QSJ's Guide to new businesses in SWH village; shortage of seasonal workers big gating factor
Will poor service plague MDI restaurants? How long can MRC ignore DTE CEO's 'misstatements?" Why Tremont selectmen vote is important; Climate change driving people to Maine, says Knowles broker ...
SOUTHWEST HARBOR, May 1, 2021 -For more than 35 years as a seasonal visitor, QSJ drove onto the island for summer vacations and greeted every change with adrenalin a-pumpin’ - fueled by the nomadic impulses of an Ex-Army brat.
The discoveries were exciting, especially new eateries - Coda, Rogue Cafe, Sips 2.0, Upper Deck. There was relief that favorite businesses survived another winter. Some changes were sad - closings of Higgins Store in Somesville and Fiddler’s Green restaurant in SWH, the death of artist Phil Steel of the Salty Dog Gallery, among many.
And I hated it when Fernald’s gave way to the One Stop across from the Somesville post office, now something called “Freshies.” Ugh.
This pandemic year produced a surprising amount of activity, with a half dozen new businesses and old businesses changing hands or relocating.
SWH will be home to a break-through retailer, Meristem LLC, approved by the planning board April 15, the first and only recreational marijuana store in Hancock County owned by Tyler and Natasha Johnson, who also own the Liquor Locker next door in the Seal Cove shopping strip. The store is scheduled to open the third week in June, assuming state inspections are completed by then.
Meristem is bound to draw visitors within an hour’s drive, the nearest other one being in Bangor.
Luckily, the store is outside the village of SWH, but it’s anyone’s guess whether Meristem customers will clog an already dense Main Street. If not, they may sate their munchies at the Quietside Cafe, several doors down which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Perhaps it was a stroke of luck that Frances and Ralph Reed lost their lease after 24 years at 360 Main Street, across from the Drydock Cafe. The new location will allow for more outdoor dining which no doubt will catch the eye of Meristem customers. QSJ is partial to Frances’s pies. She has already begun to receive orders for Mother’s Day.
Another well-loved dessert maker Mary Musson, who owns Island Bound Treats at 302 Maine Street, SWH, is expanding into gift shop retailing. Musson, who is married to the peripatetic economic development consultant Noel Musson, is opening “Bramble and Stone” in the space formerly occupied by Linda Stanley, who closed the Under the Dogwood Tree, next to Eat-A-Pita. Musson will continue to operate her dessert business.
We wish Linda Stanley well. The Stanley clan is royalty in these parts, along with the Lunts, Higgins, Gilleys, Lawsons et al …
Meanwhile, Stanley’s niece, Kristina Stanley, will open her own ice cream and candy parlor at 360 Main Street, the location vacated by the Quietside Cafe. Kristina Stanley owns the building.
Another family affair opened today in the space formerly occupied by the Tom Cat Variety store on Clark Point Road, where QSJ bought his newspapers back when he read them in print.
The gift shop, “Tom Cat Tide,” is keeping the legacy name of the 30-year variety store. Nancy Estep-Critchett is the principal owner. Her parents are Pretty Marsh residents who have lived here for more than 50 years.
Luckily the gift shops are not labor-intensive like the hospitality and food businesses which are facing the tsunami of tourists this year under a severe shortage of seasonal workers.
Every business owner will tell you they expect a robust rebound from last year, “if only we can find enough people to work.”
Businesses are pressuring family members with teenage children. Others are wooing retirees. They are recruiting on all sorts of media, including, of all places, newspaper help wanted sections.
Kathy Cook, publisher of the Ellsworth American and Mount Desert Islander, said help wanted revenues are up 25 percent over 2019, when the economy was not pandemic afflicted. Newspapers haven’t had that kind of a bump in 30 years.
“Unfortunately, all businesses are in the same boat; the labor shortage in Hancock County is staggering. I fear we are in for long lines and impatient tourists this summer.”
Some small business owners traffic in the canard that recent unemployment benefits deter job-seeking, a notion debunked by economists. The smart operator knows the root of the problem is in the lack of affordable housing on MDI and they have attacked the problem head-on.
Elizabeth and James Lindquist, owners of Red Sky restaurant - arguably the best restaurant on MDI - rented a nearby house for employes.
A cruise through the Facebook page “Bar Harbor Employment Hub” shows many businesses advertising the same benefit, “housing available for the right candidate.” https://www.facebook.com/groups/235443563219571.
Ralph and Francis Reed had the presence of mind nine years ago to convert a garage behind their home into housing for employees.
The Reeds still face uncertainties about their new location and, as is with all small businesses, what the recovery will be like. But they won’t have to worry as much about staffing.
The Claremont Hotel, under new ownership, has a Facebook page which reads like a big recruiting ad. For every position - from gardeners, to bartenders, to kitchen staff - the hotel offers a special perk - staff housing. Owner Tim Harrington last year purchased the Inn at Southwest Harbor, Clark Point Inn and a third home and will be housing staff there.
Here is its ad for a “bell hop”:
“As the first person our guests meet when they arrive, you’re not just parking and delivering cars and assisting with the luggage; you’re an essential member of our hospitality team.
“Great wages, bonus plan, employee discount … Housing available.”
The situation at Hearth and Harbor next to the library, however, is more typical. Opened last fall, the brick oven restaurant is gearing up for its first test of summer. It is seeking to hire line cooks, a dishwasher, an assistant manager, bartenders, servers, food runners and bussers.
David Milliken might think about the housing shortage as he seeks to re-open Sawyer’s Market in the heart of the Quietside. Milliken, son of the late textile magnate Roger Milliken, purchased the historic market from Brian Worcester two years ago because he wanted to preserve the essence of the village. But Milliken has not been able to find the right grocer to manage the store.
For many, Sawyer’s is the epicenter of the village. It saddened many, including other businesses, that it remained closed last year. And it’s facing the prospect of another year closed unless a manager is hired.
SWH official: Time to disband waste agency; BDN says plant CEO lied again
SOMESVILLE - The vice chair of the Southwest Harbor warrant committee, who has closely tracked the saga of the Hampden recycling plant which serves MDI, is calling for member towns to disband the agency which runs it.
Jim Vallette, founder of a materials consulting firm which researches industrial practices and their worldwide impacts. https://materialresearch.net/, urged the 115 member towns in a letter to reject the current proposal to name Delta Thermo Energy as the operator of the defunct plant.
Here is his letter in its entirety:
It’s time to disband the Municipal Review Committee, which is responsible for managing the wastes for 115 Maine towns and cities, including the four towns on Mt. Desert Island, along with Cranberry Isles, Frenchboro, Swans Island, and Trenton.
Several years ago, MRC and town officials ignored warnings about Fiberight, the untested company it courted to develop a waste sorting and recycling facility in Hampden. Last year, shortly after starting operations, Fiberight defaulted on its loan and fled Maine.
"Now, MRC’s board is determined to make a deal with Delta Thermo Energy to take over the Fiberight plant.
DTE is a tiny company that has been rejected time and again by communities in the northeast U.S. Municipalities that have spurned DTE include Albany, New York, Paterson, New Jersey, Muncy, Pennsylvania, and many others. For over a decade, DTE owner Rob Van Naarden has been pitching communities to let him build plants that would burn a mix of sludge and garbage.
The president of the Pennsylvania Waste Industries Association warned in 2013, “Delta Thermo made a number of materially false statements to the public regarding their proposed project and the waste disposal industry as a whole.” He said DTE used “false environmental marketing claims”; some were “intentionally misleading.”
For months, I have been trying to understand what the company is doing today. When I asked Michael Carroll, MRC’s Executive Director, this straightforward question - what are DTE’s current operations? - he said to ask Mr. Van Naarden. When I called and asked Mr. Van Naarden, he hung up on me. When I asked this question again by chat during an MRC board meeting this week, Mr. Van Naarden finally answered, “As far as current operations, we’ve run a DTE facility in South Jersey outside of Atlantic City and currently in North Central Pennsylvania, just outside of Williamsport, Pennsylvania. We own and operate them.”
This was news to at least one board member, Cathy Conlon. She was “a little confused by your answer earlier” and asked for clarification on what DTE is currently operating. Van Naarden said the New Jersey plant had to be disassembled after operating a few years, and that “currently we’re operating one in north central Pennsylvania – so at the very current moment there is only one operating, got it?” Pressed for further details, Mr. Van Naarden said the Pennsylvania “plant is nothing like the one in Hampden” and “there is no way to compare it.” Asked how many tons per year are handled there, he replied, “I can’t divulge that number.”
The only information I have seen regarding DTE in the Williamsport area is a spurned attempt to build a sewage sludge/garbage incinerator in the neighboring town of Muncy.
Earlier this month, the Bangor Daily News reported that many of the people listed in Mr. Van Naarden’s presentations as technical advisers had no knowledge of their role. During MRC’s meeting this week, a viewer asked, “Is there any new information on the possible misrepresentation of some of DTE'S associations/partnerships?” MRC chair Karen Fussell replied, “We have no comment. We don’t know what you are talking about.”
Member towns signed onto a Master Waste Agreement with MRC before the Fiberight plant went online. Through joinders, members are required to pay for established amounts of waste to MRC. Only MRC has the authority to break this agreement, which currently runs through 2033. It plans to transfer this valuable contract to DTE but needs the member towns to sign off on an extension as part of the deal. MRC says it has to hand DTE control of our wastes even longer, through 2036. We will be locked in unless towns take a stand, reject MRC’s request, and call for a members’ meeting as allowed under the Master Waste Agreement.”
The Bangor Daily News today reported that it could not corroborate several of Van Naarden’s claims, including that his company currently operates two plants. https://bangordailynews.com/2021/05/01/news/bangor/prospective-hampden-waste-plant-buyer-again-mischaracterizes-past-work/
BDN previously reported on Van Naarden’s other claims:
“In addition to misstatements about its experience in the waste industry, Delta Thermo has listed technical advisers on its website without their knowledge or permission and claimed to have developed a waste processing plant in Shari, Japan. An official from Delta Thermo’s listed partner in Shari, Hokuto Kogyo, said Delta Thermo was not involved in the company’s Japanese operations.”
One Tremont selectmen candidate supports campground; election Tuesday
TREMONT - David “Jed” Campbell, candidate for the board of selectmen in Tuesday’s town elections, said he supports the application by Acadia Wilderness Lodge to build a 43-acre campground on Tremont Road.
Campbell has known Becky Hopkins, mother of the applicants James Hopkins and Kenya Hopkins, for many years. He said he supports new businesses in Tremont. He also has said he wanted to be paid to sit on the board.
Campbell was the only one of four candidates to give his view on QSJ’s question of whether they favored the campground. Selectman Kevin Buck is an abutter to the proposed campground. His wife Margery is a member of the Planning Board and has recused herself.
“That decision is in the hands of the planning board and the Code Enforcement Officer, so me publicly taking a stand either for or against this could be seen as undermining their authority,” Kevin Buck said in an email.
“That being said I, personally, think some very valid concerns have been raised. Many of these are beyond the scope of the CEO and planning board. The condition of our roads and the complete lack of bicycle paths are issues that should be improved regardless of any additional burden being placed on them and are beyond the ability of the town to solve on its own.
“The town’s comprehensive plan is now in the process of being updated and is the best opportunity for many of the stated concerns to be addressed. This is the basis for the land use ordinance and everyone in town is welcome to participate. This is the process to put limits and boundaries on how the town moves forward.”
Two other candidates, Mike Mansolilli and Eric Eaton, did not reply to QSJ. Eaton runs a marine construction business and Mansolilli has a landscaping business.
In March, Sarah Hinkley interviewed all four candidates in the Islander, https://www.mdislander.com/maine-news/four-vie-for-two-board-of-selectmen-seats
The selectmen will appoint two planning board members in June when Margery Buck and Brett Witham’s terms expire. The next board will likely be making the decision on the campground.
Several readers wrote QSJ to ask whether the Acadia Wilderness Lodge has taken outside investors, noting they were represented by high-priced lawyers from Eaton Peabody and did expensive site preparation documents for the application. James Hopkins assured QSJ that this project is being funded only by family members.
His wife Kenya is the former Kenya Bell, a beauty queen and reality star who was married to NBA player Charlie Bell. They both attended Michigan State. Bell was Miss Michigan USA when she was 24. The Bells had two children together.
In May 2011, she was arrested for assaulting Charlie Bell at their house with a box cutter, in the presence of their children, according to Wikipedia. During the divorce settlement in 2012, Kenya was awarded roughly half of her husband's past and future NBA earnings. Charlie Bell made $20 million in his career as an NBA player.
Is climate change big factor in real estate boom? Knowles broker thinks so
SOMESVILLE - Twenty-two years ago Beth Ingebritson and her husband planted their stake on MDI and made it their home. Many others are doing the same now but maybe not for the widely assumed reasons about the pandemic-driven real estate boom.
Ingebritson is a broker with Knowles Company. She believes climate change is a big driver.
“I’ve had clients from the West Coast who were tired of the wild fires, folks from the South who wanted to escape the extreme heat and floods,” she said. “Almost all of them already had a connection with Maine, and the pandemic made them ask, ‘why are we waiting?”
The big aha triggered by the pandemic was the realization that they could work remotely. “High speed internet is the first thing on the listing,” she said.
Ingebritson is sanguine about the realities of the MDI market, which sits comfortably in a stable price range, and the fact that the boom has resulted in a inventory crunch.
The LS Robinson report compiled by Southwest harbor realtor Joe Wright certainly validates that. The following chart shows the results of single family residential sales for the first four months of 2021 when inventory was down 26 percent from 2020 even with a 25 percent increase of new listings. Wright’s report in detail may be read here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dv1tUxKqfL91SNL46BYQai6wyVqTffF3?usp=sharing
Lincoln’s Log
SOMESVILLE - The parking lot at the high school will be busy next week. Monday at 6 p.m. the Planning Board will conduct its meeting to discuss the application for quarry operations to resume at Hall Quarry. The meeting is being conducted at the high school because many Hall Quarry residents have poor internet connections, making the Zoom meetings unavailing.
The Town of Mount Desert annual meeting will also be at said parking lot Tuesday starting at 5:30 p.m., followed by Tremont;’s annual meeting Wednesday at 6.
NORTHEAST HARBOR - Rt. 198 near the intersection of Rt. 3 is a 810-foot project which involves the reclamation of the road bed and paving, said MD Public Works Director Tony Smith. The project is scheduled to be completed May 20. State and local funding was secured to enable its completion. Traffic will be one way. QSJ sees no easy way to avoid this minor hassle on his way to the Northeast Harbor Golf Course.
THE PUZZLE
