BREAKING NEWS: Southwest Harbor select chair resigns after contentious meetings on harbor, Chris's Pond ...
SOUTHWEST HARBOR, May 12, 2021 - Kristin Hutchins resigned Tuesday night from the Board of Selectmen after proposals for upgrading the launch area of the town harbor and building out facilities for a popular local skating pond were both rejected within a 24-hour period.
Hutchins was terming out as the chair of the board at the end of June, but decided to resign Tuesday after a contentious meeting where the board rejected by a 3-2 vote a proposal to build parking and housing at Chris’s Pond, where generations of SWH residents have skated in winter.
On Monday night the Harbor Commission replaced Anne Napier with member Nicholas Madeira as chair and rejected by 5-3 vote Napier’s recommendation to use land purchased by the town in 2017 next to the boat launch for recreational purposes.
“I’m terribly saddened that we can’t make decisions in this town,” said select board member Carolyn Ball, who presented the proposal for the Chris’s Pond project.
QSJ will have a fuller report later this week.