BAR HARBOR—In a July 23 ruling, Hancock County Superior Court Justice Harold Stewart II ruled in favor of the defendant Town of Bar Harbor and defendant intervenor, W.A.R.M. Management, LLC (WARM).
The ruling upheld the Bar Harbor Appeals Board’s decision, which voted against an appeal to revoke a short-term rental permit issued to WARM by Code Enforcement Officer Angie Chamberlain.
The original appeal occurred at a January 9, 2024, meeting of the Appeal’s Board and was brought by Brandan and Monika McCallion and Old Bears, LLC, who said that the short-term rental permit for a property at 12 Bogue Chitto Lane, which is owned by Roy and Marcia Levitt but registered under WARM, was invalid because it was issued after the yearly deadline of May 31. The McCallions own property near the Levitts’ property, at 11 and 16 Bogue Chitto Lane.
The Appeals Board ruled in favor of the town and the Levitts at its January 9 meeting. Following the loss, Monika McCallion, et al., appealed to Hancock County Superior Court.
According to Chamberlain’s statements at the January 9 meeting, the Levitts were not at fault in this situation and the fault lied with a glitch in the software that the town uses for electronic vacation rental permit renewals, IworQ portal. The Levitts own two vacation rentals in Bar Harbor and paid for two renewals online with two renewal applications submitted.
“However, due to a glitch in the IworQ portal, the Administrative Assistant Tammy DesJardin, did not receive the two applications for VR-2 registration rentals, but only one application,” the staff report for the January 9 Appeals Board meeting reads.
Chamberlain decided there was enough evidence that Levitt had paid for her registration renewals on January 3, 2023, well before the May 31 deadline. On October 30, Chamberlain issued the renewal “to correct the error made by the town.”
During the January 9 meeting, the McCallions also argued that the Levitts had committed a violation by renting the VR-2 without a permit, not displaying a current permit within the rental unit as required by the ordinance, and not having the permit number listed on the advertising site for the vacation rental.
The court found that these violations were not occurring at the time that the renewal application was made, writing, “to be clear, the record supports that at the time of application there were no outstanding violations or notices of violations. The court accepts the testimony of the CEO that upon application the CEO does not ‘…go and look for violations’ but rather confirms whether there are any existing violations,” and that they were inconsequential, “in other words, Plaintiffs’ presentation of evidence of a land use violation means nothing.”
Justice Stewart ruled that “plaintiffs have failed to meet their burden of persuasion to disturb the decision of the Board of Appeals.”
The town also requested the court to take judicial notice of public records for the civil action and that request was also granted by Justice Stewart.
The town’s short-term rental ordinance was approved 1,260-840 in November 2021 and requires a yearly renewal and creates a 9% cap on rentals that are not occupied by the property owner. Rentals that existed prior to that cap are still allowed as long as they pass inspections and renew their licenses. This past year, voters in two other island towns (Mount Desert and Tremont) rejected short-term rental ordinances.
There are currently 634 short-term rentals (both owner-occupied and not owner-occupied) in Bar Harbor, which is down from 681 in 2022. There has been an increase in new owner-occupied rentals (from 14 to 24) and decrease in renewals for both types of short-term rentals. Non-owner-occupied rentals have decreased from 522 in 2022 to 470 in 2024.
JULY 23, 2024 COURT DOCUMENTS
Decision And Order
1.03MB ∙ PDF file
Request And Order
263KB ∙ PDF file
LINK TO LEARN MORE
Appeals Board Upholds Short-Term Rental Decision
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JAN 18
https://www.barharbormaine.gov/516/Short-Term-Rentals
Disclosure: I own a home in Bar Harbor used for short-term rentals that I intend to move back into once all our children have graduated school (or soon after). Our oldest daughter lives there in the winter currently.
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