BREAKING NEWS: Lead citizens petitioner says cruise ship violations could result in $4 million in fines for May, June, July in 2023
BAR HARBOR, May 1, 2023 - Charles Sidman, the lead petitioner in the successful citizens referendum which capped cruise ship visitation, served notice on the Town Council today that its “flagrantly illegal” acceptance of cruise ship landings in 2023 overlooked about $4 million in fines for allowing passengers to disembark on town property.
The ordinance overwhelmingly adopted by voters specified that any property owner exceeding its 1,000-per-day limit must pay a $100 per person fine. Ocean Properties, the largest hotelier in town and owner of the only passenger tender service, was Sidman’s target.
In an email to council members, Sidman stated, “I attach an annotated version of the Harbor Master's current (as of 4/26/23) schedule of "accepted" ship visits, showing for May, June and July (i.e. the first three months of the season, before the lawsuit is likely to be adjudicated) those ships that were grandfathered by the initiative as of its filing on 3/17/22, and those that were not (according to the evidence of multiple documents.) “
Here is his document.
A federal judge is scheduled to weigh in on this, as a result of a lawsuit brought by Ocean Properties and other tourism businesses to reverse the ordinance enacted by the citizens. A trial is slated to begin in June.
Saturday, the QSJ published this article on how the former town manager accepted cruise ship landings in bulk the day before the citizens vote and how he allowed visits by ships exceeding even his own stated limits.
“Notwithstanding whatever the judge decides about numerical limitations, the Initiative's registration and permitting requirements make any excess or non-permitted disembarkations from non-grandfathered ships subject to a specified $100 minimum fine per person, that must be assessed to the disembarkation site's owner,” Sidman stated, referring to Ocean Properties.
“As shown on the attached schedule, non-grandfathered disembarkations scheduled for May, June and July could incur penalties of up to $1.7M, $1.2M and $1.1M, respectively, for a total of approximately $4M for these three months.
“The Council's negligent, enabling and even scofflaw behavior regarding Initiative implementation and enforcement thus continues to make the situation even worse, and subject to future Town Council remediation. We the citizens are watching carefully, and the industry and town decided to proceed as they have with clear notice of the risks being incurred.”
Sidman is a candidate for Town Council. Election day is June 13.
The Town of Bar Harbor does not belong to members of the Town Council, it belongs to the residents and they have spoken. It is incumbent upon the Council to abide by the decisions of the residents. I hope the judge agrees.
Millions more should be assessed for their flagrantly ignoring our request to stop emitting extreme levels of Group 1 poisonous shipping fuel chemicals through town. They never turned off their tenders as required and agreed upon in writing. Instead they now also use OP’s new tenders that must have their engines revved up in order to stay pinned safely to the dock.