Changes May Be Afoot For Bar Harbor Zoning Rules
Planning Board discusses LD 2003, Shared Housing and Employee Work Quarters, 10 new cabins, and a four-room hotel or motel
BAR HARBOR—The Bar Harbor Planning Board met August 2 with one new member, Cosmo Nims, who was quickly thrown into the world of land use ordinances, state mandates, and proposed projects, a world where a lot of changes could occur thanks to town-led initiatives, a comprehensive plan process, and a state-mandated change about accessory dwelling units.
LD 2003
At the Wednesday afternoon meeting, Bar Harbor Planning Director Michele Gagnon gave an update about the town’s progress toward complying to a new state mandate meant to encourage low and middle income housing.
Back in 2022, the Maine Legislature passed a law (LD 2003) that mandates that municipalities allow more than one dwelling unit in every lot in all zones that there are houses as long as the lot dimensions, lot size requirements are met. The state also mandated that a percentage of those accessory dwellings are available or affordable to people with low or moderate incomes.
Each municipality like Bar Harbor must then fix its zoning to comply by January 1, 2024, if it doesn’t need voter approval, and July 1, 2024, if it does need voter approval. For a town like Bar Harbor with its 40 zones, complying becomes a bit complicated.
Gagnon said that she has a meeting with the state and plans to have the first draft of a potential Bar Harbor plan in front of the Planning Board at its September 6 meeting.
“The bulk of what came down from the state is mandated,” Gagnon said, but the law also gives some options that the town needs to discuss with state staff. “I hope the options that we pick pass by the voters.” If they don’t, the town could be in trouble, she said.
She’s created an overlay for all the 40 districts, and she hopes that the town can work through the new law’s changes via the overlay.
According to the state website, “LD 2003 focuses on removing regulatory barriers to increase housing production in Maine, while preserving municipal ability to create land use plans and protect environmental resources. This legislation requires municipalities to create or amend local ordinances to allow for:
Additional density for affordable developments in certain areas;
Multiple dwelling units on lots designated for residential use; and
One accessory dwelling unit located on the same lot as a single-family dwelling unit in any area where residential uses are permitted.”
SHARED ACCOMMODATIONS AND EMPLOYEE LIVING QUARTERS
The board also discussed possible expansion of the number of districts that allow employee living quarters and shared accommodations. A new table provided by Staff Planner Cali Martinez, shows all the zones and a new proposal in the Salisbury Cove corridor where there are some commercial uses and transient accommodation uses.
At a February 3 Planning Board meeting, Glenon Friedmann, representing Bar Harbor Farm at 115 Gilbert Farm Road in the Town Hill rural district, said that one of the farm’s biggest challenges is employee housing. The farm originally had a plan that had a few cabins for workers, but it couldn’t build the cabins and get a permit because it wasn’t an allowed use in that district. Friedmann asked that farm employee housing be added as an allowed use in the zone.
Gagnon had said that the planning staff has been talking about expanding the districts where that use was allowed. Or a similar uses could potentially be added to the Town Hill rural district.
The next step for Martinez is to contact businesses in the area about parking needs of their current employees and how many employees they would potentially want to accommodate and whether or not they’d want to share employee housing with other businesses. After compiling the feedback, she’d come to the board with recommendations.
Secretary Elissa Chesler said that nursing homes are buildings were multiple unrelated people live and it might be something to compare with as they moved forward.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
The Bar Harbor Planning Board unanimously reelected its officers: Millard Dority (chair), Ruth Eveland (vice chair), and Elissa Chesler (secretary). Dority abstained from voting for himself. J. Clark Stivers and Zach Soares had excused absences. Nims attended his first Planning Board meeting. There was no public comment.
DESTINATION HEALTH
Destination LLC at 124 Cottage Street in the downtown village II district came before the board because it is hoping to convert an existing four-dwelling apartment building to a four-unit hotel or motel. There were no physical changes to the building required for the change.
Tom St. Germain represented the company. He and the owners met with Gagnon last week to discuss the request to find the project eligible for minor site plan review, which means that the plan would only be approved by the planning director rather than the entire board.
The applicant has to meet all the same standards, the only difference would be they would not be subjected to Planning Board meetings. The planning department suggested that the request go from a major review to a minor one because it would have no impact to the neighborhood. In 2020 the Planning Board approved a four-unit apartment at that location, which had been used as vacation rentals.
“If you are a dwelling unit, you have the ability to rent your property as a long term rental or short term rental,” Gagnon said. If the applicant comes and seeks this path, however, she said, then the applicant can’t turn around and rent the units for more than 30 days.
There would also be no changes in traffic, she said, because of its previous use.
Dority said the main difference is whether there should be a public hearing for the project. Gagnon said the review change for the project would be allowing just one person to make the decision rather than the board making the decision. The applicants would also have to be re-reviewed by the State Fire Marshall’s office.
Eveland said her concern was that it is a change from something that looks like an apartment to something that changes to transient accommodations and the public reaction to that phrase could be an issue.
“I don’t see dragging an applicant here just because the outcome may be disappointing,” Chesler said about the conversion from short-term stays to a hotel or motel. “To me this meets the definition of a minor review.”
Nims asked if they had ever used the property as long-term housing in the winter or off season. The applicants said that they hadn’t.
The board approved the property’s conversion as eligible for a minor site plan review. Nims voted against.
ACADIA WOODS COTTAGE
Acadia Wellness LLC owns 1344 State Highway 102 and hopes to build 10 cabins (transient accommodation units) on the property. The area is on about 6.78 acres and it is in the Town Hill business district and the Town Hill residential district.
It was a completeness review not a deliberation on Thursday. This means that the discussion was just whether or not Greg Johnston (the engineer) and Christy Seed (the applicant) had provided all the information for the board to review at another meeting. No members of the public spoke to the application. The Planning Board granted requested waivers unanimously and then found the application was incomplete because the Public Works Department needs to submit a capacity letter. It’s been scheduled for a public hearing on September 6.
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE
The Comprehensive Plan Committee and town staff and consultants are currently updating the town’s comprehensive plan, which is a guideline for the town’s future, in particular, its future development and protection of resources. Combined with the state mandate detailed above and potential land-use ordinance changes related to housing development, there is a lot going on that will shape what the town looks like.
Chesler said the Comprehensive Planning Committee explored the vision draft for the plan and feedback from the public forums held in May. There will be more discussion about the vision statement, she said, and then the heart of the plan, its goals and implementation and strategies. Various town boards will meet with the Comprehensive Planning Committee representatives and/or town staff about the plan’s heart, she said.
The Comprehensive Planning Committee wants to meet with the Planning Board September 13 and October 11 for joint workshops to present to the board the future land use map and the vision and how it’s been fleshed out. The regulatory policies that come from the plan are really the Planning Board’s purview.
BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS
Member Joseph Cough welcomed aboard Nims and thanked the officers. Dority also welcomed Nims, thanked the staff, and wanted to talk about application completeness in the future.
Gagnon said the fire department wants attend the next Planning Board meeting to talk about sprinklers and compliance and fire suppression as it relates the board’s review of projects
Correction: This story originally read that the vote about Destination LLC was unanimous. Nims voted against.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
A pretty extensive story we ran about ELS and shared accommodations.
LINK TO DEVELOPMENT STUDY (begins at page 55)
LINK TO THE 2019 BAR HARBOR HOUSING POLICY FRAMEWORK
LINK TO EARLY SEPTEMBER PB ARTICLE ABOUT THE CAMPGROUND/DORM RVS.