Earl Brechlin
THREE-YEAR TERM, BAR HARBOR TOWN COUNCIL
Earl Brechlin of Bar Harbor currently serves on the town council. He has also served on the Planning Board, Warrant Committee and the Conservation Commission.
A Registered Maine Guide and recreational lobster fisherman, Brechlin is a former Maine Journalist of Year and is the author of eight books about Bar Harbor, Maine and Acadia National Park.
After two stints as editor of the Bar Harbor Times, he was the founding editor of the Mount Desert Islander a weekly newspaper that repeatedly won first place for general excellence from the National, New England and Maine Press Associations. A member of the Maine Press Hall of Fame, he is the holder of more than 100 journalism awards. Along with serving as President of the New England Press Association, Brechlin also was President of the Maine Press Association multiple times.
He also worked as Communications Director for Friends of Acadia.
He is an instructor for the Acadia Senior College and is a past President of the Bar Harbor Historical Society. He was an adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic for 17 years.
Brechlin has also been a board member of the Island Housing Trust, the Bar Harbor Youth Hostel Committee, the MDI YMCA, the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce, and the Trustees of the Bar Harbor Congregational Church. He is a Past Master of the Bar Harbor Masonic Lodge.
He and his wife Roxie (Sawyer), a retired school teacher, live on the Eagle Lake Road.
THE QUESTIONS:
Why are you running?
I am running because I think it is important to continue forward on the path the town has taken over the past two years to become more responsive to resident concerns and to work to find a balance between maintaining Bar Harbor as a great place to live, work, and raise a family, and also a good place to make a living from our long-standing tradition of accommodating tourists and visitors from all over the world.
There are a lot of issues currently that people talk about in Bar Harbor. But, if you had one local issue that matters to you more than any other, what would it be and why?
My prime issue is preserving Bar Harbor the Community which is increasingly at risk from Bar Harbor’s headlong conversion into a commodity. The housing crisis is a prime example. We have 15 percent of available housing used as vacation rentals. Another 15 percent or so is used as seasonal employee housing. And, as has been the case for decades, another 15 percent is owned by people who only stay here seasonally. So, nearly half our units are unavailable or out of reach for regular folks although the number is probably higher due to the extraordinary high real estate prices. The transient lodging moratorium is not just about there being too many hotel rooms (although there has to be a limit) but rather about the loss of year-round housing to transient uses, both tourists and workers. In a town that a recent report showed needs at least 600 more units of housing, addressing that need should start with assigning the highest priority to protecting each and every existing unit.
I also have watched as bigger developers are quietly purchasing smaller parcels in the downtown to eventually consolidate them, tear down what’s there now, and build large hotels, reducing retail and economic diversity and charm.
What is something you love about Bar Harbor that people might not notice enough?
One thing I love about Bar Harbor is that it is still one of the few places where the usual socio-economic stratifications of society are less distinct. Summer people, business people, waiters, fishermen, artists, musicians, retirees, students and organic farmers all mix and mingle, serve side-by-side on boards and committees, and share a common affection for this place, its spirit and its people. The fact there are approximately 100 non-profits on MDI is a fine illustration of this point.
What skills do you bring to the table that you think only you can bring?
After 46 years in the local newspaper business, where I got to meet, spend time with, and befriend, people from every walk of life, I think I have a basic understanding of where folks are coming from and what is most important to them. My love of local history and service in the historical society has also helped me formulate a reverence for, and appreciation of, how Bar Harbor got to where it is today. Knowing where we’ve been is always helpful in predicting where we should be heading.
If you could make one change to Bar Harbor tomorrow, what would it be?
The one thing I would change about Bar Harbor would be to find a way to get folks to transcend some of the online vitriol and meanness that poses for political discourse these days. We should all be able to disagree without the need to insult, intimidate or ridicule those of alternate opinions.
What is your stance on short-term rentals, specifically now that VR2s are capped and decreasing while VR1s are on the rise? Do you have general thoughts about any potential ways to increase affordable housing in the area?
I fully support the cap on investor-owned vacation rentals (VR2) and think it should be lowered. Other communities that have capped it put the max at 1.5 to 2 percent, not 9. One of the most damning statements for the future of this community is when people looking to buy a seasonal residence here are told “good rental potential.”
Yes, VR2s have gone down but one reason is that multiple unit properties owned by larger businesses that initially registered myriad units to maintain non-conformity, have dropped many of those. And, much of the increase in the VR1 (homestead) vacation rentals has come from former VR2 people who have lost their permit, can’t renew, and have re-filed under dubious information as homesteads. Granting children or relatives small percentages of ownership, and having them apply as the homestead resident, are some examples of ways people are trying to circumvent the law. In another case, a former VR2 owner got a driver’s license for the local address, and then claimed the property as a homestead, even though they already have a homestead tax exemption property in another island town where they actually live. I hear that new house buyers who don’t plan to become permanent residents are frequently coached how to get around the law. That has to stop.
True VR1s are ultimately housing neutral because when it is where someone lives year-round, that property is not lost to the total housing pool. In the interest of full disclosure, my wife and I have a VR1 and have done some vacation rental weeks over the past 20 years in a cabin/guest house we built ourselves on our property.
Currently, the council is working on a package of ordinances that will more fully define VR1, helping us to disqualify cheats and those who have been less than forthright for economic gain at the expense of our community.
With the hospital’s recent announcement of its closure of its maternity wing, what are your thoughts about healthcare and any links to the town’s role (if any) in ensuring that services continue?
Many organizations on MDI have stepped up in the last couple of years to create more housing including major employers, Acadia National Park, College of the Atlantic, the Jackson Lab, the MDI Housing Trust, Friends of Acadia and others. While the town is not in a position to become a housing developer or landlord, we have capped investor-owned vacation rentals, adopted new zoning that allows double density on most residential lots to encourage the creation of auxiliary dwelling units or apartments, and we recently waived tens of thousands of dollars in building permit fees to help encourage the YWCA of MDI housing project on the former Hamilton Station property.
While MDI Hospital, in hindsight, undoubtedly could have handled how the community learned about its plans to close its OB department differently, and may have underestimated community concern, the underlying loss of this service is not entirely their fault. Housing prices are just too high here for younger couples, in prime child-bearing years, to own a home. Also, when you have 500 investor-owned vacation rentals in Bar Harbor, probably at least 1,000 more in Mount Desert, Southwest Harbor and Tremont, not to mention Trenton, is it any surprise that the birth rate has dropped precipitously? You can’t take 1,500 to 2,000 units of housing out of circulation and wonder where all the children have gone. Mount Desert, Southwest Harbor, and Tremont all rejected vacation rental caps in the past year. I believe they will all rue the day. I would like to see MDI Hospital collaborate with other area institutions to explore ways to share the provision of OB services so that having Bar Harbor on a birth certificate does not become a thing of the past.
Do you think Bar Harbor is a thriving community? How would you define that?
Bar Harbor is certainly a bustling community but that doesn’t necessarily translate to thriving. Our retail mix has shifted away from goods and services a year-round community needs. Decades of working to extend the tourist season hasn’t resulted in places being open year-round but rather more and more owners now being able to afford closing for months at a time. We are on a precipice where, if we falter or lose our balance, we will not be able to recover. I feel the vast majority of Bar Harbor residents still see the community, the town we desire, the town we remember fondly, as worth fighting for. Time will tell.
This year the town stands to give almost $500,000 to two nonprofit entities (the Jesup and the YMCA). Do you agree with the current application process for nonprofits? If not, what would you change? Is there anything you would change about the budget process itself?
As appropriations to larger nonprofits continue to grow it is imperative that more detailed memorandums of understanding and other formal documents outlining expectations of all parties, be negotiated and signed. Other towns give similar amounts to similar organizations but often those are entirely municipal, not independently, managed and owned.
Bar Harbor’s been recently talking about solid waste issues. Do you have thoughts about changes to that?
The town council recently held a presentation on solid waste issues and there’s a report on that on the town website. The upshot is that our volume of waste doubles in summer and I think it’s fair to explore how seasonal establishments, rather than taxpayers can pay their fair share of those costs. I believe we can start with less radical steps such as charging commercial haulers and weighing that trash (partially to make sure it comes from Bar Harbor).
Looking for such alternate sources of revenue is especially vital if state officials fail to adopt Rep. Gary Friedmann’s LD 746 which would let towns charge up to 2 percent local option lodging tax(with some of that money going to support housing issues statewide). I was honored to testify in Augusta in support of that bill. We are also looking at increasing our artificially-low per-passenger fee for cruise ships that are allowed to disembark legally to help cover the revenue shortfall from fewer large ships.
How would you try to create more trust and transparency between people and the town?
I think transparency and trust come from familiarity and by establishing a track record of working together among all those involved. Over the past few years many town council appointees to boards and committees have come from the ranks of some of our biggest critics. To me that shows openness, and trust, and a devotion that all be heard.
Our council meetings, even workshops, are all open to the public, available online and on TV, and our contact information is everywhere. We start every meeting with an open public comment. When I joined the council, we changed the rules to allow public comment on every issue on the agenda. There has never been more openness than there is now. I’ve always had a listed telephone number and I’m always happy to discuss important local issues.