Why a Bar Harbor Church Wants a Downtown Residential Rezone for New Parking
Dec 04, 2025
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Acadia Shops.
BAR HARBOR—The Neo-Gothic stone of the Holy Redeemer Church on the corner of Mount Desert Street and Ledgelawn was in crisis.
The rear stone wall at the church was buckling as if something was trying to push its way out. A tree was growing out of the building. Water leaked in between the granite stones.
“The rainwater is coming right through, and then, in the wintertime, it freezes and expands, and it’s blowing the stones right out of place,” construction foreman Jimmy Costa told the Portland Diocese.
Engineers found that the east wall had partially separated from the building. If not taken care of, they worried, the 16” wall of granite could collapse.
Something had to be done.
But as engineers inspected more of the church, they realized that its structural integrity was about more than just that outer facade. They had to restore the building’s structure.
“Despite initial hesitation from the parish, driven by cost concerns, we worked with them over the course of a year to demonstrate the risk of delay. With the support of parishioners and advocates, the church approved emergency shoring, and a bracing system was erected 35 feet high to stabilize the wall while a repair plan was developed,” LeMessurier, structural engineers with an office in Portland, Maine, wrote about the project.
It’s taken over half a decade. Almost all parts of the Holy Redeemer have in some way been taken care of in a project that was estimated in 2016 to cost at least $2 million.
Holy Redeemer replaced St. Sylvia’s Church, which was on the same lot. Engineers found multiple parts of the church was deteriorating. Stonework bulged. Mortar was no longer strong. Trusses and walls disconnected in multiple places. Some mortar on the church’s tower was sand.
“Over five years and multiple phases, the project has touched nearly every side of the structure, restoring integrity, enhancing safety, and uncovering hidden opportunities for improvement,” LeMessurier writes.
Now, the church is looking toward another change. On Wednesday, the church requested that the Bar Harbor Planning Board let its lot at 56 Mount Desert Street be rezoned from the Mount Desert Street Corridor District to the Downtown Residential District.
Each district has different lot coverage requirements and setbacks and specified allowed uses. A good portion of the change is due to the church hoping to build a parking lot on the Shannon Road side of the lot. This would increase the church’s lot coverage, which is already too much for its current zone.
“We have elderly parishioners and handicapped persons that with on-street parking don’t have good access to the church. The other benefit I think it provides is to pull parking off the streets of Bar Harbor,” Robert J. Krieg of Lark Studio said of the plan.
There would be landscaping along the side as well.
The church, which was built in 1913, is currently exceeding the lot coverage requirement for the Mount Desert Street Corridor District. It would be under that requirement for the Downtown Residential District Krieg said.
A variance would not be as helpful, Father Philip Clement said, since it would only deal with the setback issue, rather than a zoning change.
The church’s lot already borders the district it would like to be a part of.
“The district that they are asking to be placed in allows places of worship,” Bar Harbor Planner Michele Gagnon said, making it an obvious fit.
The Mount Desert Street Corridor District has a certain look to it, however, but the church will be allowed to have more lax setbacks, which will be changed on Shannon Way, Gagnon said.
The request for the district (or zone) change was deemed incomplete because it was missing one aspect of the application. It will be continued to the board’s January 7, 2026 meeting and there will likely be a public hearing in February.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Holy Redeemer Exterior Renovation Photos
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/EX5Pmwzqmpk?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0
BRIEFS AND PRESS RELEASES FROM YESTERDAY
We’re trying out a new way of bringing you the press releases and briefs that come in, by sharing them in our first morning story, but today, I forgot, so it’s here at noon. Apologies!
That way, briefs that are time-sensitive can be seen before our Friday round-up. Feel free to let us know if this is a hit or a miss for you.
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