No Recommendation About Hadley Point Landing Being Used for Commercial Purposes
Parks and Recreation Committee also discuss Holiday Tree and Increased Asks in the Town Budget
BAR HARBOR––Whether or not the town’s Hadley Point Landing can be used by businesses, whether or not the holiday tree on the Village Green should be there for a month and joined by a menorah, rejecting a potential grant opportunity for a public, outdoor gym space, explaining why now is not a good time to make a mural on the Park Street athletic field comfort stations, and looking at potential increases to the town’s Parks budget helped keep Parks and Recreation Committee members in Council Chambers, December 18, for a two-hour meeting.
At the meeting’s beginning, Committee Chair John Kelly welcomed MDI YMCA CEO and Executive Director Ann Tikkanen as the newest committee member. Tikkanen has replaced Bob Huff as the YMCA representative which is a designated position on the five-member committee.
Tikkanen introduced herself and spoke about the YMCA’s role in the overall health of the town. She said, “(I) hope to do only good, and I am very passionate about recreation, outdoor recreation, and the Y as a community center. I often say, ‘If you close your eyes and imagine the Y not here, what a sad place it would be.’”
Member Jeff Dobbs was not in attendance for the more than two-hour meeting.
Hadley Point Landing: Commercial Use
The first item of business was a discussion regarding whether or not commercial uses are allowed at the Hadley Point Landing. Kelly said that since this topic has been on the agenda, he has had comments from people about other issues at Hadley Point that they would like to see addressed by the committee.
Kelly said, “Not being a lawyer, I could not find anywhere in our code anything about the commercial activities in town parks or town land. So, the first issue is we, I, don’t have a clear understanding of what is allowed and what’s not.”
Member Erin Cough said, “There is a difference between using the property to sell a physical product and using the property as a means of service.” She gave examples of businesses that regularly utilize town parks or property as a furtherance of their business but not actually a place of business, such as kayak launching for tours, or a guided tour that goes through any of the town parks and may even use town property as a stopping point for narration. Nothing is actually being sold or solicited at these locations.
The other confusing matter, said Kelly, “is that there is a boat launch, um, that goes into the intertidal zone which I would totally agree that that is a marine resources issue.” But to access the boat ramp you have to drive through the park and users of the boat ramp are only using the park to access the water, he said.
There was then a lot of discussion about other possible uses that could take place at Hadley Point that would be a violation of the park use ordinance. Most of these issues are spelled out as a violation in one part of the municipal code or another, but according to the committee, the allowed uses of the boat ramp are elusive. The allowed and prohibited uses for town parks can be found here.
Kelly said, “The other interesting thing about the parks is that a part of the ordinance is that users must obey signs. In essence, as we do with smoking and other things, we can create an ordinance, if it were of interest to us, to have people meet to our concerns.”
The conversation then digressed into general violations that occur at Hadley Point Landing and some of the complaints that the committee has heard about, such as unapproved fires, trash disposal, and pet feces.
Kelly said that there is no signage at Hadley Point stating that it is a town park and perhaps some is needed and then he opened the discussion up to public comment.
One of the 11 members of the public in attendance, Fiona de Koning who is a member of the town’s Marine Resource Committee and an owner of Hollander and de Koning, a mussel farming company, said, “I did not know that it (Hadley Point Landing) was a town park and I have been working there for 19 years now. And that is a huge oversight because it comes with a list of regulations which I will now have to look at.”
The Marine Resources Committee often meets at the landing.
The working waterfront is broader than just the clam flats, said de Koning. There is a lot of aquaculture work, there are tours, and lots of other things that require access to the water. The access from Hadley Point effects a lot of people. People have to look more broadly and realize what this access can bring to the local community in the way of fresh seafood for restaurants that visitors seek out and many other opportunities.
The beach is a recreational spot and also a part of the working waterfront that brings in a lot of economic drivers.
“It’s that interface between recreation and commercial that can be done well if we fully understand one another, and we understand as commercial people and working waterfront people what it is that the recreational side needs,” she said, “and perhaps recreation needs to understand what is driving the commercial (side) and the communication between those two is crucial.”
De Koning also said that it would be seriously hurtful to a lot of people if access to the boat ramp was shut down.
In Bar Harbor, on the east side of the bridge, Hadley Point Landing is currently the only public boat ramp other than the town pier boat ramp. There is a potential proposed boat ramp in the conceptual masterplan for the town’s property where the CAT ferry is located on Route 3.
There was more talk about signage and information dispersal and then Kelly volunteered to be a Parks and Recreation Committee member to attend Marine Resources Committee meetings so that the two committees can be better in tune with each other on uses that seem to fall under more than one committee.
No action was taken about Hadley Beach.
Parks and Recreation Budget FY25
The Parks and Recreation Committee Capital Improvement line items that include a monetary change mentioned by Director of Public Works Bethany Leavitt during the meeting are listed below.
· Account # 6302—Grant Park Reserve—It is currently funded at $1000/year, but Leavitt is recommending an increase to $5000/year in order to perform drainage work that is needed there. Any work done so far has been temporary fixes and it needs to be totally redone for a complete repair
· Account # 6304—Tree Planting and Pruning—It is currently funded at $13,000/year, but Leavitt will be asking for more money because her department has been having to do more work on dead or dying trees. Leavitt did not specify an amount.
· Account # 6308—Skatepark Maintenance Reserve—It is currently funded at $4,516/year but Leavitt wants to ask for more because the department is having trouble keeping the berms on the outside of the ramps from eroding. Grass and other plantings do not seem sufficient
· Account # 6312—Playground Equipment—It is currently funded at $10,800/year, but Leavitt would like to add an additional $20,000 to the existing fund balance of $54,800 in order to do fence repairs at the Park Street Playground and potentially some fencing at the Town Hill Playground.
· Account # 6334—Harborview Park—It is currently funded at $5000/year and Leavitt thinks this is too much. Discussion amongst the committee was about potentially swapping the funding amounts for Harborview Park and Grant Park.
· Account # 6340 —Agamont Park—After this year, it is funded for $1500/year but Leavitt would like to add an additional $25,000 to the existing fund balance of $15,000 because the gazebo is in such need of renovation that it is currently taped off with caution tape.
Village Green Holiday Tree: Long Term Display Beyond Approved Event
There is a holiday tree in the town’s Village Green that is in the town gazebo. It is part of the Chamber’s holiday events.
Chair John Kelly said, “An individual’s question to the committee, through me, was why aren’t other faiths represented in the gazebo or associated with the Christmas tree, which is literally tied to one thing and not others?”
He said that he understood incorrectly that the Town Council worked directly with the Chamber of Commerce to approve the tree to stay there for a much longer time than is normally approved for special event permits. He said that he was corrected by Highway Department Office Manager Suzanne Banis who told him that the tree lighting event is approved by the Parks and Recreation Committee but that nobody approves the tree staying in the gazebo for a month.
Kelly said, “This is not a problem but the person who wrote me said, ‘Why isn’t there a menorah?’”
Vice Chair Greg Veilleux said, “I mean, you know, the tree is festive, it represents the holidays and I think, putting a menorah in there also would be equally as festive and beautiful and serve the purposes that we need to do, if somebody is willing to, you know, who, who creates the menorah?”
“Well, that’s a question, but, why not the Chamber?” Kelly asked.
Tikkanen asked if there was a diversity lens that could be applied when groups are applying for permits.
Kelley said that it would take a municipal code revision to add anything to their park use permit review process.
The committee decided that it will readdress this issue next year when it gets closer to the time for the Chamber of Commerce to apply for its park use permit for the holiday tree.
Athletic Field Comfort Station: Mural Proposal by Tiffany Laufer
Bar Harbor resident Tiffany Laufer presented her idea to beautify the comfort stations (public restrooms) at the ballfields. Laufer had prepared a packet for the committee to present her idea which centers around the decline in pollinators and bees.
Laufer wanted to fundraise and secure volunteer workers and artists to prepare and paint the comfort station exterior walls with a display of various trees and bushes that are vital to pollinators, bees, and butterflies. Laufer said that her goal would be to educate the public and beautify the comfort stations at no cost to the town.
Leavitt said that while she wanted to hear Laufer’s presentation, it would not be worthwhile to paint these comfort stations because the town is planning on demolishing the current comfort stations and building new ones in the spring or summer of 2025.
There was much enthusiasm for Laufer’s idea and a lot of conversation about how it could be presented on the side of a brand-new building or turning the mural concept into an actual garden for bees and butterflies somewhere on town property.
Cough said that she would love to keep with the idea of a mural because it would add lots of color to seasonally grey months and it would be in keeping with Bar Harbor’s origins as an artist’s colony.
There has not been a bid process completed yet for the new comfort stations, so there is no estimated price. The town’s budget line item for the comfort station replacement currently has $236,344 in it.
This agenda item was left in the hands of the presenter, Laufer, to think about ideas moving forward now that she knows about the building of the new comfort station.
National Fitness Campaign: Grant
A promoted grant opportunity from the National Fitness Campaign, this discussion item was passed on to the committee by Town Manager James Smith. According to the website, the product being offered is “the world’s best outdoor gym.” It is a fixed space 38’ x 38’ outdoor court with seven different exercises that all use body weight/movement as resistance.
Leavitt said that it is her understanding that the grant pays for the court, but there is a community match involved and how much that is, she is not aware.
“I think it is a great idea. I mean any metro park throughout the state of Maine, you go to Back Cove in Portland and all around the cove are, you know, exercise opportunities and they are for stretching; they are for various exercises just to keep us mobile and healthy and I think it’s a good idea,” said Veilleux.
Kelly said, “I hate to chase money. Um, this never occurred to me in our parks, like no one has ever raised the idea of having this. No one from the Y has ever expressed an interest to extend the work that you guys (MDI YMCA) do to an outdoor thing.”
“That’s a little bit why I am here,” said Tikkanen.
“Yeah,” Kelly said. “It’s totally why you’re here.”
Space is tight, Kelly continued, the committee is still trying to build a landing pad at the ballfield and it denied a dog park there partially because of constricted space.
Cough expressed concern over an outdoor exercise space taking away from YMCA memberships.
Leavitt asked if the committee was okay with not looking into the National Fitness Campaign grant and the committee members replied that they were.
Public Works Update
Leavitt said that most of her updates had been covered during the meeting and that her only update was in regard to space that the construction company doing the work on Main Street infrastructure is utilizing. They are using half of the paved ballfield parking lot for temporary supply storage, all of the dirt ballfield parking lot for equipment, power, and office trailers, and they will be storing pipes on the section of the ballfield where the helipad will go because the weight will act as a preloading weight for the soil.
The next meeting date was not decided on at the end of the meeting.
The Glen Mary pool and woods were also discussed at this meeting, which we posted about here.