Task Force Begins Work To Define It
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Thrive Juice Bar & Kitchen.
BAR HARBOR—The Bar Harbor Sustainable Tourism Task Force began to hone a definition of what “sustainable tourism” is, a necessary step toward its work to create a report for the Bar Harbor Town Council.
The definition is also necessary so that the consultants can send out the first of many surveys for community engagement in the process. The initial survey will be sent to Bar Harbor residents.
The task force is meant to give the town council recommendations about the town’s future as it relates to tourism.
What sustainable tourism looks like for Bar Harbor, what Bar Harbor’s definition of sustainable tourism is, and how Bar Harbor can impact tourism when Acadia National Park draws more than four million recreational visits a year and the Maine DOT controls the road onto the island may be some of the questions the town tries to answer.
The task force is to bring a report to the town council about sustainable tourism. What exactly will go in that report will be determined by the process. Its members were appointed by the Bar Harbor Town Council in April. The town council had approved the task force during its January 21 meeting.
One of the task force’s next steps will be to understand and define “sustainable tourism” and what tools the task force can use to engage community.
The consultants leading the group met with the park service yesterday as well as MaineDOT representatives, groups that have an “integral role” in the community, J.E. Austin Associates’ Michele McKenzie said.
So far, the aspect of community engagement involved interviewing the people on the committee. The consultants also presented a community engagement slide with multiple bubbles representing different sectors of the community to engage with.
At the September 10 meeting, consultants and task force members spoke about two of those areas: residents and community organizations.
During public comment Town Council Chair Val Peacock said, “One of the biggest challenges that we have is that there’s two different versions of circles that separate each other: economic, social, environmental.”
That separation of those three categories and the categories of community engagement can be difficult and create problems when trying to implement strategies or create policy.
“Every single one of us is all of those,” she added.
When the town does policy work, it can create division to create different buckets or circles within the community, she said. Creating balance or hierarchies because of the division can be problematic.
Instead, she said, “It’s just one circle.”
Peacock stressed that there are interconnections between the circles Instead, she said, perhaps the process could begin with the recently approved comprehensive plan’s vision statement.
That statement reads, “Bar Harbor’s vibrancy stems from the mix of people and the dramatic natural and cultural beauty of our place. Together, we build upon our diverse economic strengths and, through partnerships, we create solutions that meet year-round and seasonal needs. Our resilient and sustainable community includes sufficient equitable housing, robust infrastructure, and efficient transportation. We work through our differences to strengthen our collective sense of community. We take care of each other, and we take care of our place.”
“For me, sustainable tourism is tourism that lets us do this,” Peacock said. “Who do we want to be as a community and what does tourism look like to help us be that. Period.”
Peacock also said that there are people in town who don’t want to find consensus or trust the process. She encouraged the task force members to trust the process. “Just keep your road. Don’t get distracted” as it gets messy and people send emails.
In one of those recent emails, Nina St.Germain wrote of her worries that the task force lacks a “specific scope.” And she listed what she thought the top four worries of people were 4 p.m. traffic leaving the island, Hannaford parking, in-town pedestrian/car interactions, and cell phone service interruptions.
“The phrase ‘sustainable tourism,’ while trendy, is undefined, carries multiple interpretations, and already carries the weight of division in our community. To some, it suggests limiting visitors; to others, it implies preserving tourism at all costs. Both interpretations reinforce an ‘us vs. them’ mindset (residents v. visitors, preservation v. economy) that has hindered our progress for years. Starting from this place of ambiguity risks building the committee’s work on a fault line rather than on terra firma,” St.Germain wrote.
Guy Dunphey, who is on the town’s planning board, wrote in an email to the task force and spoke to the definition of sustainable tourism as well.
“What does the term sustainability mean? To each of us it will be different. Personally, I feel Bar Harbor’s issues are more along the lines of severe seasonal congestion than sustainability. Is there a point where the congestion impacts our quality of life? I would say yes. There are ways to mitigate that congestion. Some ways might be changing traffic flows and patterns, creating more walkable areas, and creating new seasonal open spaces to create a more positive visitor experience,” he wrote. “Could we make Main Street one way in the summer? Could we seasonally close off Cottage Street from Roddick to Main to create an open walking block? Is it possible to close Main street and the downtown part of Cottage completely one Sunday morning a month to provide a walking only down town? These have all been mentioned before, but has there been any serious thought to attempting them? Several examples of similar ideas are in our new comp plan. Should we consider implementing them now? Probably.”
McKenzie also said they’d depend on past data collected during the 2035 Comprehensive Plan process during the process.
Task force member John Kelly worried about the language of balance, referencing the cruise ship referendum which limited cruise ship visits to 1,000 disembarkations a day.
One task force member said that the definition didn’t seem deep enough.
Task force member Michael Boland said he’d like to work the national park and historical legacy into the definition.
“I think it’s a little passive, I want it to be more empowering,” Boland said.
He also said that the community has a rich history of sustainability, such as in the lobster industry, and would like that to be added.
“I know that we can get there; it’s going to be tough,” he said.
Kelly said that talking about the park specifically can be divisive.
Others thought the potential definition was too generic and preferred “host residents’ rather than “host communities.”
Task force member Jeremy Dougherty worried that it might be a bit too sterile and not as specific as it could be for such a specific place.
“I think the order of words” is important as well, he said.
If “host” is last, he asked, doesn’t that make it the least important? “Community,” he said, should be first.
“If you take care of the visitor and host, you’ll have a great industry,” he said.
Task Force Vice Chair Enoch Albert said it’s a workable definition and that he didn’t want to spend hours and hours of valuable time to come up with a different definition, though he added that the definition could use some tweaking.
During public comment, Adele Abolafia said that when creating a definition of sustainable tourism, she wanted to support historic aspects of the town as well.
“Bar Harbor has such a rich cultural heritage,” she said, and it would be good to honor the Wabanaki people and the founders of Acadia National Park. Stewardship and the legacy left to Bar Harbor’s future generations was important.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS
The consultant also dispersed a draft list of community organizations that members had mentioned during the interviews. Those organizations could be potentially reached out to for discussions during the process. The list is expected to be revised.
One task force member encouraged the consultant to reach out to both summer residents and seasonal workers.
John Kelly suggested involving the local school system on the list of community organizations.
The version will be updated to include them, McKenzie said.
During public comment, both Warrant Committee member Carol Chappell and Planning Board member Teresa Wagner expressed displeasure that Association to Preserve and Protect Local Livelihoods (APPLL) was among the groups listed in community organizations.
“As I look at this list of nonprofits and I see the APPLL organization—an organization that is actively suing our town—an organization that is costing me as a taxpayer money to defend a vote that was put forth before the public twice—I do not believe that organization should be on this list,” Chappell said.
Association to Preserve and Protect Local Livelihoods (APPLL) is a registered nonprofit that has appealed the town’s cruise ship disembarkation changes. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit on Aug. 11 partially upheld and partially sent back to a lower court Bar Harbor’s legal dispute with APPLL, the Penobscot Bay and River Pilot Association, and other businesses over cruise ship disembarkation limits.
“This business does not represent, in my opinion, the best interest in our town. They do not support what has been voted on in this town,” Chappell said.
Task Force member Alexa Kelly suggested adding in the Wabanaki Alliance.
Wagner said that she’d like for residents to have a priority in the discussions.
EMAILS AND PROCEDURES
Enoch Albert suggested discussing emails sent in during the meetings in a set time. There was also some discussion about anonymous emails. Much like at a public meeting where people are asked to identify themselves, he asked that email senders do the same.
In the past packet, there were three emails from Abolafia, Nina St.Germain, and Wavin2Ya. An additional email from Guy Dunphey was also distributed at the meeting.
Abolafia’s email spoke to transparency and making sure that the community is at the helm of decision making for the report to the council.
Wavin2Ya’s email was adamantly against tourism and wrote that the county’s infrastructure was not built to sustain the amount of tourists who visit the area.
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Rick Osann Art.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Taskforce Contact
You can email the taskforce: STMTaskForce@barharbormaine.gov.
The Planning Department staff are also included in the group email.
Sustainable Tourism Management Task Force bylaws
The task force’s page on the town’s website.
Comprehensive plan executive summary
Tourism at a Crossroads:
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Aug 20
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