Town Council Officially Chooses 13-Member Sustainable Tourism Task Force
Council Honors Captain Jai Higgins, Talks About Village Green Gazebo Improvements
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by First National Bank.
BAR HARBOR—The Bar Harbor Town Council solidified the Sustainable Tourism Task Force during its Tuesday, April 15 meeting, voting in all 13 members appointed by the appointments committee, which is made up of three members of the seven-member town council.
The town council had approved the task force during its January 21 meeting.
Much like all committees in the town, people fill out an application to be on the task force and that application goes before the town’s appointments committee, which currently consists of Vice Chair Maya Caines, Earl Brechlin, and Meagan Kelly. During the April 15 meeting, Town Council Chair Valerie Peacock said that only other people who were interviewed by the committee can be nominated from the floor to replace another nominee.
“We were so impressed. We had 25 applicants” for the tourism committee, Brechlin said. He found it encouraging that there were so many people willing to serve.
“There’s a lot riding on it, but there’s also a lot of hope in this space,” Peacock said of the task force, which will look at sustainable tourism management in the town where tourists visit because of Acadia National Park. The park has been attracting 4 million visits (as opposed to individual visitors) each year.
However, the task force can not make policies for or control tourism in the federal park. The park exists in multiple towns on Mount Desert Island as well as the Schoodic Peninsula.
The Sustainable Tourism Management Task Force had 13 available seats. Enoch Albert, Pat Buccello, Christopher Cannon, Jeremy Dougherty, Jim Glavine, Vicki Hall, Alexa Kelly, John Kelly, Christine Kirk, Leila Long, David Woodside, and Katherine Zavestoski were all unanimously appointed.
Caines works at the College of the Atlantic and appointee Michael Boland is on the college’s board of trustees. It was moved that she did not have a conflict of interest after she explained that connection. She still abstained from voting on his nomination, the rest of the board voted in favor of Boland’s spot on the task force.
Those who were not appointed included Guy Dunphey, Bo Jennings, Peter Miano, Richard Osann, Catrina Spruce, Tom St.Germain, Caitlin Van Es, Katherine Wasserman, and Bryan Zavestoski.
“There’s no reason why we can’t figure out how to make this place be the place that we want it to be,” Peacock said. “We have a lot of resources and a lot of assets to work with.”
The town is also seeking proposals from firms to help develop the task force’s strategy. On its website, the town states that “as a premier destination, Bar Harbor is committed to balancing economic vitality with community well-being.”
Newly appointed Boland mentioned that the task force might need to be more of a continuing committee, though he personally doesn’t want to extend his service past 12 months.
"We’re not going to solve it all in a year. We’re always going to need sustainable tourism and a balance,” Boland said.
PLANNING BOARD AND CONSERVATION COMMISSION
Marc Jaffrey was initially the nominee for the planning board. However, during the Tuesday night meeting, he said he will be tied up in Ellsworth for work obligations that coincide with the planning board’s meeting dates until September, which he did not know previously. The seat is only for a few months, which is the remainder of that specific seat’s vacancy.
The council then nominated John Seavitt for the board instead. He was unanimously approved. Past Planning Board Chair Tom St.Germain had also applied for the seat.
David Kief and John Seavitt were both unanimously nominated to the vacancies on the Conservation Commission. They were the only applicants interviewed by the appointments committee.
VILLAGE GREEN GAZEBO
The council recognized fundraising efforts for replacing the gazebo on the village green, creating a reserve account for donated funds.
“We got big and we want to continue to grow,” Brian Booher, Bar Harbor Town Band director said of the request.
Board member Mary Ropp also represented the request for a larger gazebo to accommodate the growing band, which brings music to the green throughout the summer.
“I think this is a great idea,” Councilor Matt Hochman said. He added that he’d like to see more arts and entertainment on the green. “It’s a somewhat underutilized space.”
The band is multigenerational and the resolve received unanimous council support.
EXISTING CONDITIONS ANALYSIS FOR POTENTIAL WORKFORCE HOUSING
The town council unanimously accepted a grant for an existing conditions analysis for potential workforce housing development in Town Hill.
The 55.3-acre parcel of undeveloped land is managed by Acadia National Park and owned by the National Park Service. It’s located off the Crooked Road in Town Hill.
In 2022, the property was split with the purpose of providing affordable housing for the towns on Mount Desert Island. Acadia National Park can retain up to 15 acres of the site. Bar Harbor retains the rest.
“Mount Desert Island is one of the jewels of America, and as more people from around the world look to visit this natural wonder, we must make sure the island has enough affordable housing for the workers required to maintain this global attraction,” said National Parks Subcommittee Chairman Senator Angus King said at the time. “From the National Park to Bar Harbor businesses, every part of MDI’s economy is currently feeling the squeeze of a significant affordable worker housing shortage – causing businesses to run limited hours, or even shut their doors completely. This bipartisan bill will directly address the housing crisis facing the community and create more year-round and seasonal staff housing for both the park and the island’s towns. Along with helping businesses hire and retain workers, it will give more of the Island’s people the ability to live and work in the place they love. New affordable housing is one of the most meaningful investments we can make in the success of the region, and I’m grateful for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s overwhelming support of this legislation – it’s a testament to value of MDI and the importance of the effort.”
“The dedicated staff who work at Acadia National Park and in the hospitality industry in the surrounding towns make it possible for millions of visitors to enjoy the stunning natural beauty of Mount Desert Island each year. Unfortunately, a lack of affordable housing has contributed to workforce shortages and created significant hardships for employees who need to live nearby,” Senator Susan Collins had said. “I am pleased that the committee has advanced this important legislation, which would expand the supply of much-needed workforce housing on MDI, helping to ensure that employees have an affordable place to live and strengthening the economy in the region.”
There has already been a boundary survey, wetland analysis, vernal pool analysis, and right-of-way access point recommendations.
The next steps are choosing that right of way to the property as well as depicting existing conditions and determining which areas might be suitable for housing and determining how to divide the parcel. The cost of that is estimated to be just under $70,000. The town has already received a $50,000 Housing Opportunity Program grant from Maine. Friends of Acadia on behalf of the NPS will donate $18,900. The council authorized the acceptance of that FOA contribution as well as the use of $900 from the town’s capital improvement money for Town Hill housing.
156 MAIN STREET
Cody Gordon, the owner of Leary’s Landing had asked to extend the one-year lease extension for the public space at 156 Main Street. It allows the restaurant to use some of the area in front of the building for dining.
“In the past I’ve voted against this,” Peacock said. Now, she said, she’s voting for it and thinking about things like this in terms of future streetscape changes.
It was unanimously approved.
RECOGNIZED JAI HIGGINS
Town Clerk Liz Graves read a resolve to recognize firefighter Jai Higgins who had served in the department for 33 years and announced his retirement in February.
“He’s been very supportive and he cares about this community a lot,” Fire Chief Matt Bartlett said of Captain Higgins and said that what he brought to the table will be hard to replace. “He was somebody you could always depend on.”
Captain Higgins took many full-time and volunteer firefighters under his wing during his decades in the department, which he said seemed a natural fit.
“I took an EMT class one winter because I didn’t have anything to do,” Captain Higgins said back in February. “Emergency services was where I wanted to be. It was kind of a follow-up from serving in the Navy.”
He said he was lost for a couple years in his youth, but then he settled down, found the fire department and raised his family with Lynn Kenison-Higgins in the town he was born in, that he grew up in, that he loves.
“It was back in the days of when you knew everybody. I’ve seen a lot of dynamic change in the town. It’s not that the people don’t appreciate the service, but when I first started we were going out to help people that we knew,” he said.
Being a firefighter in a town on this island was always more than fighting fires to him, he said. It was also about taking care of everyone. He can remember shoveling people’s back doors for them so that they could get out of their houses. They were people he knew all his growing up.
“Thirty-three years is a lot of time to give to the town of Bar Harbor,” Peacock said and added that Captain Higgins was one of the most kind and friendly people in the community.
Disclosure: I was briefly an on-call firefighter for Bar Harbor.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Our earlier story about Captain Higgins is below.
Strategy 1: Address the Immediate Needs of the Moratorium: Manage Lodging Uses
Moratorium Ordinance Language (uploaded 03.28.2025)
Data collection overview and roadmap (uploaded 02.18.2025)
Workshop #2 (March 27, 2025) Meeting recording (uploaded 04.09.2025)
MDI Historical Society presentation starts at: 04:50
Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce presentation starts at: 31:17
Workshop #2: Staff Discussion Guidance Slides (uploaded 03.27.2025)
Workshop #2: MDI Historical Society Presentation (uploaded 03.28.2025)
Workshop #2: Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce Presentation (Trends in Tourism Economy) (uploaded 03.27.2025)
Maine Office of Tourism 2023 Economic Impact & Visitor Tracking Report (uploaded 03.28.2025)
Maine Office of Tourism Downeast & Acadia 2023 Economic Impact & Visitor Tracking Report (uploaded 03.28.2025)
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