Parks and Recreation Discuss Town's Storm Damage and if a Sauna Business Can Spend Time on Hadley Beach
Federal Funds Unlikely for Shore Path Repairs
BAR HARBOR—Dealing with storm damage to town properties and understanding if a traveling sauna can set up business at the town-owned Hadley Beach filled Monday night’s Parks and Recreation Committee meeting.
The meeting also included updates on pending repairs of different sections of the Shore Path from Director of Public Works Bethany Leavitt and committee Secretary Jeff Dobbs. During her public works update, Leavitt spoke about the town-owned portion of the Shore Path, which is the Grant Park stretch between the Bar Harbor Inn and the Balance Rock Inn properties, and the damage caused by the storms of January 10 and January 13.
Leavitt said that the town is working with a contractor to get detailed pricing on the necessary repairs at Grant Park. The pricing will include not only the storm-damage repairs, but also repairing any damage to the park caused by the movement of the heavy equipment needed to make those storm-related repairs.
Hancock County met the damage threshold to request federal monies through FEMA Leavitt said. However, as far as Grant Park is concerned, the town is lacking those detailed prices that are required by FEMA to request any money. The town also has insurance and FEMA will not pay for anything that the insurance carrier will pay for, therefore, once they have the cost estimates, that has to be looked into and worked out.
They are hoping to get repairs to Grant Park completed by tourist season.
Committee member Ann Tikkanen asked if all of the money has to be in place and accounted for before repair work can be done.
Leavitt responded that unless the town has enough money to cover the costs somewhere in the current budget then yes, the town would need to know where the money is coming from.
Dobbs offered a brief update from the Village Improvement Association’s (VIA) point of view. The VIA has hired a contractor, Harold MacQuinn, to estimate the cost from the edge of Grant Park to the end of the Shore Path, which the VIA manages for private property owners who have chosen to make the path public. MacQuinns is in the process of estimating costs and then separating them out by individual property parcels and then the overall VIA portion. It is a large undertaking because of the number of individually owned parcels of land and having to get permitting for each parcel.
Historically, the VIA has paid for all repairs of all of the Shore Path with the exception of the Bar Harbor Inn, and Dobbs said that it is his understanding that David Witham has already set the repairs for that property in motion and Witham is close to getting started on the repair work along the Bar Harbor Inn’s stretch of path.
Most of the damage was done to the VIA’s section of the Shore Path. Dobbs said during repairs, the organization wants to make the wall taller and raise the path and that as of Monday morning, he had learned that the latest estimate for the VIA’s portion of the work is well over $500,000.
Dobbs finished off his Shore Path update by saying that Fire Chief Matt Bartlett had told him that no funds would be available to the VIA from the federal government. Leavitt concurred with Dobbs by saying that she spoke with representatives from Senator Susan Collins’ and Senator Angus King’s offices and they said that federal funds would probably not be applicable to the VIA repairs but that the VIA should try anyway.
TOWN PIER
Leavitt said that a visual inspection of the town pier had been conducted and while there was some evident settling below grade, there did not appear to be anything too significant. They will be performing noninvasive below surface testing, such as a ground penetrating radar inspection, to look for voids this week.
HADLEY POINT LANDING
During the December 18 meeting of the Parks and Recreation Committee, the committee members discussed commercial uses at Hadley Point Beach.
The issue had apparently been brought about by the owner of a mobile sauna company inquiring as to whether they could set their sauna up on the beach and use it at that location for customers. This prompted much discussion about what types of commercial usage were allowed at town-owned parks and/or properties.
Since that meeting, Leavitt was going to discuss the issue with the town attorney but first mentioned it to Town Manager James Smith. According to Leavitt, Smith said that the sauna would not be allowed because they are conducting business on the actual property rather than just using it as a transition point for business that is conducted elsewhere. Examples of these transitional commercial uses would be the launching of kayaks for paid excursions, the launching of commercial fishing boats, and the loading or offloading of fishing related gear or product. Â
Hadley Point Landing is the only public boat ramp in Bar Harbor on the east side of Thompson’s Island other than the boat ramp at the town pier downtown.
PARK USE PERMITS
Monday night’s meeting of the Parks and Recreation Committee also saw 11 park use permit requests approved with only two of the voting committee members present. Two members, Chair John Kelly and Erin Cough had excused absences. Tikkanen can’t vote because she is not a Bar Harbor resident. She represents the MDI YMCA on the committee.
The requested permits are below. All, except one, were approved by the process of committee Vice Chair Greg Veilleux making a motion and Dobbs seconding. Veilleux and Dobbs then both voted yes to each motion.
The only permit that was not approved on Monday night was the Criterion Theatre’s application to hold a holiday event on Friday, December 13. This application was tabled until the next meeting because it had been changed from a minor event request last year to a major event request this year and there was no representation from the Criterion at the meeting to discuss the changes.
Request from the U.S. Navy Band Country Current Ensemble to Hold a Premier Bluegrass/Country Music Concert on the Village Green from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 28, 2024.
Request from the Bar Harbor (MDI) Rotary Club to Hold the Annual Pancake Breakfast and Seafood Festival 2024 on the Athletic Field from 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, to 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 4, 2024 (Rain Dates July 4-5, 2024).
Request from the MDI YMCA to Hold the Annual Acadia Half-Marathon and 10K Race on the Athletic Field from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, June 2, 2024.
Request from the MDI YMCA to Hold the Annual Bar Harbor Bank and Trust Half- Marathon and 5K Race on the Athletic Field from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 14, 2024.
Request from the YWCA MDI to Hold the Annual Island Artists Spring Fair in the Park on the Village Green from 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 25, 2024, to 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 26, 2024.
Request from the YWCA MDI to Hold the Annual Island Artists Labor Day Fair in the Park on the Village Green from 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 31, 2024, to 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 1, 2024.
Request from the YWCA MDI to Hold the Annual Carol Dyer Memorial Luminaria Evening on the Village Green from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 10, 2024 (Rain Date of Saturday, August 17, 2024).
Request from the Criterion Theatre to Hold a Holiday Event 2024 on the Village Green from 12 noon to 9:00 p.m. on Friday, December 13, 2024.
Request from the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce to Hold a Memorial Day Observance Ceremony on the Village Green from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Monday, May 27, 2024.
Request from the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce to Hold its Annual Art in the Park on the Village Green from 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 15, 2024, to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 16, 2024.
Request from the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce to Hold its Annual Seaside Cinema Series 2024 on Agamont Park from 6:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on Wednesdays [July 17, 24, 31; August 7, 14, 21 (Rain Date of August 28, 2024)].
Request from the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce to Hold its Annual Village Holidays 2024 on the Village Green from 3:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Friday, December 6, 2024.
The next meeting of the Parks and Recreation Committee is scheduled for March 4. The normal meeting time is 4:30 p.m. and the meeting is usually held in the council chambers in the municipal building on Cottage Street.