Heel Subdivision Lawsuit Continues
"A legacy of ashes"
MOUNT DESERT—On Wednesday, Mount Desert’s attorney, Andrew Hamilton, sent an email to two Mount Desert officials with news that they didn’t want to hear.
“I wanted to formally notify you that, as of the end of last week, Attorney Grady Burns filed a notice of appeal of Justice McKeon’s decision affirming the Planning Board decision in the MD 365 application review,” the attorney based out of Eaton Peabody wrote to Town Manager Durlin Lunt and Code Enforcement Officer Kim Keene.
The appeal, if taken, would bring the case to Maine Supreme Court.
The case focuses on a proposed subdivision on Heel Way, which is located at the intersection of Manchester Road and Neighborhood Road in Village Residential One. Seven Northeast Harbor residents appealed the town’s approval of the plans to develop the homes, which would be two duplexes and one new single-family home. A total of six homes would be in four structures.
According to the project’s website, “An existing five-bay garage structure will be renovated and used for additional storage space by future residents.”
Plaintiffs appealed the Planning Board’s decision because they felt that the equation used to determine the density of the area was in error even with the workforce housing density bonus in the town’s ordinance. They also said the town board made legal errors in its approval.
However, Judge McKeon upheld the town’s decision. Now, the plaintiffs—Ann Cannon, Marc Cannon, Melissa Cannon Gurz, Lamont Harris, Stuart Janney, Joseph Ryerson, and Lynne Wheat—have filed another appeal—this time it is of the court’s decision.
“I am deeply disappointed by the selfish actions of a few individuals who think only about themselves and not the future needs of the town,” Lunt said. “(It’s) a very different attitude than I remember growing up in Northeast Harbor.”
He wasn’t the only one disappointed.
Mount Desert 365 Director Kathleen Miller said in a press release issued July 16, “Mount Desert 365 is deeply disappointed by this new appeal. It will add delays and expenses to much needed year- round housing. It will also add to the legal expense of the Town of Mount Desert as it defends the Planning Board decisions.”
The town, she said, has spent more than $55,000 on fees, meeting engagement at Planning Board, appeals, and staff time on the court case. Mount Desert 365 has championed the project. According to its mission statement, Mount Desert 365 is a “community-based organization dedicated to promoting long-term economic vitality of the town of Mount Desert, Maine, through expansion of sustainable year-round residential communities and economic revitalization of commercial districts.”
“It is unclear at this time on what grounds the new appeal will move forward,” Miller wrote.
For Lunt, it’s about more than that. This is about getting lights on again in the town he grew up in, works for, and loves. It’s about a town that needs more affordable housing, he has said at numerous meetings.
The Heel Way Subdivision is meant to provide year-round housing. It was approved by the Mount Desert Planning Board in October 2023. The next month, it was appealed to the Business and Consumer Court and heard May 28, 2024 with a June 24 decision denying that appeal and supporting the Planning Board’s decision.
“Theirs will be a legacy of ashes. They will be infamously known for making affordable housing unaffordable,” Lunt said.
Burns has not responded to our request for a comment. If he does, we’ll update the story.
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It appears that the "whoever has the most money wins" strategy so evident in Bar Harbor as of late has migrated to Northeast Harbor. Having passed - by clear majority - a citizens initiative limiting the disembarkation of no more than 1,000 passengers per day the citizens of Bar Harbor have been forced to expend in excess of half a million dollars defending the initiative against frivolous lawsuits initiated by Ocean Properties, an out of state chain of hotels, restaurants, and knickknack shops who also owns the only dock in town at which cruise ship passengers can land. By their own admission Ocean Properties reaps millions of dollars a year in profits from dock fees and shuttle services. So what's a few hundred grand in legal fees in an effort to bully the small town of Bar Harbor into opening the flood gates for cruise ship landings.
In addition the citizens group that crafted the initiative has also been forced to spend in excess of $300,000 in defending the initiative against Ocean Properties lawsuits and appeals.
In one of the most brazen legal statements I have ever encountered Ocean Properties attorney Hamilton was recently quoted in The Quietside Journal as saying:
"Hamilton said his clients would never adhere to any rule-making on the cruise ship ordinance no matter what the council did.
The council was in the process of reviewing two proposed codes - one to regulate ships in the harbor and the other to limit the number of passengers who may disembark to 1,000 a day. The ordinance adopted overwhelming by voters on Nov. 8, 2022 posed a $100 fine per passenger over the limit. Hamilton said, “We're just not going to tolerate it. We're going to be a brick wall on this disembarkation ordinance.”
One can only wonder what Federal Court Judge Walker who ruled in favor of the citizens initiative must have thought about this belligerent statement?
The economic stakes in Northeast Harbor are far less than those in the Bar Harbor case and I am not entirely clear as to why the court has even allowed a handful of 1%ers legal standing in the case. What precisely to they have to lose by the construction of modest, high quality, living quarters for the workers whose very existence makes possible the lavish summer lifestyles the wealthy enjoy? And yet hoping to outspend the local citizens this "Not In My Backyard You Don't" group clearly intends to keep launching frivolous appeals in an effort to bully their way to victory.
Kind of reminds me of Marie Antoinette's infamous quotable quote. After being told the French citizens couldn't afford bread for their families ole Marie remarked, "Well let them eat cake!" And by cake she was not referring to high end baked goods but rather the "cake" or charcoal rind that had to be routinely scraped from the roof and sides of the brick ovens in which bread was baked.
Let us hope that the rich and entitled of Northeast Harbor fare better than did ole Marie who apparently thought things were coming up roses right up until she knelt down in front of that fearsome blade! Can it be, one wonders, that a long smoldering class conflict is about to erupt into flames on MDI? Let us hope not! There's more than enough real cake for everyone if the bullies will just stop trying to grab every single slice for themselves!
These objections by people with deep pockets to obstruct construction of badly-needed housing are despicable. Even in their own self-interest: Do these people think they will ever want to enjoy a restaurant meal or need an EMT? Housing for working people has reached a crisis level. And now in Tremont an investor has bought up over a dozen long-term rental properties to profit by renting them weekly. These rich people don't even live in our towns to see them boarded up all winter while working folks move off the Island.