Hospital's Traffic Plan Changes Will Go to Planning Staff
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BAR HARBOR—During a quick morning special meeting last week, the Bar Harbor Planning Board reviewed a request from Mount Desert Island Hospital for what the town calls a minor site plan review at its 10 Wayman Lane property in downtown Bar Harbor.
The meeting lasting approximately 10 minutes. There was no public comment.
Another minor site plan review occurred in 2022. When there is more than one minor site plan revision on the same parcel within three-years, town planning mechanisms are triggered (such as a full review), but can be changed by a planning board vote.
A minor site plan review doesn’t require a public hearing. A notice to abutters will be sent and they can still comment to the planning department. A major site plan review would have required a planning board public comment and review. Either way, the changes will be reviewed by town staff.
Planning Board Chair Millard Dority said that the board had heard a lot of testimonies from neighbors about parking.
“I have a problem with going for a minor on this one,” Dority said because of the multiple comments from neighbors. “We had lots, lots, of comments from the neighbors.”
The changes involve traffic patterns, which were heavily discussed during the original review process.
“It was a big enough issue in the site plan review and obviously the hospital has listened and they’ve done work to satisfy some of the people,” Dority said.
“It’s a different weigh in,” Planning Director Michele Gagnon said of the neighbors’ public comment, which under a minor site plan review, goes to planning staff.
The project has two revisions concerning the traffic flow around the hospital property. It also removes two parking spaces so that there can be a “one-way drive” that is adjacent to Hancock Street. The changes would also make the originally proposed one-way drive north of Wayman Lane two-way.
Vice Chair Ruth Eveland said that in this situation she is OK with the planning staff getting public comments about the changes rather than the board. She moved to allow it to be reviewed as a minor site plan.
All the board members except Dority and new member John Seavitt voted in favor.
Teresa Wagner recused herself because she’s on the board of Birch Bay Village, which was unanimously considered a conflict of interest.
The planning board recently approved the hospital’s $42 million expansion. The hospital hopes to break ground on the 42,600-square foot expansion this year. The hospital had already received state approval for the project on a 5.61-acre parcel at 10 Wayman Lane in November 2024. The expansion and renovation was originally announced in 2021.
The expansion includes a new western-facing entrance, will triple the size of the emergency room, and increase visibility from Main Street. It includes landscaping and wayfinding on its Main Street campus.
It’s recently upgraded its energy systems and constructed the Kogod Center for Medical Education where classroom space and housing exists for rural medical students getting practical education about rural medicine in Bar Harbor.
Last year, it acquired a private clinic in Southwest Harbor—Acadia Family Center on Fernald Point Road. In December, the hospital said it would transfer that center’s services to other clinics in Southwest Harbor and Northeast Harbor. The Fernald Point Road site would house other hospital functions.
In March, the hospital also announced the upcoming closure of its maternity services.
Correction: The original sentence in this story about the vote was not clear and gave the wrong impression. It was changed at 9:33 a.m. to reflect this. It now reads, “All the board members except Dority and new member John Seavitt voted in favor.”
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
To the Planning Board page itself.
To the Planning Board’s packet of materials for the meeting.
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