Planning Board Presses Forward with Lodging Moratorium Review, Cottage Street Gas Station Proposal Will Return
Also begins review of potential land use amendments for Nov. election
BAR HARBOR—Earlier this year, the town council passed a moratorium that pauses the construction of new lodgings and enlargement of others and since then, the planning board and staff have been working on gathering data to help inform decisions and understand the situation of lodging in Bar Harbor.
The moratorium applies in all districts in Bar Harbor.
This most recent effort was brought forward by former Town Council Vice Chair and newly elected State Representative Gary Friedmann in November. That 60-day emergency moratorium was renewed and set to expire in March. The language of the moratorium speaks to infrastructure pressure that it says comes from lodging. Since then, the planning board and staff have held workshops to delve into the pressures, gather data, hear data, and be presented with reports.
According to Bar Harbor Staff Planner Hailey Bondy, during the May 7 planning board meeting, the town is in the process of updating its broadcasting equipment. It has lost the recording of the last planning board workshop about the moratorium which involved presentations from the town’s fire and police chiefs. The planning department plans to rerecord that panel section so that the public can have access to the chiefs’ thoughts, she said.
A public works report related to the moratorium will likely be in a workshop for the planning board in early June.
“We’re still working diligently on data collection,” Bondy said.
“How’s that coming?” Dority asked.
“It’s very slow, but it’s coming,” Bondy said, noting that while initial data collection tends to be speedy, that the data and its analysis tends to become more complicated and a slower process the deeper into that data people go.
COTTAGE STREET GAS STATION
The application for a gas station at 88 Cottage Street will return to the Bar Harbor Planning Board at its June meeting after representatives presented to the board, May 7.
The application was found incomplete at the May meeting because it needed capacity letters from town staff, which is not unusual. A public hearing on the project will be on June 4. That meeting will begin at 4 p.m. At the next meeting, the completeness review, a public hearing, and compliance review will occur.
“We’re hoping for an approval for June 4 because we’re no longer pumping oil,” a representative of the company said.
The project is by Tropic Star Development LLC, out of New Hampshire, and the owner is Cobalt Properties LLC out of Calais. The goal is to redevelop the existing Irving fueling station and convenience store on the .51 acre-parcel across from Machias Savings Bank.
Application (submitted 4/10/2025)
Application Plans and Drawings (submitted 4/10/2025)
Revised Project Narrative (submitted 4/22/2025)
Project Experience Memo (submitted 4/22/2025)
Revised Plans (submitted 4/22/2025)
HARBOR COVE MINOR SUBDIVISION MODIFICATION
The project shifts a building envelope to ensure that an already poured foundation is within compliance, Bondy said.
The board endorsed the planning director’s decision to allow it.
NATURE’S GIFT MINOR SUBDIVISION MODIFICATION
Pam Gleichman of Bar Harbor wanted to amend the subdivision’s site plan for one lot to allow an easement for another lot and require a quiet zone in two parcels. The location of the subdivision is 115 State Highway 3. It was approved.
POTENTIAL ORDINANCE DISCUSSIONS
The planning board and staff also talked about multiple potential land use amendments during the meeting. The language for those proposed amendments was not included in the packet, but are included in the packet for the Monday, May 19 workshop. These are not the ordinances up for a vote this June, but could be in November.
Those potential amendments include two-family capacity letters, subdivisions, campgrounds, and shoreland zoning. At the June 4 meeting, the board will decide to schedule it for a public hearing.
The first would align two-family with other definitions. The way that it is currently written makes it unclear if a duplex is allowed.
The capacity letter came up when staff was discussing what was working in the process. It would move the requirement of capacity statements from one portion of the ordinance to another. This will also give department heads more time to think about the project, staff said, and allows for easier tracking of the progress.
The possible subdivision changes are about the differences between subdivision reviews and site plan reviews. The intent is to streamline the provision of site plan reviews by appealing some articles and replacing them with more streamlined language and other changes. Planning Director Michele Gagnon will bring those changes back to the board again.
What was important to Gagnon, she said was to not lose what the town’s process has been before, but to find a better way to format and a cleaner process.
The proposed amendments related to the campground is related to the language. Then in the fall, they’ll get thoughts from the public about alternative housing, RV, and campsites.
The proposed amendments applies to campgrounds, not individual campsites, said Code Enforcement Officer Mike Gurtler. It defines land area required and instead of having two definitions of campground, there will be just one.
“It’s pretty straightforward,” Gurtler said.
The state has adopted a shoreland zoning act and town’s typically use those state regulations as an overlay, Gurtler said. In Bar Harbor the state shoreland regulations are dispersed through the town’s land use ordinance.
“There’s about forty different spots” where shoreland regulations are interspersed, he said. “They’re all over the place.”
The state regulations have changed in ways the land use ordinance has not and the staff decided to focus on what needs to be added to bring the town into compliance with the state regulations.
BEFORE THE DESIGN REVIEW BOARD
8 COTTAGE STREET
Diwas Thapa came before the design review board May 8 for changes to the facade of his property at 8 Cottage Street. Both sides of the front door have two large windows with permanent glass. They want to replace that with sliding glass doors so that they can be opened in summer.
8 Cottage Street was last the location of Merchant & Frye will now be home to Jeannie’s Great Maine Breakfast, which is no longer run by the Saunders family from Ellsworth.
ONLINE PORTAL
The website has been updated with a link posted to the application portal for the design review board. People can now pay for their applications online.
Bo Jennings suggested cleaning up some of the language and removing language about COVID-19 and the board conducting business only remotely.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
TO WATCH THE PLANNING BOARD MEETING (It is a 24-hour recording, the meeting is in the first 90 minutes).
TO WATCH THE DESIGN REVIEW BOARD MEETING
The next planning board meeting is Monday, May 19 at 1 p.m. at Bar Harbor Municipal Offices on Cottage Street. People not on the board or on town staff (the public) can attend any meeting. Many are also televised on Zoom.
Click this link to access information on projects previously reviewed by the Planning Board. This project archive dates back to 2021, if you would like information on projects before 2021, contact the Planning Office at 288-3329. Many are also streamed here.
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