Pub is at Kebo Valley Golf Course
Jul 16, 2025
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Swan Agency Real Estate.
BAR HARBOR—Live music was up for discussion again in Bar Harbor this week. This time it focused around a golf club that has hosted events since the 1900s, particularly for the social elite of the Jazz Age and into modern times.
The Links Pub at the Kebo Golf Club’s application caused neighbors to protest the potential for live music via a Class 3ao Special Amusement Permit for outside music.
The business, under different owners, has had a similar special amusement (3ad) permit in the past, but in the year prior to the new ownership, it had not been renewed.
The permit allows three or more musicians with outdoor mechanical amplification of acoustic instruments and vocal microphones.
Some neighbors, lead by Jean Young, who had circulated a petition, urged the council to not allow the permit, saying that it would impact the peace and tranquility of their neighborhood.
A split council agreed, voting 5-2 to deny the permit. Chair Valerie Peacock and Steven Boucher had voted in the minority in support of the permit. Vice Chair Maya Caines, Earl Brechlin, David Kief, Joe Minutolo, and Randell Sprague voted against.
Bo Jennings, representing SSC Hospitality doing business as The Links Pub, explained its plan and brought copies of diagrams for sound mitigation. Jennings said the live music would be one or two nights a week unless there was a special event for a golf tournament. In the past, live music had been on site for events such as weddings and golf fundraisers, but that past permit was for amplification indoors.
“This is not the Annex,” he said, referencing an in-town location that has live music every night that the Links Pub owners also run.
Music at the pub at the golf course at 136 Eagle Lake Road would not have gone past 8 p.m. because it does not stay open past 8, Jennings said. The musicians would be under a covered porch with the restaurant and clubhouse between the musicians and the closest residents.
“We don’t want to be a burden to our neighbors,” Jennings said, but provide information to the neighbors and work with them similar to what occurs at The Annex on Rodick Street, in the heart of Bar Harbor’s downtown proper. That business’s back border abuts private residences.
People using the Links Pub phone line can call Jennings directly, he said, if there is a problem.
“We’re here to work with our neighbors, not be a burden to them,” Jennings said.
The neighbors, however, had a litany of worries, mostly focused on how the amplified acoustic music could potentially ruin the quiet nature of the residential neighborhood. and their lives.
However, one neighbor, Justin VanDongen, said he supported the project and application. “Having things in walking distance in a residential neighborhood is a good thing, too.”
He can currently hear people yelling when they miss a putt. And he likes that.
“We don’t have enough good quality event centers for things like weddings, music festivals. If they’re going to be wrapping up by 8 o’clock,” he said, “I don’t see any reason why this shouldn’t get approved. It’s not that quiet of a neighborhood. We have trucks going down Eagle Lake Road all the time that make more noise than you’d hear from live music. I also remember not too long ago at town meeting when they tried to cut music money from the (school) budget, the town all added that back in. What are we going to do? Teach our kids to fish and then throw them out in the desert? Don’t say you support music and then don’t give people a place to play music. This is what the music program is for: to make musicians. Let’s support them after they are kids, too.”
A majority of those speaking, Tuesday night, disagreed. That included Jean Young of Arata Drive. Young went around the neighborhoods with a petition and she said she understood the desire of the club to have music, but asked the council to enforce the noise ordinance and protect the citizens of the surrounding neighborhoods. She has lived here for almost 70 years, she said.
“I understand the desire of Kebo to want to increase their revenue,” Young said, “and have events.”
However, though the Links Pub said they wouldn’t play past 8 p.m., they could by ordinance play until 9 p.m., and that worried her.
“These are small neighborhoods,” she said.
Stephen Grubb, of Forest Street, asked if the permit would be similar to the Ivy Manor’s and asked what other establishments have that same permit currently. After the public comment, town staff said that there would be no electric guitar or bass amplified and that it would be similar to the Ivy Manor Inn’s permit.
Leslie Starling who lives on Eagle Lake Road, which is in close proximity to Kebo, said she strongly objects because she feels the location would allow the echoing of music due to a lack of trees. She thoroughly enjoys the quiet of her neighborhood, she said.
Emily Homer of Rockwood Avenue agreed, saying that it was important that the council protect local families and local communities as well as building a business.
“I have lived here my entire life,” Homer said. “We find it really important that our community stays the way everyone within our community wants it to be.”
Dave Miers, a musician who lives on Rockwood Avenue was concerned about the site itself and said, “Music will echo.”
He suggested a trial period rather than a blanket go for it.
The town’s ordinance doesn’t allow for that. However, the license itself has a mechanism where if there are three substantiated noise complaints within a year then the license is revoked. Similarly, the council could choose to not renew a license after a year if there were multiple complaints from neighbors.
COUNCIL DISCUSSION
Sprague said this discussion is where the rubber meets the road.
“The division between business and residential. This is not a business district, but it is an allowed use,” Sprague said. “This is a tough one, but seeing so many neighbors come out makes it particularly hard.”
Sprague gave kudos to Jennings and the owners (Jeff and Jena Young) for their responsibility running the Annex and how they control the music.
“This is where compromise is most important in our town between businesses and residents. I’m not anti-business, but I’m pro residents.” However, Sprague said, music outside is harder to control. He wanted the application to be for indoor use instead. “This is a tough one.”
Caines said she’d gone back and forth on the application multiple times just in the last twenty minutes.
“I really understand both sides. As a young person that lives in Bar Harbor, I love being able to hear music walking around. I love that there’s things to do; it makes the town feel alive. But I also really understand the importance of sleep and your space and your tranquility,” Caines said.
Minutolo said he lives in an area that’s open where sound can echo. He said having it as a steady diet in a quiet neighborhood will have its effect on residents.
“You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube,” he said about a permit, adding that it’s important to preserve the character of neighborhoods and that he would support indoors, but not outdoors.
“That’s not actually true. There are ways for this license to be revoked,” Peacock said later, referencing Minutolo’s comment. Multiple substantiated noise violations revokes a business’ ability to play live music.
Brechlin said that the Youngs and Jennings had set the standard for indoor music mitigation and that he was more concerned with Pine Street residents than those on Rockwood Avenue, who had come out to the meeting in force. He said he would also support an indoor permit at a future date but that an outdoor permit was too much at that spot.
At the same meeting, the council approved the renewal of a special amusement permit for Bar Harbor Beerworks on Main Street for three or more musicians with outdoor mechanical amplification of acoustic instruments and vocal microphones. This restaurant is located in downtown proper.
“We need a place for our musicians to play. This is a great one,” said VanDongen, the only person who spoke to the application. “We do have a huge service industry in this town that has a lot of employees who need to have some kind of outlet. That used to be a great thing in this place. I hope it brings back some later night, more rambunctious music, to be honest. I understand that might upset some sticks in the mud in this town. But, same comment: we’ve got to give our musicians a place to play. and this is another good place for that.”
Recently, the Finback Alehouse on Cottage Street, received a special amusement permit and was told in June that according to the town’s rules, it could only receive one more violation (it has had two) before August 3. Another complaint on the Finback was called in on June 18, but it was unsubstantiated. The town’s ordinance allows three violations in a rolling year.
In a rare move, during its May 6, 2025 meeting, the Bar Harbor Town Council had denied a special amusement permit for Siam Orchid on Rodick Street after multiple residents on Kennebec Street complained about potential noise if the permit was granted.
The permit would have allowed the restaurant to have acoustic instruments and a singer amplified. It has never had one. At that meeting, a Kennebec Street resident had said that the amplified music took away from their tranquility.
In 2023, Pat’s Pizza had issues receiving a special amusement permit because of neighbors’ worries. It eventually came back for a smaller permit. Also in 2023, outdoor amplified music came under scrutiny after neighbors complained, and an application by the Bar Harbor Lobster Pound was denied by the council.
The town’s ordinance doesn’t allow noise levels over 71 dB for musical instruments, sound modification, and amplification devices.
OUTDOOR AMPLIFICATION
Outdoor amplified music came under scrutiny at the Town Council’s September 20, 2023 meeting and after neighbors complained, an application by the Bar Harbor Lobster Pound was denied. Many nearby residents spoke against the application. Those opposed to that application included former town manager Dana Reed, who lives nearby. Brechlin had requested that it be on the agenda.
During that September meeting, discussion focused on the intent of allowing outdoor amplification.
HISTORY OF OUTDOOR MUSIC PERMITS
In a September 4, 2020 for the Mount Desert Islander, now Town Clerk Liz Graves wrote,
“Businesses that hold special amusement permits from the town will be allowed to host amplified live music outside, within certain parameters, under an emergency ordinance approved by the Town Council Tuesday.
“Under the regular special amusement ordinance, no live music with mechanical amplification is allowed outdoors. But because indoor space at restaurants is so limited with social distancing requirements during the pandemic, more is happening outdoors this year.
“Councilor Matthew Hochman requested the change after hearing from several local musicians whose income depends on being able to play live gigs at restaurants. Under the emergency ordinance, groups of no more than three musicians may perform at establishments with special amusement permits, with one vocal microphone per performer, until 9 p.m. The change is in effect for at least the next two weeks, at which point the council will evaluate and decide whether to extend it.”
In April, 2021, Ethan Genter wrote for the Islander, that the town would be holding a public hearing to allow amplified outdoor acoustic music. It was an amendment to the town’s ordinance that passed and was the same as the emergency ordinance created in September 2020.
Past town council packets show that this was discussed at the May 18, 2021 meeting as amendment 2021-04. The amendment is below.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Council Drums Away Outdoor Amplified Music at Lobster Pound
New Chapter at a Historic Clubhouse: The Links Pub Carries On a Kebo Tradition
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