Park and Mount Desert Officials Meet About Otter Creek's Working Waterfront

Jennifer Buchanan resigns as deputy town clerk, but there is time to say goodbye

Nov 05, 2024

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Window Panes Home and Garden.

MOUNT DESERT—Town Manager Durlin Lunt’s report on a meeting with Acadia National Park officials dominated the Mount Desert Selectboard’s meeting Monday night.

That earlier joint meeting was about the Mount Desert Selectboard’s Working Waterfront Resolution, which was approved in early September by the board. The goal of the resolution is to restore the working waterfront of Otter Creek. Because Acadia National Park holds the land surrounding the creek and would need to be involved for many of the goals of the resolution to come to pass, Lunt met with park officials on October 25.

Goals of the resolution include re-establishing efficient access and egress to the boat launch; restoring the ecological health of the area and tidal flushing of the inner harbor; clearing the scenic vistas of the harbor from Grover Avenue, restoring village trails that had been abandoned, and determining ownership of the Quarry Road.

“The goals of the meeting were for the park to understand the goals of the Working Waterfront Resolution and for the Town of Mount Desert to understand what process was needed to achieve the goals outlined in the resolution,” Lunt wrote in a memo to the selectboard.

At the meeting, they discussed sediment testing for heavy metals in Otter Creek’s inner harbor in a joint park and town project.

The restriction of tidal flow at the Loop Road’s causeway was also discussed. A follow-up to last year’s engineering study will occur within the next six months.

“Repairs to the causeway because of the damage from last winter's January storms revealed ledge and mussel buildup by one of the arches that is causing some tidal restrictions,” Lunt wrote. “It will take some further research to fully determine the impact of the causeway on tidal flow. A goal is to reduce the green crab population in the inner harbor to allow for the possibility of clam restoration. Green crabs prefer brackish water so enhanced tidal flow is necessary to allow this to happen.”

The trails restoration discussion led to a decision to map the area further to see if there are additional trails that should be restored.

**VIA FOA “Quarry Trail:** Access from Blackwoods Campground or Grover Avenue in Otter Creek. Connects to the Otter Cove Trail and on to the Ocean Path, Gorham Mountain, and beyond. The Quarry Trail is not officially a VCT because it is located on park lands; however, it does serve the function of making it possible to walk into the park from an Otter Creek home or a Blackwoods campsite.”

“Of particular interest is the so-called ‘Quarry Road,’" Lunt wrote. “This road was used by fishermen as a point of vehicular access to the inner harbor. Currently, it is accessible only as a walking trail. The Town of Mount Desert would like to determine if this road could be restored to the degree that vehicles such as ATVs could be used to transport fishing gear to the town landing.”

Upgrading the landing led to talks about how to do so. Suggestions and possibilities included potentially leasing land for better vehicle access to the boat landing or trading a small brownfield area near the Aid Society’s fish house that is currently owned by the College of the Atlantic passing through the town before it is transferred to the park, which could fulfill the land swap requirement to obtain park land to build the enhanced vehicular access at the town landing.

“There was some discussion concerning whether the park would benefit from acquiring land contaminated by sewage,” Lunt wrote. “A benefit is that they would then have the opportunity to clean the site. The possibility of acquiring other land outside the village of Otter Creek was also mentioned.”

Lunt said that the park would like to see the scope of the cutting proposed on Grover Avenue.

“One of the lesser known tragedies of the ‘36 land swap is those trails went over to the park and those were village working trails,” Lunt said.

They’d be used to go to fish houses or other areas and were considered working trails.

“We’re not going to be able to recapture those trails,” he said. So, the question becomes how to arrange that people get to use those trails again in traditional ways while it is still maintained and owned by the park. To what degree can the town recapture use of those without recapturing ownership, he asked.

“It seemed like there was some forward momentum,” Martha Dudman said.

“It was a good meeting,” Lunt agreed. “We have a lot of work to do.”

OTHER BUSINESS

The selectboard’s agenda was brief, but still full. Deputy Town Clerk Jennifer Buchanan submitted her resignation effective December 20, 2024. It was accepted with regret by the board members.

The board appointed Adam Fraley as a per diem firefighter beginning November 5, 2024, at a starting pay of $25.97 an hour and Brian McLellan as full-time firefighter/EMT at the probationary base rate of $29.21 per hour, effective November 5, 2024.

Caroline Felkel was appointed as election clerk for the November 5, 2024 election.

The board finalized date(s) for third party funding presentations in February 2025. Some years there are almost 40 requests, but now there are usually 25 or 30 requests.

The Great Harbor Maritime Museum submitted a third party funding request. It has an operating budget of just over $32,000 and requested $5,800 for fiscal year 2024-2025. The funds provided by the towns are used to maintain and operate the public restrooms on the Main Street, Northeast Harbor site. It was suggested that they create a MOU about funding the bathrooms.

The board also authorized the public works superintendent to solicit competitive bids to equip a 2025 International cab and chassis with a new dump body and plowing equipment.

It also accepted a $20,000 conditional gift from the Community Development Corporation for expenses associated with the operation of the skating rink. It would be used to pay Peter Bronson, who acts as an independent contractor and would manage the rink and its programs.