From Lodging to Housing: How One Council Amendment Reshaped Bar Harbor’s Moratorium Workload.
Sep 14, 2025
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Acadia Psychiatry.
BAR HARBOR—Bar Harbor’s new moratorium on certain transient accommodations (lodgings) was built on a series of “whereas” clauses meant to explain and justify the moratorium and to give the planning department guidance on information gathering.
Over the next couple of weeks, The Bar Harbor Story will unpack those clauses one by one, exploring the information the town’s planning department has gathered and shared with the public. In some cases, we’ll also draw on historical context to help fill in the picture where official presentations aren’t yet available.
THE FIRST CLAUSE WE’RE LOOKING AT:
“WHEREAS, the loss and conversion of year-round housing to seasonal businesses and seasonal worker housing, along with the encroachment of commercial operations into residential areas, pose significant challenges to the stability and character of our community.”
This whereas clause is an amendment added to the first 180-day moratorium. This is the only one of the whereas clauses that is a nonadministrative whereas clause that does not contain the phrase “certain transient accommodations” or any language fitting the definition of “certain transient accommodations” as defined in the moratorium.
Rather than focusing on the issues identified in the two emergency moratoriums, this added clause directs the planning department to start including “commercial operations” of all kinds into its research rather than just presenting data and statistics directly related to lodging.
At the January 21, 2025, meeting of the Bar Harbor Town Council, the council was performing its first reading of and scheduling a public hearing for the first 180-day Moratorium Ordinance on Certain Transient Accommodations. During this meeting, Councilor Earl Brechin said that he wished to introduce an amendment to the moratorium.
Brechlin began by saying, “I think the focus also needs to be on the effect that all of this has on affordable housing. And I would like to or just housing in general. We talked at our workshop session about … we talk about we aren’t creating a whole lot of housing, but we need to preserve every unit that we have if we have such a huge deficit.”
“So, I would like to add a whereas that says, ‘whereas, the loss and conversion of year-round housing to seasonal businesses and seasonal worker housing, along with the encroachment of commercial operations into residential areas, pose significant challenges to the stability and character of our community,’” Brechlin read from his prepared statement.
He added, “So that just makes it clear that that’s part of the focus of what we are looking at and it’s addressed in the language that you have included here, Michele, about looking at the different zones and what have you, but I just think that we needed to state that.”
This amendment to the moratorium was unanimously voted in by the council, 7-0.
The public hearing on this version of the moratorium was held on February 4, 2025, and the moratorium was voted on by the council at the same meeting and went into effect on March 6.
This added whereas clause directed the planning department to research, by definition, non-lodging related data.
According to Town Planning Director Michele Gagnon, the planning department did not keep track of the hours spent on data mining, but the number was “considerable.”
On Monday, September 8, nine and a half months after the first emergency moratorium was enacted, the planning department presented the data that it had gathered to the planning board and the public in attendance.
During the September 8 presentation, Gagnon said, “The amount of work was absolutely spectacular.”
Due to its ambiguity and breadth of topic, this whereas clause added an incredible amount of work to the planning department’s plate. The work is expected to be done in a fairly rapid amount of time as some citizens have made public comments complaining about the continuing extension of the moratorium.
The moratorium research is combined with the planning department’s normal work and unrelated projects. Some of the research and analysis for the moratorium was built upon the consolidation of previously existing data and studies. Some of which are not currently accurate.
This clause diverts from the justifications of the original two emergency moratoriums.
The justification of this introduction of non-lodging data is that it could be used for comparison purposes, which may or may not justify the moratorium since it delves into commercial operations not necessarily related to lodging.
SEPTEMBER 8 PLANNING DEPARTMENT PRESENTATION
This information was presented via a slideshow and illustrates the gathering of statistics not directly related to lodging. The following slides are just a portion of that presentation.
The above slide shows that lodging is responsible for 36% of “residential conversions” by parcel (lots), not individual residences. The greatest number, 52% is represented by the definition of “commercial use” (other than lodging) shown in the slide below. This chart does not tell how many parcels were converted for any sector.
The above slide shows that lodging accounts for the conversion of 17 actual residential units. That is 46% of all of the reported residential conversions in 19 years. This chart does not, nor did any planning department member, say how many new residences have been built in the same timeframe.
The above chart, introduced later in the presentation, shows, if the numbers are accurate, a gain of approximately 399 dwelling units since 2020.
One of the data sources also reflects a loss of 139 dwelling units between 2020 and 2023, well above the total number of conversions attributed to all categories (lodging, commercial, and mixed use) of commercial residential conversions (37) calculated by the planning department staff.
The above chart, does not attribute the percentages of dwelling unit loss to any specific category, more specifically, lodging.
The above chart, does not attribute the percentages of residential conversions to any specific category, more specifically, lodging.
The above chart does not distinguish between lodging and other commercial uses in terms of conflicts with residential properties and lumps them together.
This chart is from an older study and does not distinguish between employee housing for lodging as compared to other commercial uses. While it does distinguish (estimated) between employer-owned residences and residences owned by a non-resident, both categories of properties (with the exception of employee living quarters and shared accommodations) are considered residential properties and do not fit under the “commercial operations” umbrella even if they are seasonal residences or vacation rentals.
Regardless of all of that, employee housing, even for a lodging employer, does not fall under the lodging definition that the moratorium is about.
Another topic not covered in the September 8 meeting is that due to the town’s fairly new usage types of employee living quarters and/or shared accommodations, some seasonal housing related to commercial usage, specifically lodging business employee housing for the given example, has transitioned back to year-round housing.
As an example, after building its employee living quarters building at the corner of Kebo and Eden Streets, Witham Family Hotels was able to revert three of its previously seasonal employee residences back to year-round residences.
According to David Witham of Witham Family Hotels, three “previously either seasonal or transitional” employee housing residences have become year-round residences for families of employees of the company “who otherwise would not be able to afford to live on the island.”
Witham wrote, “Two units are rented to families well below market rate. A third unit was sold, again below market rate, to another family. All three families have kids covering a range of ages that are now in our local school system.”
The above slide shows no information specific in regards to lodging.
Some of the parking lot construction may be attributed to lodging but the causes are not detailed.
“Registered rentals” are specifically residences (dwellings).
Managing seasonal housing does not apply to lodging. Any housing, seasonal or not, in a residential dwelling unit is still a residential dwelling unit even if owned by a lodging company.
The above slide has some relevancy to the original intent of the moratorium.
However, there is a mixing of lodging and general commercial uses without a breakdown of details.
This slide could have more relevancy if it used numbers instead of percentages and spoke to lodging only rather than all residential conversions, some of which do have other causes.
This whereas clause that was added to the moratorium made this ambiguity possible.
MORATORIUM DEFINITIONS
The following information is quoted directly from the moratorium.
“II. Definitions:
The following definitions shall be used in the interpretation and construction of this Moratorium Ordinance:
‘Certain Transient Accommodations’ shall be construed to include the following categories:
LODGING I: A single-family dwelling in which the resident or residents of the dwelling provide short-term overnight lodging in a maximum of three guest rooms located within the dwelling. Meals may be served and shall be limited to overnight guests only.
LODGING II: A single-family dwelling in which the resident or residents of the dwelling provide short-term overnight lodging in a maximum of twelve guest rooms located within the dwelling. Meals may be served and shall be limited to overnight guests only.
LODGING III: A single-family dwelling in which the resident or residents of the dwelling provide short-term overnight lodging in a maximum of twelve guest rooms located within the dwelling. Meals may be offered for compensation to the overnight guests and the general public.
LODGING IV: An establishment offering transient lodging accommodations which may include additional accessory facilities and services available only for the overnight guests.
LODGING V: An establishment offering transient lodging accommodations which may include additional accessory facilities and services available to the overnight guests and the general public, as well as a conference center.
LODGING VI: An establishment offering transient lodging accommodations (1-25 guest rooms) which may include additional accessory facilities and services available for the overnight guests only.
LODGING VII: An establishment, in a building constructed before June 10, 1986, offering transient lodging accommodations (1-25 guest rooms) which may include additional accessory facilities and services available for the overnight guests only.”
MORATORIUM PURPOSE
The following information also comes directly from the moratorium.
“III. Purpose:
The purpose of this Moratorium Ordinance is to allow the Town sufficient time to:
- Evaluate the concerns raised about the anticipated or proposed development of Certain Transient Accommodations and assess the adequacy of existing land use ordinances (data and analysis),
- Assess the adequacy of existing land use ordinances and regulations, and to develop new ordinances, if necessary, to ensure protection for the health, safety, welfare, land use compatibility, environmental compatibility, and the well-being of all residents and visitors in the Town of Bar Harbor (develop regulatory policies and regulations to address issues of infrastructure, public safety, environmental impacts, and land use compatibility),
- Hold at least one public hearing and one community engagement event to gather input from residents, business owners, and other stakeholders (public engagement), and
- The Town Council may consider a reduction of the moratorium to allow for adjustments (size, scope, or duration) if conditions improved or the moratorium’s original intent is partially resolved.”
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Read about the September 8 presentation here.
Follow us on Facebook or BlueSky or Instagram. And as a reminder, you can easily view all our past stories and press releases here.
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