NORTHEAST HARBOR - The line in the sand couldn’t have been clearer, as seven summer residents made good their threat and sued the town for approving six units of “workforce” housing at Heel Way in the village, saying the project is too dense for the lot.
Even before the Planning Board had officially signed the papers Wednesday night, those “neighbors” couldn’t wait. They brought their appeal to Superior Court the day before Thanksgiving - exactly 30 days after the PB approved the project by voice vote.
But the court filing contained an unexpected detour. The plaintiffs wanted the court to give the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals an opportunity to overturn the PB decision even though the subdivision ordinance provides for appeals to go directly to Superior Court, a departure from the regular route through the ZBA for non-subdivision decisions.
Renderings of the proposed project at Manchester and Neighborhood roads
If the plaintiffs were seeking to prolong the legal fight by using its substantial financial muscle to tie up the case in appeals, then the ZBA was a logical next step.
The appeals board has been under stress for many years, from a period when it couldn’t muster a quorum for meetings to health issues afflicting some members.
The seven-member board, which meets only when there are appeals, often would have only four present.
The Planning Board, which meets regularly, spent seven months of detailed excavation of the facts after Mount Desert 365, the project developer, formerly filed its application in the spring. Even before that filing, it had sought guidance from the board going back as early as the summer of 2022.
If the court approves ZBA review, it could add a year before the case then goes back to Superior Court and onto Maine’s Supreme Court, which unlike other such top courts, has no discretion on appeals and must accept every one. So make that a three-year process. Add two years for construction, and we’re looking at 2029 at the earliest before a single family occupies the Heel Way condos.
(Building affordable housing is challenging, as the Wall Street Journal reported last week on how one 49-unit project in Los Angeles is taking 17 years.)
The QSJ wrote this article Oct. 25 on how the fight in Hall Quarry to prevent the restart of the commercial stone cutting operation there is entering its ninth year.
A second factor for a ZBA review could be that the plaintiffs believe they have some sympathetic ears on the ZBA.
After all, the billionaire Rales Brothers, principal financiers of MD 365, haven’t been social wallflowers, especially Mitchell Rales, the noisier of the two.
In 2015 he sued descendants of Charles Eliot, one of the founders of Acadia National Park, and other neighboring property owners to bar them from using the beach and wharf on his property in Northeast Harbor.
Mitchell Rales is in the process of demolishing the late David Rockefeller mansion in Seal Harbor and replacing it with a compound of four buildings. That earned him this spotlight feature in the Bangor Daily News.
Someone will come along one day and unpack the fascinating pathology of Northeast Harbor with its decades-old, uneasy comity between the seasonal denizens and year-round folks.
But naked display of wealth has never been part of its thing. The same behavior in Washington, Philadelphia or New York may be de rigueur. But not here in Northeast Harbor where Brooke Astor was appalled by the show-offy July 4 fireworks by her neighbor Bill Stewart.
That’s why the Heel Way project is such a remarkable deus ex machina in a community with a history of suppressed animus and manageable tension in sotto voce which now has ruptured into an open wound. People are taking sides openly.
The manager for the Summer Residents Association, Tracey Aberman, who literally caters to the summer crowd with her business at 123 Main Street, lamented at a Planning Board meeting in March that this has turned into a summer residents versus year-round residents imbroglio.
“I feel like there's a lot of hot button sort of terms that gets thrown around to make summer residents whose town this is also seem like if you don't support this project, you don't support workforce housing,” she said.
Aberman said some folks are “spinning” the idea that Northeast Harbor “was dying” in the winter.
“I don't think that's the case anymore,” she said on Zoom from her winter residence. She runs a restaurant on Main Street which is open only in the summer.
I drove through Northeast Harbor last week. Tracey Aberman’s business was closed as was most of Main Street. I bought a cup of coffee at McGrath’s, walked into the Pine Street Market, froze at the sticker shock, and escaped to my favorite store, Brown’s Hardware. I admired its rearrangement which made it seem more quaint and authentic as a New England general store. I walked out into the December chill, breathed deeply to enjoy its fresh, unencumbered air and ended my trek at the Nor’Easter Lobster Pound, where I feasted on clams.
Except for the restaurant, I was the only patron in all the other shops.
The village may not be dying, but it is certainly comatose in December.
That was not the case in 1984, when I first visited and got a $5 haircut, and the enrollment at the school was 300. It is now around 130. To me, school enrollment is the best indicator of a healthy community.
The Rales brothers were alarmed at this trend.
They created Mount Desert 365 to expand “sustainable year-round residential communities and economic revitalization of commercial districts” whose mission was to embrace the town’s Comprehensive Plan, with greatest emphasis on the first three:
Population: To encourage growth in our year-round community thatu supports prosperity and sustainability.
Economy: To expand the local year-round economy to enhance the quality of life for Mount Desert’s citizens, seasonal residents, and visitors.
Housing: To promote a pattern of residential growth that sustains all aspects of our community and that is affordable for year-round residents.
What’s remarkable about the Heel Way project is the creativity behind the creation of much need workforce housing for six families on one acre in the village and the extent to which seven neighbors who spend only a few summer months here are willing to choke off this year-round oxygen for the community. Double click ro view the following previews.
FOOTNOTE: Here is the court appeal filed by attorney Grady Burns of the law firm of Skelton, Taintor and Abbott, on behalf of these plaintiffs:
Joseph Ryerson of Dedham, Mass., who lives at 3 Manchester Road, Northeast Harbor in the summer with his wife.
Lamont B. P. Harris of West Palm Beach, whose summer residence is 14 Smallidge Pouint Road, Northeast Harbor.
Stuart Janney of New York City, whose summer residence is 37 Smallidge Point Road, Northeast Harbor. He was the owner of Orb, which won the Kentucky Derby 10 years ago.
Marc and Ann Cannon of St. Petersburg, whose summer residence is 35 Neighborhood Road.
Melissa Canon Guzy of Boca Raton, whose summer residence is 5 Graves Lane, Northeast Harbor.
Lynne Wheat of Palm Beach whose summer residence is 5 Smallidge Point Road, Northeast Harbor.
Southwest Harbor shaken by closing of MDI Lobster, Sawyer’s Market
SOUTHWEST HARBOR - Two landmark businesses closed permanently in recent weeks.
MDI Lobster Co., the principal commercial wharf in the state’s seventh top-grossing harbor, left local fishers with fewer buying options which could lead to lower prices.
The closure was first disclosed Tuesday night at the select board meeting.
The wharf served area fishers from multiple ports, not just Southwest Harbor. “MDI has had a lot of lobsters and it's gonna affect a lot of fishermen,” said fisherman John Stanley, who is a member of the town’s harbor committee.
“They paid all fishermen last week, so that ended okay. But it's going to hurt the harbor because it does away with some of the competition for a better price.”
Stanley also worried that an already over-taxed town dock in Manset is going to feel even more pressure, as fishers sell their catch to wholesale trucks which park in a tight space.
He said while Beal’s Lobster Pound has a commercial business, its primary focus is its popular restaurant.
It was unclear whether the restaurant on the MDI Lobster site also closed permanently. It closed for the season in September. A message on the voicemail was not returned.
The one-acre property at 126 Clark Point Road is owned by Sheryl Harper of Southwest Harbor who could not reached. Stanley said he hopes she finds another operator. The property is assessed at $1,584,000, according to assessor records.
Harbor committee member Anne Napier said she hopes the property does not fall into the hands of a resort developer.
Southwest Harbor brought in $11.2 million in total catch for 2022, making it the seventh top-grossing port in the state for the third year in a row. That was down from the record year in 2021 when it reported $20.7 million.
The legendary captain Linda Greenlaw of “The Perfect Storm” fame said she was saddened to hear of the closing of MDI Lobster, even though she never sold there.
Greenlaw, who operates a cruising business out of Northeast Harbor with Asticou Charters, said she knows of several fishermen who are seeking new careers.
“Best case scenario - new owner continues the old business,” she stated in an email.
Sawyer’s Market’s two-year experiment ends
SOUTHWEST HARBOR - The struggles at what once was the town’s most visible Main Street business were apparent the two seasons the inchoate operator attempted to run a grocery store.
“After sixteen months in Southwest Harbor, we have regretfully closed our doors. We’re truly disappointed, but also deeply grateful for the wonderful support we received and connections we made during our short time in business,” read the statement on its website.
“Because of you, we returned over $600,000 to Maine families and businesses in wages and product costs. Wow.
“We’d like to express special thanks to our dear vendors, who work hard every day to make Maine food for Maine folks. You are our inspiration.
On its Facebook page, it stated:
“Dear friends, TODAY, October 28, will be our last business day, and EVERYTHING IS ON SALE till the doors close at 4 p.m.!! We can't let all this delicious inventory go to waste, so everything is ON SALE for up to 50% off. It's a perfect opportunity to stock up on staples for winter, buy Maine-made holiday gifts for your out-of-town friends, and support the many Maine farms, dairies, and small businesses whose bounty fills our shelves.”
The store is owned by David Milliken of Sutton Island, who purchased it in 2021 after a furnace puffback filled the store and inventory with soot in January 2020, prompting Brian Worcester, who had worked in the store for 60 years, to call it quits. His father Donald Worcester bought the story from Ralph Sawyer in 1959.
Milliken made major updates to the interior and purchased new equipment.
In 2022, he turned the operation over to a recent graduate of the College of the Atlantic Lio Cook, who stated,
“I want to sell something that is actually necessary. I envision a store where you can walk in and only find things that will truly add value to your life. What do people need? Real food. Connection. Warmth. Beauty. Stories. These are the things that truly fill us up.”
Cook re-opened the store in June 2022, offering 160-plus Maine brands and organic goods “for landbound and seagoing chefs, year-round residents and summer visitors.”
But the prices were the steepest of any store on the island, and it never re-opened its butcher and fresh fish counters.
The Islander wrote in February 2020,
“While the store may have been a regular stop for many year-round residents of Southwest Harbor, for much of its life it has been a favorite of summer residents. Before there was a ‘to go’ option with some of the larger chain grocery stores, Sawyer’s Market was making deliveries to seasonal residents and those living on their boats at the local wharfs and marinas.”
David Milliken could not be reached for this article.
SWH a hot bed of activity in December
SOUTHWEST HARBOR - The prominent business closures actually belie how active the village has been in December, contrary to villages elsewhere on the island.
On a quiet Saturday night in December, we found a warm hearth in Southwest Harbor which is now the undisputed year-round community on MDI.
Owner-Chef James Lindquist, he of Red Sky, the best restaurant on the island, took time to channel Dylan with his extended musical repertoire while we dined on duck, mussels, his incredible ginger bread dessert and other exceptional dishes each with its own special trigger.
The Clark Point Cafe, which replaced Sips, is the go-to spot for breakfast and is contemplating offering dinners starting in February.
Harbor Table is back after a brief hiatus. It is conveniently open Monday through Friday for dinner, while most restaurants are dark Monday through Wednesday.
Peter Trout is open Thursday through Sunday, serving brunch on Sundays.
The downfall of Sawyers is so sad. It always was the best shopping anywhere on the island or Ellsworth. David$$milliken buying it and turning it over to a kid who knew nothing about SWH or its residents is an instant failure. Shame on you both.
The downfall of Sawyers is so sad. It always was the best shopping anywhere on the island or Ellsworth. David$$milliken buying it and turning it over to a kid who knew nothing about SWH or its residents is an instant failure. Shame on you both.
You missed Tom Cat Tide that is also open in SWH and of course the stalwart Carroll Drug - a true anchor.