referencing how Gurtler might be able to determine if the temporary individual RVs or tents on homeowner’s properties are being rented.
The changes (such as adding review standards and definitions) would afford the town more protection, Planning Board Chair Milliard Dority said, than it currently has. It isn’t perfect, Dority said, but it helps and a great deal of time has been spent on it.
It was unanimously moved to public hearing, January 29. If the amendment continues to move forward, it will go before voters, June 10.
Public Hearings on Other Land Use Ordinance Amendments
The planning board members scheduled multiple meetings on proposed Land Use Ordinance amendments for January 29. Those include: offensive language, Salisbury Cove corridor front setback, timeframes, the above mentioned campground, private campsites and temporary camping vehicles, multifamily-1 and multifamily-2, short-term rentals, and fire suppression.
No members of the public spoke to the amendments, nor was there board discussion, concerning offensive language, the Salisbury Cove corridor setback, multifamily-1 and multifamily-2, and short-term rentals.
These items have already come before the board multiple times before they were moved to public hearing.
One potential warrant article that solicited commentary was the one which would allow more time for a project to begin after approval. It is currently six months. It would extend that time for a year. The time that a project is allowed to be considered to be “substantially complete” would extend from 18 months to 24.
Vreeland said that amendment was sensitive. She was concerned that new people on the board were having a hard time following things. Dority said that the amendment’s intention is to close loopholes.
The short-term rental change (if enacted) would remove old language and “length of stay” language from the definitions and address that as a stand-alone element. The minimum length of stay would not change. Most notably, the amendment would “refine” the definition of primary residence.
The article concerning multifamily definitions would show that they are not meant to be “separate, detached single-family buildings on the same lot but structures that contain multiple separate living units for residential use.” Those could be triplexes, town houses, and others.
The offensive language ordinance would rid the town’s land use ordinance of the term “grandfathering” to refer to legal nonconformity. The term has racists roots.
The other proposed article would make setbacks along Route 3 in the Salisbury Cove corridor district 75 feet throughout, rather than 150 feet.
Proposed Design Review Board Amendment and Downtown Village I and Downtown Village II Discussion
Both a discussion about the downtown village zones and the proposed design review board amendment were postponed to later dates after the board spent two hours on other business.
Dority asked planning department staff to schedule a joint workshop with the design review board in February. The discussion of downtown village 1 and downtown village 2 is postponed to a date uncertain, most likely in February.
GURNEY LOBSTER STORAGE
Also on December 2, the board members listened to Gurney Investment Properties of Ellsworth’s request to allow a seafood company to have a temporary storage facility for lobsters on a 2.82 acre parcel in Town Hill, at 1311 Route 102.
The major work on the site would be the roadwork to make the storage areas (refrigerated shipping containers and potentially box trucks) accessible. The current road on site is mulch. The site had held a residence, which had been leveled by a previous owner. It was actually used for burn training for island fire departments in 2013.
The applicants also want to provide housing for workers via an RV.
Currently, the site is used to store trailers and ladders and there is currently no power on the site. Marc Jaffrey represented the company.
In a December 1 letter to the Maine Historic Preservation Committee, Jaffrey wrote that the company plans to “provide power to the garage and have a new single RV hook up beside the garage. Water and septic for the RV site will be tied into the existing house septic and well.”
Most of the workers involved drive from Bangor or Holden because of the cost of housing, Jaffrey said.
There would be parking for six workers during the day and multiple box trucks at night. The trucks would provide storage for the lobsters. They would also build a noise containment device.
Vreeland asked about driveway distances, the viability of the 1981 septic system that still exists, but was built for the original two-bedroom house, if the RV was allowed, and if there were any vernal pools or wetlands behind the building. She was also worried about the smell of the lobsters.
“Is an RV allowed there?” Vreeland asked.
Gurtler said that he’ll investigate that further via the language of the ordinance. Jaffrey said they are willing to withdraw that request for an RV if necessary.
The state’s subsurface wastewater rules doesn’t allow a permanent port-a-potty, Gurtler said.
Jaffrey said the curb cut for the drive places it at over 200 feet from one abutter and over 100 feet from another. Lime would be thrown on the lobster to help with any potential smell. The amount of dead loss for lobsters is minimal. The back of the lot is very flat and has no vernal pools, Jaffrey said.
There was some discussion about where workers would go to the bathroom if an RV and port-a-potty are not allowed. There is a bathroom next door at L.E. Norwood that can be used for bathroom emergencies. They currently lease that property. The L.E. Norwood building is about 50 feet away from the potential parking on this site.
“We will verify if there is a standard for distance for between driveways,” Gagnon said. “Should that be used from the application and the proposed land use amendment passes in June,” then they could have an RV. Without the RV, they don’t have to prove that there is a working septic.
The application was found incomplete.
HARBOR LIGHT SUBDIVISION MODIFICATION
The application was to amend the site plan, which had been approved by the board, July 5, 2023. The request was to revise the plat for 18 Hamor Lane, which is 58.7 acres.
All the lots were going to be served by sewer and water before, Dority said.
How the ordinance is structured is that it isn’t under the board’s purview to review the project, Gagnon said. Instead, the minor modification to the site plans and subdivision plan goes to the planning director. The director’s decision does, however, have to be signed off by the planning board according to state law.
The proposal is to remove the sidewalk and allow lots 7, 8, 9, and 10 to have the option for a septic system. The homeowners would now have the choice to hook into the sewer line or create their own septic systems.
The board endorsed the planning director’s decision.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Planning board January 2 packet
SP-2024-07 Gurney Lobster Storage
Application (submitted 12/5/2024)
Supplemental Information (submitted 12/17/2024)
Completeness Notice (posted 12/23/2024)
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I disagree with the town proposal. While excluding certain areas over others may sound reasonable it is not. Either ban them town wide or allow them town wide. Citizens who have brought land that can support a family member or friends' camper should not be deprived of the use of their land. A better solution would be to allow the campers to a two-week visit maybe two/three times a year. My neighbor went through this a year ago when her sister and her husband (Been 3 years of not seeing her sister) came for 2-week visit with their self-contained camper and put said camper on her property. After a week of being here the sister got very sick and they had two visits from the Town Code Enforcement officer ordering them to vacate the property. At that time there was NO ordinance that prohibited them being there. The town ENFORCED and ordinance that did Not Exist and forced a sick person to remove their camper from private property. The property owner had gone to the town prior to the arrival of her family and was told that she could use her Private Property to accommodate her family' camper.
Hi Carrie,
You may want to do a correction. They do not have to hook up to the sewer or water until after 120 days when a recreational vehicle , tent, or similar structure is placed on site.
"She was concerned that a vehicle could be on a property for 120 days and not be hooked up to sewer and water. Gurtler said that they have to provide a waste water disposal plan."
Thank you,
Diane L. Vreeland