Bar Harbor's Iconic Water Company Building Might Eventually Find a New Home
Planning Board Moves Cruise Ship and Transient Accommodation Potential Changes, JAX Expansion to Public Hearings
BAR HARBOR—Every once in a while something big moves through Bar Harbor. It might be an MRI building. It might be a tree heading toward the other part of the island. It might be a home.
In the future, it might be the iconic Bar Harbor Water Company Building that has anchored the corner of Park and Main Streets for years.
Former Planning Board Chair Tom St.Germain owns the building and came before the group to discuss the definitions of Transient Accommodations 4 (TA4), parking decks, and parking garages.
In a letter to the Planning Board and Planning Director, St.Germain wrote, “My question for the board to consider is whether another building could be moved to the site where an existing building that meets the above definition, and if the building that is being moved is one that is completed prior to June 1986, would the whole be classified as a TA4?”
St.Germain said that he was trying to determine what to do with his building at the corner of Park Street and Main Street, which was once the Bar Harbor Water Company.
The 1870 building is currently located in Downtown Village 2. He said he’d like to move the 2,979-square-foot-building to a downtown residential location and potentially locate it on a lot where there is a pre-existing three-bedroom home. That, he said, could potentially make it a TA4 if it had enough rooms to rent.
“It’s kind of a riddle, I guess, to figure it out,” St.Germain said of the town’s uses and zones, which are defined by the town’s Land Use Ordinance. “How would the board feel about a proposal for a site where another building would be moved there?”
“There’s an older house on the site,” St.Germain said of the undisclosed site.
Planning Director Michele Gagnon asked if lodging was currently in the Main Street building and St.Germain said no. Gagnon, St.Germain, and the board then discussed the change of use that might be needed and what “existing” is defined as.
According to the town’s definition of TA4, it is “an existing building, constructed and completed prior to June 10, 1986, where for compensation lodging is provided (11 to 25 rooms). TA-4 is permitted in districts where it is felt that lodging for transients is necessary to preserve or maintain many of Bar Harbor's residential structures: No building shall be expanded in floor area or volume by more than 10% over the lifetime of the building; there shall not be constructed any exterior stairway or fire escape enclosed or otherwise above the ground floor visible from the street on which the building fronts; and breakfast is the only meal provided.”
A lot hinges on what the definition of “existing” is, Planning Board Secretary Elissa Chesler said.
St.Germain said his intent is to preserve the existing water development company building.
A site has come up that would allow them to move the building without demolishing it, he said. The home and Water Company Building would be located on the same site. The home, he said is an older three-bedroom residence. The home is not a TA-4, but if another building were moved there, the combined buildings would reach the TA-4 level in number of rooms available on the parcel, he said.
Another lot came up for sale where he could move the building, St.Germain said, but the numbers don’t make sense. That lot is likely a lot on School Street, currently priced at $350,000.
“I don’t want to demolish the building, but I want to find a place to put it,” St.Germain said. He did not say why he wanted to move it from its current site.
Financially, there’s an incentive to preserve it and keep it as a useful structure in this town, he said. “I would like to see it continue its life, but pursuing this route—the TA4 route—has its challenges.”
He also asked the Planning Board about potentially using a vehicle elevator to meet the parking standards to get 13-14 cars into a basement area where he hopes to redevelop the property where the Bar Harbor Water Company exists. None of the members expressed concern.
A Rob Levin article in the July 31, 2013 Ellsworth American said Tom and Nina St.Germain purchased the building for $410,000 from the Town of Bar Harbor that month with the intent to make it into vacation rentals. It has hosted rentals and St.Germain said it currently houses some of their employees. It had also hosted Anchorspace.
St.Germain owns or has owned Maine Coast Brewing Company, Parkman Publications, Jack Russell's Steak House and Brewery, and is a partner in the Pathmaker Hotel on Cottage Street. He also wrote A Walk in the Park.
BOARD COMPOSITION
The board also discussed that there are applicants for the positions that are currently being vacated. Both Chesler and Cosmo Nims are resigning because of work or family commitments. There was already one seat vacant. That had last been held by Joe Cough, who resigned earlier this year. This means there will be three empty seats.
”We have five applicants for the three positions that we have,” Planning Board Chair Millard Dority said.
Vice Chair Ruth Eveland said interviews are being scheduled for the beginning of the next week. Those interviews are conducted by the Nominations Committee, which is comprised of three town councilors.
The board will discuss the issues of alternates and size of the board afterward.
TRANSIENT LODGING ACCOMMODATION USES AND CRUISE SHIP ORDINANCE AMENDMENTS SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC HEARING
The Planning Board scheduled a public hearing for August 7 at 4 p.m. at the Bar Harbor Municipal Building so that a potential land use ordinance change about transient lodging or transient accommodations changes could be on the November ballot.
It also scheduled a public hearing on the Cruise Ship Disembarkations potential changes that would require a Land Use Ordinance amendment. That public hearing is also at the same time on August 7, 2024. It would add a cruise ship disembarkation use and a cruise ship disembarkation definition.
“I think this is a decent idea, the land use ordinance is not the place for enforcing those limits,” Chesler said. She added that as-is, the ordinance that was approved by voters in November 2022 and enacted last month “is not easily enforceable and it creates a lot of challenges.”
She thought it would be useful to get any changes out to discussion and public hearing.
Eveland agreed. There will be a much more efficient and effective way of dealing with infractions, she said, which should be of “interest and appeal” to members of the public rather than the more “clumsy” way of going through the land use ordinance.
JAX ADDITION
The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) application for a new building on its campus moved a step forward this week.
The Bar Harbor Planning Board found the Jackson Laboratory’s request to construct an addition to the Core Research Complex incomplete because it was missing some capacity letters and other letters and the board scheduled a public hearing for the August 7 meeting. This is pretty standard for many of the projects.
The new addition will allow for the consolidation and expansion of JAX’s Rare Disease Translational Center (RDTC) and provide dedicated laboratory and office space.
The town had requested the lab to combine its three main campus lots into one, which was included into the packet for the board members to peruse.
The new Building 80 is tucked up into the northwest part of the core campus near Building 53. The new building will depend on the existing building for much of its utility hook-ups.
According to a letter from Woodard and Curran, “The addition will be two stories with a mechanical penthouse. The footprint will be approximately 9,200 square feet for each floor, with a 1,700 square foot penthouse.”
“It’s a two-story building that sits kind of low,” one representative of the lab said.
Red House Farm Subdivision Modification
Finback on Cottage, LLC and co-owner Michael Boland requested to divide a 21-acre lot into a single-family lot with a 10.65-acre parcel of land and a 10.36-acre lot to be retained. The lot (202-058-004) has frontage on Bay View Drive, Route 3, and Hadley Point Road. It encompasses 21± acres, according to the application. Dority said he went into the site, which shows a wetland, and it was drier and smaller than on the map.
The application was found complete. There will be a public hearing on August 7.
ACADIA WOODS COTTAGES
Christy Seed of Acadia Woods Cottages on 1344 State Highway 102, asked to place an ADA compliant cabin at the location of the current cottage #9 on the plan. It was unanimously found eligible to be a minor site plan change.
Harbor Cove Subdivision Modification
Chris White of Hulls Cove asked to increase the size of unit #1/duplex, its orientations, and the related expandable space. The board allowed the Planning Director to approve the change at the project, which is located at 3 Applewood Lane in the Hulls Cove Business District.
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How many homes are being proposed on the drier than normal wetlands?
I can’t believe this Town Council is still trying to entertain big cruise ships when they were told by the majority of the citizens that 1000 per day is all they want . Is our new
town manager encouraging an ordinance change because he thinks people need to love cruise ships?
I talked with Mr Smith and he told me the 58 to 42 vote demonstrated to him that the town was split and something needs to be done. He is using his trump card to deny the election results.
That is utter nonsense and he will further aggravate the citizens if he tries to sell bigger ships and more passengers Do you think you 7 volunteers are smarter than the rest of us. Well then, as Matt Hochmann so eloquently stated. “FUCK YOU.” Words I would never use and if I did I would expect to be kicked off the Town Council. How does it feel to be party with someone who throws vulgarity at the majority. Not a word of apology from this TC for this outrageous behavior. You all should be ashamed. Don’t bother reading the rules of courteous engagement before town council meetings . They are now a joke.
Jim O’Connell