Bar Harbor Still in the Running For FEMA Funds
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Choco-Latté Café.
BAR HARBOR—Despite rumors to the contrary, Bar Harbor’s application for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds to help repair damaged portions of the town has not yet been denied
In a quick meeting, the Bar Harbor Harbor Committee met in the conference room at the Municipal Building Monday afternoon and members thought that they had learned the news via a written report by Harbormaster Chris Wharff who was out of a state at a conference. Chair Kaitlyn Mullen read the report.
“It sounds like they’re trying to work through insurance to repair for damage,” Mullen said.
While the town can try to have insurance cover some repairs to the damage, according to Town Manager James Smith on Wednesday, when it comes to the request to FEMA “no projects have been denied up to this point; however, it is possible that not all claims will ultimately receive funding.”
Smith explained possible examples of what might be determined.
“Some projects may not be funded due to federal jurisdiction issues (Beaches are a common jurisdictional problem).
“Some projects may be deemed not eligible.
“Some projects may be partially funded, or not funded at all. However, there could be other dollars that the town ultimately gets such as insurance proceeds (available if covered by insurance and no federal dollars are approved).”
Bar Harbor Fire Chief Matt Bartlett said in January 2024 that the town had an approximately $1.3 million in damages thanks to the January 10 and January 13 storms that brought massive storm surges, wind, and flooding to coastal communities on Mount Desert Island and throughout Maine.
The town sustained damage to roads, a pump station, Ells Pier (the town wharf) and the subsurface that’s supporting the pier, and the Degregoire Park Road. There was damage to the Hulls Cove pump station, town wastewater infrastructure, and roads.
Currently, the Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association, which maintains the Shore Path, is continuing to repair the massive damage to the path that goes from the town’s pier and along the coast to Wayman Lane. The section by the Bar Harbor Inn has been repaired by the inn’s owners, the Witham Family Hotel. The path is owned by each respective property owner that abuts it. That number may also change.
The portion of Degregoire Park Road that is close to the embankment on the shore has started eroding and there is an old unused, wastewater pipe that was a conduit for storm water that facilitated erosion.
Cost estimates and applications did not include damage in the parts of Acadia National Park that are within the town of Bar Harbor. That was handled by the National Park Service. Other towns on Mount Desert Island were walloped by the storms as well. There was substantial damage in Southwest Harbor, Tremont, and Mount Desert. The Seawall Road was destroyed and eventually rebuilt by local contractors as a gift to the community while waiting for the MaineDOT to repair it permanently next year.
Maine is obviously not the only state that’s had disasters. Hurricanes in the southern portions of the United States have taken their toll on properties and lives.
“Currently, we know that FEMA is low on money,” Smith told the Bar Harbor Story this week. “This is somewhat common when there are multiple disasters. This can limit which permanent work projects are funded first. However, FEMA will pay for all eligible projects. It just might be delayed if they run out of funding and they need to wait for Congress to re-allocate new monies.”
Currently, FEMA is channeling funds to what they call Immediate Needs Funding, he said.
This covers housing for disaster survivors, emergency work, and other critical requirements.
“During these kinds of periods, FEMA puts permanent work projects on the back burner until Congress has an opportunity to authorize additional monies,” Smith explained.
The process is not always quick. One town in Colorado that was heavily impacted by a fire has been waiting for three years for funds.
OTHER HARBOR COMMITTEE BUSINESS
There is also piling damage at Ells Pier that needs to be taken care of according to Harbor Committee member Jon Carter.
Those pilings were a kind of pressure treated wood and advised against by Bob Collier, according to Carter.
“That’s not going to last. We need to be thinking about doing something and doing it the right way,” Carter said.
Those pilings are not part of the town’s storm damage application.
The town will exceed revenue expectations for fiscal year 2025 for mooring rentals and transient docking.
According to Wharff’s report:
“A new water line has been partially installed after it was damaged and broken during the storms last winter. The water company will finish the install this fall, and this will provide some additional water locations and be all externally mounted on the pier so it will be much easier to service. The old system was all buried and obviously caused some issues.
“The new finger floats are almost complete at Seawood Services in Southwest Harbor. We are going to take delivery in early November, and they will be placed in the parking lot for the winter and launched in the spring. They have turned out really nice and are much needed as the old floats are in really bad shape. This project was funded by a Maine DOT SHIP grant with 50% match from the town.
“I have prepared a couple of options for ordinance language relating to unused moorings and I will present that at the November meeting.
“Army Corps was in town a couple of weeks ago and we took them out to the Breakwater so they could take some measurements and finalize their engineering for the rebuild project. They will be coming back this fall with contractors to do a site visit prior to opening the project up for bidding. They expect to put the project out to bid within the next year.
“We have installed a new plaque in memory of Raymond Hodgkin on a bench at the pier. The plaque was purchased by his sister and installed by Bill Soukup of the Highway Department.”
He is also continuing to work on identifying unused moorings in the harbor, and the town’s grant writers on retainer on funding sources for the ferry terminal project.
The committee also elected new officers. The board elected: Chair Micala Delepierre, Vice Chair Kaitlyn Mullen, Secretary Jamie Weir. They moved and voted on the officers as a slate.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
https://www.barharbormaine.gov/275/Harbor-Committee
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