Creating Housing and Protecting the Ecology
Finding a balance between the two is not necessarily an easy task
BAR HARBOR—As the town moves forward with its Comprehensive Plan process, the third joint workshop between the Planning Board and Comprehensive Planning Committee on Wednesday showed the tension of trying to solve housing while also protecting the ecology of the island. At each meeting, the two groups have gone through the 2007 Comprehensive Plan and looked at its lengthy strategies for the town that mostly pertain to the board’s purview. This workshop was no different that way, but it did explore the tension between the need for housing and the desire (or need) to protect open spaces like farmland and ecological spaces like wetlands.
The Planning Board is meant to make land use decisions consistent with both the town’s comprehensive plan and the town’s land use ordinance. According to the town’s website,
“The purpose of the new Bar Harbor Comprehensive Plan is to reflect and respond to the needs, values, and priorities of the community while safeguarding Bar Harbor’s sense of place, history, and natural resources. The new plan will serve as a guide for future growth and development, covering topics such as land use, infrastructure, natural resources, municipal services, and others. The plan will also serve as a foundation for determining effective public policy, programs, and land use decisions for the future.”
The Comprehensive Planning Committee and town staff have been working toward making that plan for the last year and expect to have it written around the end of the year. One of the questions became the balance between residential growth and ecology.
THE WORKSHOP
The group sat around long tables in the Council Chambers in the town’s Cottage Street municipal building Wednesday night. Steve Whitman of GEI, the consultant leading the process and writing the plan, said that in the last meeting there seemed to be general agreements about what strategies should be incorporated. There were a variety of thoughts shared, but also direction, he said. The six identified themes seem to cover the areas that they’ve been discussing. “These sessions have been really helpful, so thank you for that.”
However, the 2007 land use strategies were more detailed than what might be helpful in a comprehensive plan, he said.
Wednesday night was a continuation of that whittling down, building up, tweaking, and reflection process.
Planning Board Chair Millard Dority said the Planning Board’s recent workshop concentrated on goals and strategies that dealt with the Planning Board and discussed whether each should be rewritten or stricken. That was in preparation for the work Wednesday, he said.
The wide-ranging discussion touched on multiple points including the push and pull of the need for housing and the need to protect the ecological systems on the island.
Folded into that topic was nitrogen loading and phosphorous in Northeast Creek and how potential and current housing developments in that area relate to that. Bar Harbor has a more restrictive wetland buffer zone than Maine requires. This can make for developers creating extensive roads on a multi-acre parcel, if they choose to develop it, and sometimes making more impermeable surfaces for less housing.
Similarly, the desire to maintain the farmlands and open spaces can be prohibitive to developing housing. Having things in the plan (which may not currently be a goal or priority) helps when it comes from applying for grants, according to member Misha Mytar, so the group also has to take that into consideration.
The group seemed to have consensus that farming is important to recognize and support that space within the plan.
Less than 5% of land on the island is suitable for farming, Mytar said, which makes it a limited resource. “Once a farmland is gone, it’s gone,” she said.
There was back and forth about aligning wetland protections to state wetland protections. Mytar said Bar Harbor is celebrated throughout the state for its provisions.
“You need to balance everything together,” Planning Director Michele Gagnon said, not unduly impacting resources, however, allowing some development. “When you end up having all this extra regulations, what happens is…You are squeezing yourself out of everything.”
HOUSING AND ECOLOGY
Dority spoke of Bar Harbor’s housing situation and said that he respects the environment and is in favor of that. “We have little land for building anywhere, when we start removing all these little issues…Are we going to say, ‘Forget the 40 foot limit, forget setbacks, forget lot coverage?’”
Mytar said you can apply a different standard depending on what part of town. This is currently what happens in much of Bar Harbor, which has approximately 40 zones with different requirements and standards for developing. Some of those varying standards also relate to resource protection.
“Once it’s gone, it’s gone,” Mytar said. “There’s such a limited capacity of place, it would be easy to use it up and still have the problem.”
Town Council Chair Valerie Peacock said, “Ecology does things for us as human beings.” Ecology is not a static thing or just something to look at, she said. She wants to make sure that this next comprehensive plan doesn’t continue to fragment habitat while trying to protect it.
The group also touched on dangerous places to cross the street and semitrucks on the Crooked Road, traffic calming measures, wells and septic systems, impact fees, and affordable housing.
The definition of affordable housing is based on earnings, not on the price of the home. It’s 80 to 120% of the median income, which is between $50 and 80,000 because of how our area is defined, Town Councilor Kyle Shank said. For the purpose of state housing, Gagnon said, those numbers need to be re-identified, but there is definitely an affordability gap and developers aren’t going to build unless they have a return-on-investment. Island Housing and Trust has a bridge loan meant to help potential home owners.
“It’s impossible to get there. It’s a really, really sad picture,” Gagnon said of getting a down payment for a house. Land with water and sewer is the highest valued land in the town, Gagnon said, which also is a deterrent to affordable building projects in potential growth areas like downtown Bar Harbor.
“A new house is never cheap,” Gagnon said.
On a slightly easier subject ,Comprehensive Planning member Mike McKernan said that the comprehensive shouldn’t be quite so subjective and full of flowery language describing the area.
“This whole document is like that,” Gagnon said.
“It could save us ten pages,” McKernan said.
OTHER REVIEW
Wednesday night’s review included 2007 strategies about:
Protecting the character of Bar Harbor while preserving the private property rights of its citizens, which includes:
protect fresh water resources, shoreland zoning, protect natural, scenic, and cultural resources, preserve scenic views, protect air quality, preserve scenic approaches to villages, require development outside villages and institutional campus areas, preserving historic and archaeological resources, preserving the Shore Path, developing additional walkways, parks and trails, minimize noise outside of village,
To encourage orderly growth that protects the character of the town and its economy, allows commercial and residential growth, and prevents development sprawl, which includes
finetune zoning in Bar Harbor village, streamline site plan review,
To encourage economic development that increases job opportunities, has a low environmental impact, and supports a sustainable year-round economy, which includes
encouraging light industry, restring commercial amusements, encouraging home occupations, supporting the downtown
To adopt a Harbor Management Plan and update and maintain the 1995 Waterfront Master Plan which includes
maintaining and revitalizing the harbor and preventing growth in coastal areas.
And to plan for, finance, and develop an equitable, effective, and efficient system of public services which will accommodate anticipated growth and development, which includes
developing a plan for ongoing investment in infrastructure, ensuring clean and efficient operation of sewer system, balance tax exempt property with demands on services, update road standards, improve telecommunications and technology systems
There are two upcoming land use ordinance amendment listening sessions:
Lodging Amendment Listening Session: Thursday, October 19, 2023 @ 4PM
Employee Housing Listening Session: Thursday, October 26, 2023 @ 4PM
Click this link to learn more about these amendments: https://www.barharbormaine.gov/207/Land-Use-Information
To watch the workshop: https://www.townhallstreams.com/stream.php?location_id=37&id=49651