Peacock Gifted by Councilors and Staff, Split Vote puts Friedmann in Vice Chair Seat
Bar Harbor's Short-Term Rentals Decrease
BAR HARBOR—In Bar Harbor last night, the Town Council swore in both Joe Minutolo and Gary Friedmann and elected a chair and vice chair. Friedmann is also the Democratic candidate for a house seat. The Council meets with the Planning Board on Thursday night to discuss a potential land use ordinance article dealing with cruise ships.
The Bar Harbor Town Council held its organizational meeting after presenting a gift to Council Chair Valerie Peacock.
Councilor Earl Brechlin led the surprise presentation, presenting a framed copy of an article Peacock had written for Maine Policy Review. He called Peacock “someone who has a very steady hand on the tiller.”
Finance Director Sarah Gilbert agreed, saying that Peacock led by example with grace, kindness, and intelligence.
“You do it all while maintaining your business, maintaining your family, and being a wonderful mom,” Gilbert said.
Police Chief David Kerns, Fire Chief Matthew Bartlett, Public Works Director Bethany Leavitt and Town Clerk Liz Graves also thanked Peacock.
“You’re well respected not just from the fire department but throughout the town,” Bartlett said.
Leavitt mentioned Peacock’s kindness.
“We really enjoyed getting to know and work with you, too. It’s been an honor,” said Town Clerk Liz Graves.
Later in the meeting, Peacock said she looks forward to working with everyone and feels optimistic and hopeful about the upcoming year.
Matthew Hochman nominated Peacock to be chair again this year. It passed unanimously.
Peacock then called for nominations for vice chair and after a bit of silence, Friedmann nominated himself for vice chair. Peacock then nominated Brechlin. The Councilors split 4-3 in favor of Friedmann continuing the position. There was no discussion. Peacock, Brechlin, and Kyle Shank voted in favor of Brechlin. Maya Caines, Joseph Minutolo, Friedmann and Hochman voted for Friedmann.
After a six-way race for two positions, Friedmann was just returned to his seat on Tuesday during the town elections as was Minutolo. Friedmann received 648 votes. Minutolo received 743. They had faced Michael Boland, Charles Sidman, Nina Barufaldi St.Germain, and Nathan Young.
He is also the Democratic candidate for the area’s State House District 14 seat. He ran unopposed for the state position in the primary. He will face Republican Sandra Gray of Lamoine.
The councilors unanimously chose Shank, Caines, and Brechlin to be on the town’s Appointments Committee, which interviews candidates for boards, committees, and task forces and brings its suggestions to the Council for appointment.
The representatives to a joint School Budget Advisory Committee was a bit of a slower process, with no immediate volunteers. The position has typically been a go-between for the two bodies and meant to help with the budget process. Each year, the school budget makes up a portion of the town’s overall tax burden, just as the county taxes, high school budget, and municipal budget do. Eventually, Shank and Hochman agreed to share the duties. Shank had volunteered for the position last year.
During Council comments, Brechlin said of the town meeting and town election. “We should see a lot of this as an endorsement of the path that we’re taking.”
Friedmann thanked everyone who worked on the land use articles. All four of the town’s land use amendments were the result of much work by the town’s planning and code enforcement departments, Planning Board and Design Review Board. Three of those amendments dealt with housing types and/or housing density.
“I think it’s going to make a difference,” he said. He also thanked people who had confidence in Minutolo and himself and returned them to their Council seats.
Minutolo agreed.
“It feels good that people have confidence in us,” he said and added that it was nice to see that the pathway forward that could be quite hostile was looking more palatable.
“Here we go again,” he said. “Another round.”
The council also went into executive session about pending litigation during the meeting. There was no action afterward.
SHORT TERM RENTAL DATA
On Wednesday morning, Bar Harbor released its short-term rental data for the 2023-2024 season with a quick comparison of the numbers for the past three years.
In 2021, Bar Harbor voters approved regulating short-term rentals (1260-840), putting the rentals in one of two categories. The first category is owner occupied. It has a minimum two-night stay. The second category is for dwellings that are not owner occupied. The minimum stay for those is four nights. Those rentals are also subject to inspections and yearly fees for the permits to rent to be valid. The same vote limited the total number of non-owner-occupied short-term rentals to 9 percent of Bar Harbor’s total housing stock. It also prohibited the transfer of licenses when the properties are transferred to new owners.
The town capped the amount of VR-2 rentals compared to housing stock at 9%. That number fluctuates slightly each year. In 2022 it was 302 dwelling units. In 2024, 9% is 318.
A VR-2 is defined by the town as “an entire dwelling unit that is not the primary residence of the property owner and is rented to a person or a group for less than 30 days and a minimum of 4 nights.”
A VR-1 is defined as “a dwelling unit, or portion thereof, that is the primary residence of the property owner or on the owner’s primary residence property and is rented to a person or a group for less than 30 days and a minimum of two nights. The rental of a portion of the dwelling, such as a bedroom, must be located in the principal structure housing the dwelling unit.
The total number of short-term rentals has decreased from 681 in 2022 to 634 in 2024. Of those, 470 are VR-2s. This is a decrease from 522 in 2022.
VR-1s are not subject to the cap. Those have increased over all for both renewals and new registrations, by five.
The town has denied 27 applications since 2022. It has conducted 928 inspections of short-term rental dwellings in that same time frame.
Deputy Code Enforcement Officer Mike Gurtler has been inspecting those properties in accordance with the town rules, going through the properties with homeowners. He went to about 15 homes on Friday, inspecting the home via the requirements set out in several chapters of the NFPA 101 Life Safety Code.
Two other Mount Desert Island towns—Mount Desert and Tremont—rejected short-term rental ordinances this spring. Kennebunkport just enacted its own regulations this week.
JOINT MEETING TONIGHT
As mentioned Monday, the Planning Board and Town Council will meet jointly tonight, Wednesday, beginning at 5 p.m. to discuss cruise ships. That meeting will be in suite 321, which is upstairs in the Bar Harbor Municipal Building on the third floor. The Design Review Board has a meeting in the Council Chambers beginning at 4. The workshop is not scheduled to be televised or on Zoom, but in person. The public can attend.
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