Committee Worries Over Communication About Town’s Plans at Former Ferry Terminal
Consultants Encourage More Public Input
BAR HARBOR—After discussion about how many members did not know about the demolition of the Blue Nose passenger disembarkation structure on the north pier as well as the pylon replacement at the Bay Ferries site, multiple Harbor Committee members worried Monday afternoon about the communications between the committee and GEI Consultants (the company working with the Harbor Committee on the town’s master plan for the former ferry terminal); GEI and the town; and the committee and the town staff.
The town purchased the location in 2018. It was first built for the Bluenose ferry in 1956.
“It feels like there are so many people who are a little bit in charge,” Micala Delepierre said. Delepierre is newer to the committee. “There’s so much going on.” She’d like to know the chain of communication and how that works. “I don’t want to keep us swimming around saying, ‘What’s going on?’”
GEI was also unaware of the demolition at 121 Eden Street according to communication between Travis Pryor and Harbor Committee Board Chair Jeff Miller. “They were completely unaware of the demolition that had taken place. I feel like they should have been kept in the loop about that.”
“We had notes about this item from our September 2022 site visit, and it would be helpful to understand what the Town is performing there,” Travis Pryor, senior project manager, wrote to Town Manager Kevin Sutherland Monday.
After that email to Town Manager Kevin Sutherland, Sutherland explained in his own Monday email that
“The extent of the demo was simply to removed dead load from the north pier. Simply, the old Blue Nose passenger disembarkation structure.
“Bay Ferries also had the contractor replacing pylons on the northern structure to give it more stability, etc., so this was a great opportunity to partner.”
The concern is that those pylons have very little live-load capacity. The committee emphasized that cars should not be driving on the piers.
Harbor Committee members also worried about where GEI was in its process on the master plan for the site. From now on GEI will give project statuses to Miller one week in advance of the Harbor Committee’s monthly meetings. Miller will then share those reports with the committee.
Miller had a phone conversation with Pryor and Dan Bannon of GEI that he said was mostly prompted by the committee’s meeting last month “about us kind of being in the dark.”
Miller said he believes that Harbormaster Chris Wharff is always in the loop. It was suggested that possibly the committee could have one email so that all members get the information and communication that might be only sent to one member.
Wharff enters the harbormaster position from a law enforcement perspective, Vice Chair Larry Nuesslein III said. This could potentially make him keep information close to his chest.
Committee Member Jon Carter said Wharff is very busy during the summer season. “He’s a parking maid and a police officer and a harbormaster, and I’m sure he was extremely busy.” There was hope expressed for a bit more communication in the future.
According to Miller, Wharff had told Miller that he thought the Harbor Committee chair should be the lead point in communication with GEI. Wharff however signs the contracts such as the one for GEI. Harbor Committee members do not.
In Monday’s email, Pryor wrote that work completed has included the company’s site visit and kickoff meeting in September and initiation of background data collection and stakeholder input. The committee has sent stakeholder lists to the company. The committee isn’t aware of any stakeholders being contacted.
Pryor’s email said,
“Next steps include (a) summary report of stakeholder input and draft initial implementation concept plan for demolition of existing facilities and provision of a boat ramp at the property. GEI hopes to provide these materials to the Harbor Committee for review at their January 9, 2023 meeting. If not completed, GEI will provide them for the February 13, 2023 meeting.”
“It’s been three years already,” Miller said. “They’ve taken the structure down and the barge is gone.”
Both committee members and two members of the public expressed desire for the project to move on. Though no project has been finalized, it has been estimated by GEI that it will probably cost approximately $14 million to complete.
Public Input
Pryor’s email also said,
“Harbor Committee wants to make sure that public input does not duplicate prior efforts. There was a fair amount of public involved during the decision process to acquire the property. GEI discussed solicitation of additional stakeholder input to get a sense of potential interests in the property from a variety of local, regional, state, federal and beyond (international ferries). This information is not prioritized. It is intended to provide the Town with data to consider in terms of potential future uses of the property.
“For additional master planning uses of the facility, GEI recommends additional general public input, solicited at a workshop presentation with the Harbor Committee during the late winter/spring of 2023. The Maine Coastal Program grant funding encourages public engagement as well.”
Carter felt like as a fisherman he wanted to go talk to GEI because he has ideas about how to see things drawn up at the site. He said that Wharff told him that they could call GEI and schedule a meeting. Somewhere between 20 and 25 fishermen work out of the harbor and are stakeholders.
Carter said he’s not actually thinking about the fisherman perspective in his desire for that discussion because he’s not sure that they want to be at the site with Bay Ferries, which takes 15-20 minutes one way to get there from the town dock at the termination of West Street, which they currently use. He’s thinking about cost savings and efficiency. And potentially the protection of fisherman’s boats in storms.
“I’d like to see it set up so that everyone can use it,” Carter said.
One member of the public said that she’d like to know what’s going on with the site, too. She is a stakeholder whose family had a mooring and they have not yet been contacted by GEI. Diver, excursion captain, and former harbormaster Ed Monet was also in the audience and he had not been contacted by GEI either.
In 2017, a Ferry Terminal Property Advisory Committee discussed what the site’s priorities should be. Forty community members were on that committee. At the time, the committee recommended “a multi-use marine facility with optional tender boat landings from cruise ships” and also said. “The committee prioritizes marine uses including a transportation hub at the property over Bay Ferries.” Bay Ferries currently uses the site for the Cat.
The hope is that there will be a finalized plan in December 2024.
Other Discussion
Harbormaster Chris Wharff was not at the meeting or at work Monday because he may have broken his foot, Miller said. Miller read Wharff’s report which said that new fender pilings were installed last week by the harbormaster’s office. The hope is that this will allow boats to ride on the piles during high water without damage
Frenchman Bay Boating won the bid to replace a hoist on the pier with another hydraulic hoist.
Members
o Micala Delepierre
Term expires in 2025
o Jeff Miller, Chair
Term expires in 2024
o Jamie Weir, Secretary
Term expires in 2024
o Kaitlyn Mullen
Term expires in 2025
o Lynne Williams
Term expires in 2023
o Larry Nuesslein III, Vice Chair
Term expires in 2024
o Jerry Blandford
Term expires in 2023
o Vacant
Term expires in 2025
o Robert Garland
Term expires in 2023
o Francis "Pancho" Cole
Term expires in 2023
o Jon Carter
Term expires in 2024