SOUTHWEST HARBOR, March 30, 2024 - Rarely has a single building symbolized the frustration and despair of a small town as profoundly as the failed attempts here to maintain a public works garage to safe guard its highway equipment from the brutal Maine winters.
Just a note to say that while the Cover Farm is on Rt. 3, it is not "next to the Pot and Kettle Club" which is some distance away and on the opposite side of the road. Cover Farm is across from the open beachy area of Hulls Cove and Pot and Kettle is next door to the Linscott's property. It's after Baymeath Road on the same side of the road and before Gerrish Chiropractic which is on the opposite side.
Regarding "State Supreme Court upholds Bar Harbor vacation rental cap," it is interesting that the Appellate Court affirmed the result using a completely different ground that was suggested to it by the Maine Municipal Association -- namely, that the 2/3 rule had to be in the town charter, and so was invalid. In other words, the original rationale for ignoring the 2/3 rule that the town had followed, and which the lower court followed, was unsound -- as anyone looking at the facts would have seen. That's why the plaintiffs challenged the action. Neither party considered this new argument until it was suggested by the outside group. I guess the ultimate result was correct, given the charter requirement, but it would have been fairer if the plaintiff had been given a fair chance to have a chance to vet that new ground. The problem with the current situation is that owners of a vacation house are treated the same way as outside investors who buy up properties just to make vacation rental income. In particular, such vacation rental owners can't hand down their house to a child without losing the rental permit. I hope at some point the rules are modified to fix that.
A more direct comment on the idea of passing a permit down to your kids and why that most likely will never happen. It appears the town will want your kids to pay a transfer tax just to inherit your house! All to keep fueling the wild, emotional spending spree and then have the nerve to grovel to people about affordability being such a problem. Big, expensive ideas from a crowd that can’t even seem to manage a wading pool for the kids or understand that the solar array required a service road. Don’t worry, they’ll find another tax to “help” you with.
With the direction BH is headed? Not a chance for any logical revision. Take a look at the comp plan. I highly suggest everyone takes the survey. There are some worth while endeavors in it but the housing component should give everyone a clear heads up as to what direction we’re being steered in by young kids in planning and on council from cities who have lived in BH for 5 or so years. Over development is on the horizon under the veil of a locally exaggerated housing crisis with a flare for anti tourism, emotional spending leading to over taxation.Bar Harbor is a tourist town people. JAX and other non profits don’t pay the bills around here. In fact they hardly contribute anything. A fellow much older than I always maintained that people from away move here, get on boards, council, planning etc…they don’t take the time to learn the area, people and industry, make an absolute mess of everything and turn it into exactly what they were trying to escape in the first place. Then they leave. Leave all of us who call this place home to deal with the wreckage. I always shrugged it off but it’s quite clear that is the era we are entering. Anyone who is bothered by how busy it is in the summer months is going to be really unhappy with the major population increase that’s coming….and to top it off, we’re going to actually be paying for it when many are having a hard enough time with affording life here to begin with. Take the comp plan survey. The section on housing is absolute lunacy and should give everyone major cause for concern.
Well said! The "lack of affordable housing" rational will be used endlessly by those hoping to profit from building ever more densely packed wall to wall housing. As more and more land on MDI gets developed remaining land becomes ever more valuable and efforts to reduce lot size requirements in order to "facilitate the development of more affordable housing" are actually no more than thinly disguised efforts to maximize land sales profits. So too are efforts supposedly designed to lessen parking problems. As in the Kevin Coston movie "If you build they will come!" Or as Joni Mitchell once sang, "Pave paradise, put up a parking lot!"
People out of town really should be paying close attention right now. Several council meetings back, some folks from out of town expressed concern about over development and the consequences for the water table as some have had issues in the past. Council did not care. Full speed ahead because of an alleged crisis. It’s going to be a major problem down the road for all tax payers if there’s not enough water to satisfy the incoming over development….which if I understood correctly, they want money out of the budget to fund housing. What is town water and sewer out of town going to cost? This council is way over its skis currently. They need to put the wild idea column on the back burner for now and focus on existing conundrums before they create immense problems.
Just a note to say that while the Cover Farm is on Rt. 3, it is not "next to the Pot and Kettle Club" which is some distance away and on the opposite side of the road. Cover Farm is across from the open beachy area of Hulls Cove and Pot and Kettle is next door to the Linscott's property. It's after Baymeath Road on the same side of the road and before Gerrish Chiropractic which is on the opposite side.
Regarding "State Supreme Court upholds Bar Harbor vacation rental cap," it is interesting that the Appellate Court affirmed the result using a completely different ground that was suggested to it by the Maine Municipal Association -- namely, that the 2/3 rule had to be in the town charter, and so was invalid. In other words, the original rationale for ignoring the 2/3 rule that the town had followed, and which the lower court followed, was unsound -- as anyone looking at the facts would have seen. That's why the plaintiffs challenged the action. Neither party considered this new argument until it was suggested by the outside group. I guess the ultimate result was correct, given the charter requirement, but it would have been fairer if the plaintiff had been given a fair chance to have a chance to vet that new ground. The problem with the current situation is that owners of a vacation house are treated the same way as outside investors who buy up properties just to make vacation rental income. In particular, such vacation rental owners can't hand down their house to a child without losing the rental permit. I hope at some point the rules are modified to fix that.
A more direct comment on the idea of passing a permit down to your kids and why that most likely will never happen. It appears the town will want your kids to pay a transfer tax just to inherit your house! All to keep fueling the wild, emotional spending spree and then have the nerve to grovel to people about affordability being such a problem. Big, expensive ideas from a crowd that can’t even seem to manage a wading pool for the kids or understand that the solar array required a service road. Don’t worry, they’ll find another tax to “help” you with.
With the direction BH is headed? Not a chance for any logical revision. Take a look at the comp plan. I highly suggest everyone takes the survey. There are some worth while endeavors in it but the housing component should give everyone a clear heads up as to what direction we’re being steered in by young kids in planning and on council from cities who have lived in BH for 5 or so years. Over development is on the horizon under the veil of a locally exaggerated housing crisis with a flare for anti tourism, emotional spending leading to over taxation.Bar Harbor is a tourist town people. JAX and other non profits don’t pay the bills around here. In fact they hardly contribute anything. A fellow much older than I always maintained that people from away move here, get on boards, council, planning etc…they don’t take the time to learn the area, people and industry, make an absolute mess of everything and turn it into exactly what they were trying to escape in the first place. Then they leave. Leave all of us who call this place home to deal with the wreckage. I always shrugged it off but it’s quite clear that is the era we are entering. Anyone who is bothered by how busy it is in the summer months is going to be really unhappy with the major population increase that’s coming….and to top it off, we’re going to actually be paying for it when many are having a hard enough time with affording life here to begin with. Take the comp plan survey. The section on housing is absolute lunacy and should give everyone major cause for concern.
Well said! The "lack of affordable housing" rational will be used endlessly by those hoping to profit from building ever more densely packed wall to wall housing. As more and more land on MDI gets developed remaining land becomes ever more valuable and efforts to reduce lot size requirements in order to "facilitate the development of more affordable housing" are actually no more than thinly disguised efforts to maximize land sales profits. So too are efforts supposedly designed to lessen parking problems. As in the Kevin Coston movie "If you build they will come!" Or as Joni Mitchell once sang, "Pave paradise, put up a parking lot!"
People out of town really should be paying close attention right now. Several council meetings back, some folks from out of town expressed concern about over development and the consequences for the water table as some have had issues in the past. Council did not care. Full speed ahead because of an alleged crisis. It’s going to be a major problem down the road for all tax payers if there’s not enough water to satisfy the incoming over development….which if I understood correctly, they want money out of the budget to fund housing. What is town water and sewer out of town going to cost? This council is way over its skis currently. They need to put the wild idea column on the back burner for now and focus on existing conundrums before they create immense problems.