Board Receives Updates on Glen Mary Pool and Shore Path

Shaun Farrar

Nov 14, 2025

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Acadia Psychiatry.

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BAR HARBOR—At its 134th annual meeting on Tuesday, November 4, the Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association (VIA) revealed that as of July 31, 2025, it has spent close to $1M on the Shore Path restoration and Glen Mary Pool rebuild planning. VIA President Dick Cough gave property reports on the Shore Path and DeGregoire Green while VIA board member David C. Witham updated attendees about the Glen Mary Pool project.

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PROPERTY REPORTS

SHORE PATH

Restoration of the Shore Path, through July 31, has cost the VIA $707,676. More than half of this money, $383,000, was from donations but the VIA contributed $325,000 from its own coffers. Additionally, the Bar Harbor Inn spent more than $500,000 repairing its portion of the path, which would normally be the VIA’s responsibility.

Cough thanked Witham for all of the work that the Bar Harbor Inn did, and paid for, on the portion of the path that crosses the Inn’s property.

Since the Shore Path is made up of 14 different land owners, the VIA was not able to get any grants or any other funding that was offered for storm-related repairs through state or federal government programs.

VIA Vice President Andy Shea was primarily responsible for overseeing the restoration of the remainder of the Shore Path and coordinating with property owners and contractors. Shea was not at the annual meeting to report on the project but had prepared a statement for Cough to share with the board.

“I have to report that the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive on our work on the path,” Shea wrote. “The positive of this storm is that, A, the path has been widened in almost all areas and B, it has been made abundantly clear how important the path is to our community and visitors.”

Cough said the path was widened to almost eight feet for most of its length.

Remaining work to be done is more maintenance in nature such as addressing a few low spots where water accumulates.

Shea went on to give special thanks to the following people in his letter.

• Witham for being the first out of the gate to start and finish repairs to the Bar Harbor Inn’s section of the Shore path.
• Rachel Crater from Witham Family Hotels who was “huge behind the scenes” setting up a GoFundMe page, getting signage made, and doing other things.
• Heather Jones for her fundraising expertise.
• VIA Board of Directors Treasurer Jon Nicholson for handling the financial aspects of the restoration.
• Kim Swan for social media work.
• Paul MacQuinn and Chip Reeves of Harold MacQuinn Inc. for ensuring the challenging project got done in a timely manner in less than perfect conditions.
• All of the donors, especially the local people who did so much fundraising work.

Cough went on to acknowledge board member Julie Veilleux of Window Panes for her efforts, even before she was on the VIA board, in fundraising and helping ensure that the Shore Path has an endowment fund for future repairs and upkeep. The VIA has created a Friends of the Shore Path endowment fund for future repairs of the Shore Path.

Veilleux said that she was thrilled to have seven businesses in town who collaborated with Friends of the Shore Path: Cool As a Moose, Acadia Shops, Geddy’s, Bar Harbor Inn, My Darling Maine, the Bar Harbor Historical Society, and Window Panes. These businesses have been fundraising or selling Friends of the Shore Path merchandise and donating a portion of the proceeds back to the fund.

The Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce allowed a donor board to be mounted in its lobby where visitors to the chamber office can see who has made donations and put donations of their own into a donation box that is by the donor board, Veilleux said. The chamber also allowed the display of two “Friends of the Shore Path” t-shirts and a list of businesses where the shirts can be purchased.

Veilleux said that, to date, these efforts have raised a little over $3,000 for the endowment fund.

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GLEN MARY RESTORATION PROJECT

The VIA had a concept that everyone felt good about and had moved forward, but when the cost came in, Witham said, “I had to pick myself up off the floor.”

At $5 million, the last plans were deemed too costly by the VIA. A scaled-down design is still likely to cost approximately $3.2-3.6 million. The VIA has asked if the town could be a potential financial partner.

Witham said that all along the way with the original design, almost everyone involved referred to the project as some kind of “unicorn” project because nobody had ever done one like it before.

After receiving the original quote, Witham and the team had value engineering meetings and discussions with Bar Harbor Town Manger James Smith. The obvious idea was to shrink the pool but still try and maintain the spirit of Glen Mary.

Witham said that the revised plan, which was presented to the town council on October 21, is in the spirit of Glen Mary. It has room for activities and a deep enough center for kids to learn how to swim.

The other large difference besides the overall size, is the removal of the ice skating element. With the change in local winter weather conditions, the price of equipment to maintain ice and the specialized concrete that is resistant to skate blades would be exorbitant.

Alternatively, the VIA is proposing that an ice skating facility be set up at the town’s ball fields in the winter.

Witham said, “We have essentially put our cards on the table, this is where we are at, this is the dollar figure. This is a partnership. We (the VIA) are all in, we think we can do this. That leaves, the remainder falls on you. Where are you (the town) at?”

The VIA is kind of in a holding pattern waiting on Town Manager James Smith to tell it where the town is at and the VIA is not moving forward or doing anything without knowing where the town is at in this partnership, Witham said.

“Obviously, as I said at the town council meeting, there probably couldn’t be a worse time to go to the town council and say, ‘Hey, you want to be part of this?’ because they are getting hammered with property taxes. You look at the school project and some other infrastructure projects that have been delayed for 30, 40 years that are now just wreaking havoc on everyone,” Witham said.

The town is in a tough spot, but it just has to answer the question of where it’s at before the VIA and town can determine the best path forward and how the partners can get there, Witham said.

Cough said that even though the VIA owns the Glen Mary Woods property, they have never put a penny into Glen Mary Pool in the past and that with the recent turnovers in town managers, there may have been some misunderstandings in who is responsible for the pool.

“We are happy to put money into this. We want to see this happen,” said Cough.

Witham said, “James, the new town manager, has been excellent to work with. He has been really a breath of fresh air. He wants to see something happen.”

Witham also said that Smith is waiting for some rough numbers from another contractor who has done some other public pool projects and once he gets those numbers, the VIA will probably hear back from the town.

As of July 31, the VIA has spent $100,837 on design, engineering, and other preliminary work for the Glen Mary Pool restoration project.

Cough said that he has also hired Bartlett Tree Service to do an assessment of the trees at Glen Mary Woods.

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DEGREGOIRE GREEN

Cough said that the VIA now has a conservation easement on a little more than half of the property and he has been bugging the owner of the lower half of the park to do a conservation easement on his portion.

The owner has some issue with the state’s right-of-way on the property and still has not cashed the check that the state gave them five years ago when it used part of its right-or-way for the reconstruction of Eden Street/Route 3.

Cough said that the state has a right-of-way on the entire park property because of drainage systems that run underneath of it. Cough also said that hopefully the owner of that portion of the park will put that piece in a conservation easement, someday, when he is ready.

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APPROVAL OF SLATE OF OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS

There was a change in officers with the departure of Kim Swan from the association’s board of directors. Swan was the secretary for the organization and that position will be filled by Erin Cough. The board’s officers are listed below.

• President – Dick “Dickie” Cough
• Vice President – Andy Shea
• Treasurer – Jon Nicholson
• Secretary – Erin Cough

The board also welcomed its newest member, long-time Bar Harbor resident Liddy Hubbell. The board of directors is listed below.

• Tom Testa
• Jeff Dobbs
• David C. Witham
• Helene Harton
• Julie Veilleux
• Liddy Hubbell

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VIA WEBSITE AND THE HISTORY TRUST

Erin Cough spoke about the VIA’s website and access issues that are being worked on so that members of the VIA can have control of the website, rather than a third party. That way the VIA can make changes to the website and not have to ask for changes to be made.

She also mentioned the History Trust, which is a repository of data from regional historical groups and other institutions that can be accessed for free online as an information source for anyone looking for local historical information.

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