Bar Harbor Town Council Allows Small Cruise Line to Disembark on Town's Pier
BAR HARBOR—The Bar Harbor Town Council, Tuesday night, agreed to allow American Cruise Lines (ACL) to tender passengers at the town’s pier.
“I think we’re ready to do this,” Council Chair Valerie Peacock said.
Hers was the only comment in public before the council unanimously approved it 5-0.
The possibility of ACL disembarking passengers at Ells Pier in downtown Bar Harbor had been previously workshopped in January and the councilors met in executive session about it prior to the start of the regular meeting.
In January Town Manager James Smith brought up the request from American Cruise Lines to tender passengers to the town-owned Ells Pier and potentially eventually to the town-owned ferry terminal.
That terminal site is planned to be a marina and is currently partially leased to Bay Ferries, which runs the CAT to Nova Scotia.
The first line of the order, which was not available to the public prior to the reading, but which Councilor Matthew Hochman read aloud, references that possibility, stating, “whereas, the Town of Bar Harbor seeks a temporary solution for working with American Cruise Lines to safely disembark cruise ship passengers while the town explores possible long-term solutions at other locations, including the possible use of the Ferry Terminal.”
Because American Cruise Lines ships are United States flagged vessels, the town doesn’t need a secure facility to disembark its passengers, according to Harbormaster Chris Wharff. The company’s tenders tend to carry 30 passengers at a time.
The council had amended the agenda to authorize the town manager to enter an agreement with American Cruise Lines, which was added to the end of the agenda. When this happens, which is legal, it means that there is no public notice about that specific item.
The town fined American Cruise Lines $885 in July 2023, which was the passenger fee of $5.21 per person for a berth capacity of 170. The company agreed to not anchor its ships in Bar Harbor waters again without a confirmed reservation.
ACL also accepted service of a notice of violation after the town alleged that the cruise line had violated town rules and a memorandum of agreement between the town and the cruise line and anchored the 170-person vessel, the American Constitution, within Bar Harbor waters without a confirmed reservation on June 15, 2023.
NOTE:
We’ve updated the below story that went out earlier today to include a statement by Cara Ryan. That statement is at the bottom of the original story.
And in full, we’ve included it here.
“I'd like to say, for the record, that I know the difference between public debate about town issues and Appeals Board work. In the latter, we have to deal with facts and the LUO, nothing else. I wasn't trying to hide my public statements about cruise ships--my only mistake was not making a point of insisting on a conflict review at a special preliminary meeting,” Ryan said. “It's the board's job to determine whether members have a conflict or appearance of conflict or even bias sufficient to disqualify them from participation. I hope in the future we can prevent this kind of weaponization of our ethics ordinance.”
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Acadia Brochures of Maine.
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