Case is focused on town’s ability to permit cruise ship disembarkations at Ells Pier
Dec 27, 2025
BAR HARBOR—In a December 16 brief, Charles Sidman’s attorney Robert Papazian (Gebhardt & Kiefer), asked the Maine Business and Consumer Court to vacate the Bar Harbor Appeals Board’s June decision that said Sidman had lack of standing in a case whether the town can disembark passengers at 23 Ells Pier.
Ells Pier is the town pier at the end of West Street. The cruise ships that the town allows to disembark passengers there are American Cruise Line ships, which have American flags (meaning that they don’t require U.S. Customs officials) and are smaller cruise ships, typically holding approximately 100-200 passengers.
Because American Cruise Lines (ACL) ships are United States flagged vessels, the town doesn’t need a secure facility to disembark its passengers, according to Harbormaster Chris Wharff. The company’s tenders tend to carry 30 passengers at a time.
In his filing, Papazian also argues that the town’s administrative fees are excessive ($1,500) for this appeals process and therefore unconstitutional. He argues that the case should be remanded back to the appeals board so that Sidman’s appeal can be heard.
Papazian writes that the town allowing itself (via permits) to disembark American Cruise Line cruise ship passengers at Ells Pier, which is owned by the town, creates “congestion throughout downtown and disrupts Mr. Sidman’s downtown business and his use and enjoyment of his own property, town parks, sidewalks, and the waterfront.”
At the time of the appeals board case, the board had decided that Sidman lacked standing. He owns property at 6 Mount Desert Street, which Papazian wrote was “approximately a quarter of a mile away from the town pier.” He had previously run the business at 110 Main Street.
Papazian said that “the hearing was not an adjudication—it was a foregone conclusion.”
The appeal was about the town’s issuing a disembarkation facility permit to itself on land zoned “Shoreland General Development 1.” Sidman and his attorney would have argued before the town board that this is not an allowed use in the zone.
Also in the filing, Papazian writes that the Golden Anchor’s attorney “filed its materials late, opposing Mr. Sidman’s appeal, and attempted to fraudulently cover up its late filing by manually changing the timestamps on its electronic submission.” He adds that the planning department did not mark the materials “late.” He said the materials were allowed and discussed, that while Sidman was only able to speak for two minutes, the town was allowed more than two minutes, and that Sidman wasn’t allowed to introduce rebuttal evidence. He also argues that an associate member of the board should not have been allowed to make the motion and to vote about Sidman’s standing.
He argues that Sidman is an aggrieved party and should have standing because his property was “directly or indirectly affected” by the permit that allows the disembarkations of American Cruise Line passengers.
“Clients of his business complain and refuse to patronize his store on days when cruise ships are disembarking passengers because the downtown is overrun with passengers,” Papazian argues. “This harm is evidenced by the fact that Mr. Sidman’s business experienced its ‘best year ever’ financially in 2021, when (there were) virtually no cruise ship passengers disembarking into the downtown as a result of Covid-19 restrictions.”
Papazian also argues that Sidman suffered particularized injury from cruise ship disembarkations into the downtown because his art gallery is impacted as is his enjoyment of the town parks, sidewalks, and waterfront area.
The town pier, he writes, is not zoned for cruise ship disembarkations.
Bar Harbor Town Manager James Smith said earlier this week that the town has not yet filed its response.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Application Materials
- Application (submitted May 9, 2025)
- Additional Submission-1 (Submitted June 4, 2025)
- Additional Submission-2 (Submitted June 4, 2025)
- Additional Submission-3 (Submitted June 4, 2025)
- Town of Bar Harbor Lawyer Submission (submitted June 17, 2025)
- Town of Bar Harbor Lawyer Submission – Letter (submitted June 17, 2025)
- Golden Anchor Interested Party Submission – Letter (submitted June 17, 2025)
- Golden Anchor Interested Party Submission (submitted June 17, 2025)
- ACL (American Cruise Lines) Interested Party Letter (submitted June 17, 2025)
2025 12 16 Sidman 80b Brief (final)
278KB ∙ PDF file
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UPDATE: Mr. Papazian has sent a letter stating his concerns about this story. We’ve uploaded the letter here to make sure that more people will see it. That update occurred on January 4, 2026.
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