Dog Park and Parking Back on Agendas for This Week's Town Meetings
Job opportunities, lawsuits, and former town manager has a new job. Plus, shaving cream wiffle ball and Seaside Cinema line-up
BAR HARBOR—Summer continues to be busy for the town of Bar Harbor as it heads into more discussion about a potential dog park on the athletic fields, an upcoming decision on a cruise ship trial, and revisions to its paid and permit parking policies.
PARKS AND RECREATION COMMITTEE
This Monday, a potential dog park is on the Parks and Recreation Committee agenda. The public can attend the meeting. The dog park has been proposed for the athletic fields off Park Street and has been decried by neighbors.
Also on the agenda are requests for a memorial plaque bench at Grant Park, an information table at a town park (a request by Annlinn Kruger), and Michael McKernan’s request for a Jackson Laboratory employee recruitment event on the Village Green. Both Kruger and McKernan’s requests are labelled either preliminary or informational on the agenda.
The meeting begins at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, July 17, at the Council Chambers, located in the Bar Harbor Municipal Building on Cottage Street.
TOWN COUNCIL
The Bar Harbor Town Council’s agenda for its Tuesday meeting includes committee appointments. Appointments are recommended by a three-member committee made up of Town Councilors. The Town Council then appoints the recommended nominees, or it can nominate, vote on, and appoint an entirely different person during the meeting. This recently happened when Nathan Young was recommended by the Appointments Committee, but instead Cara Ryan was nominated at the Town Council meeting and appointed to the Appeals Board.
There will be a bit of clean-up on earlier motions to change the Permit and Paid Parking Policy as well as the Vehicles and Traffic Ordinance; there will also be discussion on discount cards for parking. In June, the council increased the overtime parking fee and unpaid citation fees. That overtime fee needs to be adjusted in the town ordinance to be legal. A public hearing would occur about this in August.
Extending the hours of permit parking from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. was also not included in the revision, nor were permit fees for contractors/dumpsters and special events. There will also be further discussion of the new discount cards, which were approved in June and meant to be distributed to all MDI residents who apply for one.
The Senior Taxpayer Assistance Program could also be amended. If changes are approved, it would be administered in the own’s assessing department and the timeline would change. There would first be a public hearing about this, most likely on August 15.
Joseph Cough who did not run again for his seat on the High School Trustees could potentially be reappointed to the position since no one ran for the seat.
There will also be updates on the school building project, Higgins Pit, Atlantic Avenue situation, Comprehensive Plan, and the cruise ship disembarkation limits lawsuit, APPLL, et al vs Town of Bar Harbor, et al.
KEVIN SUTHERLAND
The Quietside Journal reports that former town manager Kevin Sutherland has a new interim town manager position in Newcastle, Maine. Sutherland had been the Bar Harbor town manager until January 2023, and resigned about a year into his position. Since then, the town’s Finance Director Sarah Gilbert has been acting as town manager.
SHAVING CREAM WIFFLE BALL
The Bar Harbor Congregational Church hosted shaving cream wiffle ball on Friday afternoon, managing to squeeze in some messy, athletic fun for all ages in between the rain.
The ball was full of wiffle ball. Regular play and hijinks ensued. Rob Benson called out people walking by to participate in the fun.
APPLL VS TOWN OF BAR HARBOR
A decision in the lawsuit against the town over cruise ship disembarkation limits could potentially not come until well after the shoulder season. The three-day trial in federal court in Bangor saw testimony from both town staff and officials as well as citizens’ initiative lead petitioner Charles Sidman, as well as from local business owners who said that the daily limit of 1,000 disembarkations is a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, Commerce Clause or Due Process Clause, which are central to the case's legal question
Those limits were voted in during the November 2022 election. The limits are placed within the town’s land use ordinance.
District Judge Lance Walker presided.
Attorneys for the parties involved will submit briefs. Then there will be a ruling. Though the town said initially that it hoped for a court ruling in August, that ruling could take months.
A duo of stories from the Mount Desert Islander’s Malachy Flynn details the testimony of staff and town officials (Harbormaster Christopher Wharff, interim Town Manager Sarah Gilbert, Council Chair Valerie Peacock, Council Vice Chair Gary Friedmann); business owners (County Commissioner and former councilor Paul Paradis of Paradis Ace Hardware, West Street Café’s Kevin DesVeaux, Fish Maine and APPLL President Kristi Bond); workers (Eben Salvatore of Ocean Properties, Adam Goldstein formerly of Royal Caribbean, David Fuller, media producer); and Dr. Todd Gabe, a University of Maine economics professor. Charles Sidman was a defendant intervenor, and the ordinance’s co-author, and his lawyers called Dr. William Horner, Warrant Committee Chair Seth Libby, and former police chief Nathan Young.
Walker excused several of Sidman’s witnesses for repetitive testimony and because of the witnesses’ late disclosure to the plaintiffs. During the trial and in previous briefs, Sidman refuted Gabe’s testimony. His other witnesses said that they notice increased amounts of people on cruise ship days and often avoid downtown proper on those days.
According to Flynn,
“Wharff also explained what his role would be if the 1,000 daily passenger cap were to be enforced.
“‘My role would be to ensure that the passengers were counted coming off the ship, and if more than 1,000 passengers were counted, we would report that to code enforcement as soon as possible,’ said Wharff. He noted that a passenger cap violation is a code enforcement matter and not under the purview of police or harbormasters.
“Wharff also confirmed that if the 1,000 daily passenger cap was enforced, the owners of the tender docks would be responsible for preventing more than 1,000 passengers from disembarking. For the dock owners to prevent extra people from disembarking onto their docks, they would need to file criminal trespass charges, which the police would assist with. Failure to prevent additional passengers from disembarking would result in a fine.
“Gilbert, in her capacity as financial director, explained the fees that the town charges cruise lines for making port in town and how those fees are expended. The town charges two fees – a port development fee and a passenger fee. Gilbert said that port development fees fund capital expenditures, streetscapes, roads, sidewalks, maintenance and debt services. Passenger fees go toward operating expenses, fuel for the harbormaster and a donation to the Island Explorer.
“’The fees have to benefit [cruise ship] passengers in some way,’ said Gilbert. “The moneys can only be spent on cruise-ship-related expenditures.’
“Gilbert was asked about some of the wording in the citizens’ initiative ordinance, which states that no more than 1,000 ‘persons’ may disembark and does not specify passengers. The town later clarified that only 1,000 ‘passengers’ would be allowed to disembark, but that cruise ship crew members would be exempt from the daily cap. Gilbert was asked what materials the town relied on to make their distinction, and she explained that the town interpreted the wording in that way.”
Gabe’s testimony featured discussion about cruise ship impacts on the local economy. His 2016 study saw that each passenger spent $108 in town, to create over $20 million of spending and $5 million in labor income.
The mechanics of how the disembarkation limits would be enacted was also discussed by Salvatore who said the tenders would bring passengers and cruise to the Ocean Properties’ docks. Each tender brings 149 people or less and they run throughout the day.
According to Flynn’s article, “Salvatore said that under the citizens’ initiative ordinance, the private pier owners would be the ones who incur fines if more than 1,000 passengers disembark. Neither the cruise lines nor the passengers themselves would be penalized for this violation – the property where they come ashore would be held responsible.”
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE SEASIDE CINEMA
Seaside Cinema sponsored by the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce begins Wednesday night and runs from mid-July through mid-August
Bring the whole family and a blanket to sit on to the chamber’s weekly outdoor movies under the stars. Movies are shown on a giant inflatable screen in Agamont Park, overlooking Frenchman Bay.
Free popcorn will be available! And watching the movies? Also free.
Movies will start at dusk each Wednesday once the sun has gone down enough to show on the screen. Dusk ranges from approximately 7:30 p.m. later in the season to 8:15 p.m. this week.
Agamont Park is located on the corner of West and Main Streets in Bar Harbor.
Wednesday July 19 - The Iron Giant
Wednesday July 26 - Paddington
Wednesday August 2 - Missing Link
Wednesday August 9 - How to Train Your Dragon
Wednesday August 16 - Howl's Moving Castle
Wednesday August 23 - Silent Films with Musical Accompaniment
Former Chamber Head Alf Anderson and Chris Graten at last year’s movies. Photo: Carrie Jones
JOB OPPORTUNITIES IN BAR HARBOR
The town has also listed job opportunities for the Bar Harbor Water Division office manager, Town Manager, and two town planner positions.
SUMMER RECYCLING HOURS
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY AT ACADIA NATIONAL PARK
The following is a press release from the park that went out Friday. The dates, however, indicate many aspects of the opportunity have already passed.
The National Park Service (NPS) is offering a 10-year concession opportunity at Acadia National Park. The selected concessioner would operate carriage tours and equestrian services at Wildwood Stables in Acadia National Park. The new contract is expected to be effective for the 2024 visitor season. Wildwood Stables, on the southeast side of Mount Desert Island, can be accessed by the Park Loop Road. The site consists of a horse barn including an office, stables, outbuildings, and equestrian campsites with electricity, water, wastewater, and a comfort station. Wildwood Stables offers a variety of carriage tours under a concessions contract with the National Park Service throughout the visitor season.
The service will host a site visit on Monday, June 31. The site visit provides interested organizations an overview of the concession operation along with a tour of the facilities assigned to the concessioner under the Draft Contract. Each interested offeror is limited to two persons attending the site visit, and all attendees must be 18 years or older.
Please register for the site visit before Thursday, June 27, by sending an email to Andrew Gertge (NER_Concessions@nps.gov), Senior Concessions Specialist. All emails must include your name, the name of the organization interested in bidding that you represent, the primary contact for the organization, and the number of people in your party (maximum two attendees per organization). All parties attending the site visit must disclose to the NPS the names of the interested organizations engaging their services.
To develop your proposal, download the prospectus from the NPS concessions website.
Proposals must be received by the NPS no later than 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time on September 15, 2023.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Original Town Council packet