Updated: Three-Story Inn Proposal Worries Bar Harbor School Committee
New School Construction Continues
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BAR HARBOR—A proposed lodging that would hover near the new Conners Emerson school prompted concerns amongst the Bar Harbor School Committee.
Stephen Coston, who will be represented by Tom St.Germain at the Bar Harbor Planning Board, has taken out an application for the Inn at Eden Street, which would be located at 40 Eden Street for a multi-storied 25-room inn on a small parcel of land that directly abuts the Conners-Emerson School. Earlier this year, Coston donated $100,000 to the school’s construction.
The potential construction of a lodging on Eden Street on property that abuts the Conners Emerson School has inspired the school to ask for a quick rendering to understand the visual and security implications. That rendering, created by Harriman Associates, the engineering firm that designed the new school, did not allay any worries with many committee members asking about the footage separating the proposed building and playground. There is a ten-foot setback from the property line for the hotel, but the members wanted exact numbers.
“It’s not very far,” Vice Chair Marie Yarborough said of the distance as the group looked over the renderings that School Superintendent Michael Zboray passed out.
“There would be three floors looking out over the school,” Zboray said.
One level would be at basically the same grade as the playground. Two would be above the playground level. Committee member Misha Mytar wondered if it mattered if it was balconies or just windows making that visual connection between the sites.
“Three full stories of hotel rooms would be visible to the playground,” Mytar said.
Yarborough asked when was the school notified that there was a building project next door. Zboray said he got a note from people in the community.
“Nobody reached out,” Zboray said.
“No heads up was given by anybody involved in the project?” Yarborough asked and was there no representative of the project that had reached out to the school, she wondered.
They had not, Zboray said.
Coston said on Tuesday that he’d assumed the school would have been notified because it is an abutter.
“I am entirely willing to meet with the school board and to my knowledge, I was not invited to their meeting,” he said.
Discussion of the project was not on the posted agenda for the school board meeting and was added on later.
The school committee members’ concerns were echoed in public comment about the proposal.
In written comment to the town’s planning board, Jennifer Trowbridge wrote, “I am concerned about the significant detriment to health, safety, and general welfare of students that this project will create, particularly with the building being very close to the property line, the lack of secure/privacy fencing separating that property from the school, and the accessible veranda/patios that will directly rise above the school playground. Common sense considerations for approval of this project would be increased setbacks, orientation of the building in such a fashion that all entries/exits are easily observed from the street, and installation of tall, secure privacy fencing to ensure that guests are not able to access school property.”
At the school committee meeting, Bob Chaplin said that the school committee should challenge the construction of the Inn at 40 Eden. Mytar said, and Yarborough and many of the others agreed, that they wanted to know more about the process and parameters of the decision as well as what the school committee can and can’t object to under the rules of the land use ordinance and the planning board.
Those attending said that the project is expected to have a completeness review on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, a first public step before a project’s approval or disapproval. The agenda for that planning board meeting has not yet been released.
“I think we need to be very vigilant,” Yarborough said.
School Chair Lilea Simis suggested that they speak with Coston, the developer, about their concerns.
Coston’s company, Stay Bar Harbor, currently operates 395 rooms, all in Bar Harbor with the exception of one property, Cedar Crest Inn, in Camden. Those numbers do not include rooms at the nearby Pathmaker Hotel, which is on Cottage Street, which Coston is a partner in, and had caused controversy because it was approved under the town’s definition of a bed and breakfast, but is large and feels more like a hotel.
Mytar said the traffic issues are relevant specifically for Conners Emerson as a school and something that they should learn about. The students are already in a construction zone during the school build and she also wondered about the cumulative impact of another construction project and what the timing for the hotel project would be.
The project is expected to generate 200 one-way trips (100 roundtrips) daily. Under Bar Harbor ordinance, this is enough to trigger a traffic impact analysis.
The traffic report from Sewall, the consulting firm hired by Coston states, “The inn will generate from 13 to 18 one-way trips in peak hours. These trip levels would not be expected to have any significant impact off-site on traffic operations. Typically, there is no significant traffic operational impact unless a project generates more than 25 lane-hour trips. The maximum number of new lane-hour trips generated by the inn will be six (arrivals during the peak hour).”
Perhaps, Yarborough said, they should build a moat around the school.
Mytar said it would be important to have discussion prior to the public hearing on the process.
Since the school is an abutter, the school committee members could go to planning board meetings to talk as a unified body about its concerns. On December 2, the school committee members will discuss this again at their own meeting. This is after when they believe the completeness review will occur.
“What do we do with this?” Yarborough asked. “One of the concerns for our school is school safety. We are very direct and thoughtful in how this school was designed to ensure very standardized safety mechanisms are in place on site.”
She’s concerned that the multi-story inn overlooking a playground would impinge on those standardized safety mechanisms.
In a letter to the planning board, Beth Dumont, a parent of three students agreed, writing, “For many municipalities in our state, registered sex offenders cannot reside within 750 feet of a school. The new property will fall entirely within this radius.”
She added, “I am extremely uncomfortable with the idea that unvetted strangers could have a vantage point to watch and study my children at play. Current statistics reveal that one in ~330 individuals in the US is a registered sex offender, making it all but inevitable that future guests of 40 Eden will include offenders. Common sense would dictate that the 750-feet residency rule for registered sex offenders also apply to short-term lodging.”
Dumont also worried about the impact of construction on outdoor play and disruption to traffic patterns and learning.
Yarborough said that she would guess that if there were a three-story inn on the property when the plans were made, “there is no way we’d be building this building the way we’ve built it to have children exposed . . . in a million years.” Yarborough added, “The timing of this is very challenging for that exact reason.”
The town is currently bringing the language of lodging categories (transient accommodations) before a vote today. The definitions require changes to the town’s land use ordinance. The town council is likely also discussing a potential moratorium on transient accommodations at its next meeting on November 19.
When people visit Bar Harbor and stay overnight, they stay in what the town calls transient accommodations (TA). Those include rooms in hotels and motels and bed and breakfasts. They also include campsites and RV sites. Short-term rentals in houses are a different category than rooms rented in hotels, motels, and bed and breakfasts. Short-term rentals that are not owner-occupied are capped in Bar Harbor.
In the meantime, construction on the new school continues. Bar Harbor voters approved a $58 million bond for its construction in June 2023. The bond passed 1,005 to 502.
The ailing schools were built in the 1950s and support the town’s K-8 population. Broken boilers, rain inundation, a wall pulling away from the foundation, poor air exchanges, limited classroom space, and a lack of insulation are just some of the buildings’ recent problems.
At the time, former Conners Emerson School Committee member Robin Sue Tapley said, “We are literally sinking, collapsing, caving in, whatever you want to call it. This building will not be safe forever, whether it’s ceiling tiles coming down, air quality, walls coming out.”
Zboray has been interviewing clerk of the works candidates from Lamoine and Bar Harbor. Whoever is hired will work with Scott Watson. An offer will go out soon with the potential of starting in two weeks. They’ll report to Harriman and also come to a building committee meeting.
The superintendent is also meeting a representative from the College of the Atlantic and Watson to talk about geothermal funds and a community energy grant that the school could potential partner with. The school is also applying for an Efficiency Maine grant that could bring $200,000 toward a geothermal system for the new school.
As the school undergoes construction, the staff is making a calendar of open classrooms for grades 3 and 4 to use if it is noisy in their corner of the school.
“It seems like there are some pockets of noise,” Principal Dr. Heather Weir Webster said and it tends to be later in the day. The construction company is mindful of that, she said.
That company, Wright Ryan, has finished with adding fill to the staging area where the Connors Castle used to be. That area will house supplies and equipment. Finishing touches on the water and sewer connections will happen as will drilling and blasting.
“Hopefully, they don't find too much ledge and this phase of construction will be quick,” Dr. Weir Webster said in her principal’s report. “As soon as drilling and blasting are complete, the foundation work will start.”
The construction of a new school is occurring during the school year, which requires staff and students and families to accommodate those changes.
“We are working on bringing joy (or keeping joy) in the school during construction,” Dr. Webster said.
She and Vice Principal Michael Fournier did a “coffee cart” for teachers one morning during parent-teacher conferences.
The school is working with Wright Ryan on parking, deliveries, and safety on campus. It is also working on improving the new playground area.
“Gaga ball is very popular, so we are looking at improving the existing site where it is located and perhaps putting in a more permanent pit,” she said.
She will meet with the construction company on Tuesday, which she does every two weeks.
This story was updated to include comments from Stephen Coston and a paragraph about the agenda. It was also clarified via a sentence about parameters, which had originally been mentioned by Misha Mytar. And thanks to my inability to read a calendar (and to Jim for pointing it out), I’ve tweaked the Town Council meeting date. It is November 19, not the 17.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
TO DONATE TO THE SCHOOL REBUILD PROJECT
If you would like to support the school rebuild, you can write a check payable to the Town of Bar Harbor and mail it to Sarah Gilbert, Treasurer, 93 Cottage Street, Bar Harbor, ME 04609
Questions can be sent to Gilbert here.
Questions can also be sent to Simis here.
MATERIAL ABOUT THE INN AT 40 EDEN
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I think the next Town Council meeting is November 19th, NOT the 17th.
These were my main concerns when I first heard about the building. Just the blocking of light to that side of the school buildings will be horrible... it's already dark out.. how will air quality and light affect the playground and ground. And likewise, what will kids be seeing? The play area will be in what will end up being an alleyway. It's just really sad that his eye for development is for more transient accommodations instead of affordable housing.