League of Towns Poised To Attack Big Regional Issues
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by First National Bank.
ELLSWORTH— “Where do we want to be ten years from now?” Noel Musson asked the League of Town members gathered together February 25 at the Trenton Town Office.
That is the key question that will likely inform the work of the group, which is a collaboration of staff and officials from Bar Harbor, Cranberry Isles, Ellsworth, Lamoine, Mount Desert, Southwest Harbor, Swans Island, Tremont, Trenton, and Acadia National Park.
“It may be small, but it’s really mighty,” Southwest Harbor Town Manager Karen Reddersen said of the League of Towns and learning from past successes and lessons learned in other towns. “It’s tying into our larger buckets.”
The League of Towns (LOT) met in the morning for approximately 30 minutes. There town administrators sat around two tables pushed together in a room with two-toned walls. Tucked next to the walls were file cabinets. Metal chairs lined up on one side, voting booths rested alongside another as the members got to work.
Part of that work is rebuilding the LOT’s efforts and attendance as it organizes another elected officials meeting in April. That meeting hosts members of the councils and select boards of each town.
Musson of the Musson Group facilitated the last elected officials discussion with Susanne Paul in October 2024. The Musson Group has also spearheaded the MDI Housing Summit.
The region, he told officials at that October meeting, isn’t used to being proactive “and this challenge demands a proactive approach. So you’re going to have to get out of your comfort zone.”
“There’s a lot of complicated stuff happening in our communities,” Musson said, Tuesday, and those issues require leaders of the towns to work to be forward-thinking. “There’s a lot of great things happening, but there’s a lot of trends that need some rethinking of how we did things in the past.”
Creating “a process for creating more of a regional action plan,” Musson said to the League members is going to be a big element of the elected officials meeting and the work afterward.
That creates an initial question that the groups will have to focus on.
“Can we agree on what some of the big issues are and can we identify what are the shared goals for the region?” Musson said.
Then, the work will spread out from there and will likely involve action plans at the LOT level and the levels of the towns and Ellsworth.
The elected officials meeting and eventual action plans will most likely focus on areas discussed at the last elected officials meeting this past fall: transportation, housing, and municipal collaboration and community.
Community, Reddersen said, is a big bucket and wanted to know what that meant in this context. That, Musson agreed, is something the LOT and the elected officials have to figure out.
“I always think of the island as a community,” Mount Desert Town Manager Durlin Lunt said with challenges that are shared. The towns also have their own unique challenges.
“Community can mean anything. It’s in the eye of the beholder,” Trenton Select Board Chair Fred Ehrlenbach said.
He looks at it as individual towns with its diverse membership that includes island communities that don’t have the same issues as larger municipalities such as Ellsworth, which is also a member.
“What do all of us have in common?” Lunt asked.
“I think that’s the point,” Trenton Administrator Carol Walsh said and the question.
“Tremont is a different town than Trenton. Bar Harbor is a different town than Mount Desert.” Musson said it was worth having the discussion. “We have to think differently how we all work together.”
So that they are all together and on the same page, Musson Group will pull together statistics on housing, economics, and transportation. That will then be distributed to attendees.
“Hopefully, they’ll read some of it,” Walsh joked.
As discussion continued Tuesday, the LOT members attending spoke quickly of transportation projects and needs such as Southwest Harbor’s Seawall Road, which was decimated in January storms last year, repaired by local companies this past summer and is still waiting for MaineDOT repairs.
“Our tourists move,” Reddersen said. “If it (the Seawall Road) was no longer, what impact would it have on your individual areas?”
The LOT quickly touched on the DOT’s scheduled work on a main street in Ellsworth this summer. The street leads much of tourist and commuter traffic through the county toward Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park.
“They’re going to redo High Street this summer,” Ehrlenbach said of the night work scheduled.
“That’s going to affect all of us,” Lunt said.
In April, one of the questions will be who else needs to be involved in these regional conversations, Musson said. The hospitals? Nonprofits? Business groups like area chambers of commerce? He stressed that moving implementation and action plans forward is a key.
“My goal would be for this plan to not sit on the shelf,” Musson said.
“We need to spend some time agreeing what those big topics are,” Musson said and create a vision for the region while also keeping individual communities….There are a lot of big decisions coming down the line. I think we’re up for the challenge.”
AGING
One of the factors of planning for a region or a smaller community involves the psychographics of the people within it. The aging population of Hancock County may well be a factor in the area’s future needs.
As populations age, the municipalities and counties where people live face multiple positives and challenges.
When a town has an aging population, there can be an increased strain on healthcare systems and senior-specific services. Those services might be transportation-related or housing. Similarly, there can be a decrease in those people working.
As more people retire, the working-age population shrinks, potentially impacting economic growth and tax revenue for the municipality, according to the Economic Innovation Group.
Housing needs might include elevators, wider doorways. Sometimes the infrastructure in a town might not be designed to accommodate the needs of older residents, that can include sidewalks, crosswalks, and lighting.
Knowing population demographics for specific towns and for the whole country can help government officials and staff plan.
HANCOCK COUNTY STATISTICS
Hancock County, in its current form, was recognized in 1789. It hosts the only national park in New England and that? That also matters when looking at housing and tourism and transportation. It also matters when looking at the economy.
Set on the eastern side of the Penobscot Bay, the county houses approximately 55,478 people on its 2,345 square miles.
Only 1,587 square miles is actual land. The rest is water. Across the entire county, there are 35.1 people per square mile. The coastline is the longest of all Maine’s counties.
According to a report by the Hancock County Planning Commission, that population increased “by 1,060 people or by 1.9% since 2010.”
Hancock County has the longest coastline of any Maine county. Commercial fishing and tourism are two of the county’s most important industries. The county has two higher education sources: Maine Maritime Academy in Castine and the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor. The Jackson Laboratory and MDI Biological Laboratory employ scientists and support staff.
If the projections are correct, the county’s population will grow to almost 57,000 by 2030 and 32.8% will be over 65, an increase from 2020’s 26.4%. Those same estimates predict that almost half the population (46%) will be over 55.
The commission’s report states some facts about households.
“There was a 3% increase in total households in the county between 2010 and 2020. Since then, the number of households has and is projected to continue to increase. By 2028 there is projected to be 25,769 households in the county.
“Hancock County is observing a slower rate of growth in total households than the state as a whole.
“An estimated 77% of households in the county are owner-occupied. This percentage is projected to increase slightly by 2028.
“The average household size in the county has been declining since 2000.
“A 15.9% increase in the county’s median household income from 2023-2028 is projected for a MHI of $78,867 in 2028.
“An estimated 89% of individuals in the county live in the same residence that they did one year ago.
“Individuals 18-34 comprised the largest percentage of movers in the past year.”
When trying to understand population change, researchers look to births, deaths, and net migration. COVID-19 tweaked those numbers a bit, but the commission’s data, which comes from the Maine Office of the State Economist, is meant to account for that.
And what the data says is this: population growth in Hancock County and in all of Maine isn’t from people staying and raising larger families here. It’s from in-migration.
“In both the county and as a state, death rates outnumbered birth rates each year between 2013 and 2022; this resulted in a net loss of over 2,000 people in Hancock County.” That’s considered the natural change.
When the natural change shows a deficit, but the population numbers increase, it’s linked to people coming into the state or county from other areas.
According to the HCPC, “The variety of outdoor recreation opportunities available contributes significantly to the local economy and helps to support many of the area’s restaurants, retailers, and lodging businesses.”
That and the natural beauty of the area, the park, the labs, all help bring people here to live. However, housing prices, property taxes, and limited and aging housing stock limit who can live in some of the pricier areas.
“An estimated 89% of the county population remained in the same house as the year prior. An estimated 5.4% moved within the county while a similar percentage moved to Hancock County from either a different county within the state or from another state entirely. The majority of state residents remained in the same home as one year ago,” the report explains.
“Over three-fourths (77%) of the county’s households are owner households. The average household size of the county is 2.14 and the median household income is $68,072,” the report reads.
The largest percentage of people who moved (43.7%) are people between 18 and 34. Once people reach 55, they usually tend to stop moving out of their area quite so much.
“However, it is noteworthy that the percentage of movers from a different state was greatest for those in the 55 to 64 age group, likely correlating with retirement from the workforce,” the report reads.
More than a quarter of people that came from another state earned more than $75,000.
When it comes to income, the largest percentage (9.1%) of those moving from one spot in Hancock County to another earned between $50,000 and $64,999.
LET’S TALK ABOUT MORE ABOUT AGE
According to the report, “The age distribution of Hancock County’s population has shifted significantly over the past decade. In 2010, 18.3% of residents were aged 65 and older; this grew to 26.4% in 2020. During the same period, the under 25 and the 45 to 55 age groups experienced the most notable declines. The county’s median age rose from 46.2 in 2010 to 49.5 in 2020.”
We’re getting older. And that trend is projected to continue.
“The county’s median age is projected to surpass 50 by 2028, reaching 50.4 in this year. Projections indicate that by 2030, individuals aged 65 and older will account for 32.8% of the population, a significant increase from 26.4% in 2020,” the report states. “This growth will be driven largely by the 75+ age group, which is expected to grow by 3,420 individuals by 2030. Meanwhile, the 55–64 age group is projected to decrease, as many individuals transition into the 65+ category.”
Positive aspects of aging populations in a municipality include some economic benefits. Wealthier seniors often have more disposable income, which can help increase spending for some local businesses, and they are often volunteering. Their knowledge can be given to younger generations. In some communities, seniors’ tendency to stay in their homes leads to stable housing markets. For towns that can afford infrastructure improvements, aging populations can encourage the betterment of transportation, public spaces, and accessibility. Seniors also tend to vote more.
Bar Harbor’s Age Friendly Committee helped the town to create The Bar Harbor Age-Friendly Action Plan as well as a resource guide. It also created a shoveling assistance program for older residents of Bar Harbor. However, the committee hasn’t met since July 2023.
At the time, committee members expressed uncertainty about which direction the committee should go in the future in regard to its association with the town. Should it continue to be a town-appointed committee that has to run under the rules and guidelines of such entities, or should it be an independent body that can meet when it deems necessary, make decisions that aren’t beholden to a quorum requirement, and not have a residency requirement?
Committee member Peter Houghton had said, “I feel in the brief time that I have been here, we don’t have a defined, in my opinion, we don’t have parameters as to why we are here.”
Another member seconded this by saying that they receive no direction from the Town Council.
Organizations such as Island Connections, on Mount Desert Island, help bring seniors who can no longer drive to doctors’ appointments and other needs, but often struggle to find enough volunteers to cover the demand for the service.
Between 2011 and 2019, the population of Bar Harbor that is over the age of 65 has grown 32%, bringing the total number of those 65 or older to 19% of the town’s population. Bar Harbor is recognized as an age-friendly community by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) because it has an age-friendly action plan and because of the work of the Age-Friendly Committee.
The population of younger groups are expected to decrease.
“Younger age groups, particularly those under 25 and aged 25–34, are projected to continue declining. By 2030, residents under 35 are expected to comprise just 30.7% of the population, down from 34.2% in 2020.”
The age of a population can sometimes help predict trends of public school enrollment, which can help municipalities and schools budget for the future.
“In Hancock County, the number of publicly funded students has fluctuated since 2014 with a 10-year average of 6,585 students per school year. There was an overall increase in enrollment since 2014 before a notable drop between 2020 and 2021, which was most likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This may have resulted in a larger percentage of students being homeschooled or receiving education through other alternatives. An increase in recent years could indicate that students have returned to school in-person, or families with younger children are relocating to the county.”
This is part of a series of stories about the report and its data. To find all the articles in the series, go to the Bar Harbor Story website and in the search bar, look for “housing.”
NEXT LEAGUE OF TOWN MEETINGS—THESE ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AND USUALLY BEGIN AT 10 A.M.
March 2025- Acadia National Park Headquarters
April 16 Elected Officials Meeting- Neighborhood House NEH
May 27, 2025- Southwest Harbor Town Office
June 24, 2025- Lamoine Town Office
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Lots of good information, here. I read this as saying we need job opportunities and rentals for the younger generations.