Council asks staff for more details before moving forward.

Carrie Jones and Shaun Farrar

Jan 22, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by First National Bank.

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BAR HARBOR—What began as complaints about parking and commercial activity at Hadley Point Beach has grown into a broader discussion over who gets to use Bar Harbor’s limited public waterfront and how, prompting the town council this week to delay proposed ordinance changes while officials reconsider how to create language that could potentially balance public access, business use, and equity at the beach and a parking lot in town.

Potential changes to how the town deals with businesses using public property were not moved forward, January 20, with the town council directing Code Enforcement Officer Mike Gurtler to continue to tweak the changes, which would impact how the town regulates commercial uses at places such as Hadley Point Beach and Park Street parking lot.

The possible changes have also inspired Brad Jordan, an MDI kayak company owner, who uses the beach to launch kayaks, to create a petition on Change.Org.

“These restrictions challenge longstanding traditions of meeting registered Maine guides in public parks and further restrict which methods the public may safely recreate. In this particular case, most at risk, are those with already existing barriers to recreate in the region,” Jordan wrote of the town’s potential changes.

While it is probably most commonly thought of as just a beach with a nice view and easy access to the water for swimming, Hadley Point Beach, referred to as Hadley Point Landing in the town’s municipal ordinances, is currently one of only two public access boat launch areas with an actual ramp on the eastern side of Bar Harbor.

Discussions about changes to how Hadley Point Beach is used recently surfaced in July 2025 at a Bar Harbor Parks and Recreation Committee meeting after a couple complained about a perceived uptick in commercial use and decreased amount of parking.

Gurtler told the councilors, January 20, “We had several concerns voiced to Chief Kerns and myself over Hadley Point and then some use of the ball field parking lot.”

Those concerns were focused on commercial uses in those two public areas.

That town committee meeting in July and following months showed some tension in how residents’ (and summer residents’) interests and commercial interests may not perfectly coincide in a town that has recently seen debates about cruise ships, tourism, short-term vacation rentals, and special amusement permits that regulate music in spaces where liquor is served.

To address concerns, town staff added definitions of what public property is and “service.” They eliminated language and replaced “food and merchandise” with “food, merchandise, and services.” They also restricted business operations on public property, Gurtler explained. Pronouns were changed as well.

Councilor Earl Brechlin asked about the difference between gathering somewhere like Hadley Point and then going to kayak rather than going to public property and meeting up with customers there.

“Would this prohibit someone from, you know, if one of the kayak operators in the town everybody gets in the van and goes down there, would they be prohibited from launching on that ramp?” Brechlin asked.

Access to the water is not limited, Gurtler said.

Gurtler said that at Hadley Point there have been outfitters there all day long and customers of those outfitters parking.

“What we wanted to do was reduce that use of operating out of the park area, but it would still allow someone to access that water by the boat ramp,” he said.

Chair Val Peacock said that Leary’s Landing, a commercial restaurant business downtown, has an agreement with the town, which allows it to lease land on the sidewalk for outdoor seating.

“Are those agreements now breaking our own ordinance?” she asked. Is there an option to think about licensing the use of public property, she wondered.

Staff could look at that, Gurtler said.

“They wouldn’t be able to set up shop down there,” Gurtler later said of kayak companies’ use of the area, “and that’s the difference.”

“We don’t want to privatize all our public space, but there’s also an opportunity for revenue,” Peacock said, and there could be future conversations about the ferry terminal, once it is running, to have tour boats leaving from the site and paying for that privilege.

Vice Chair Maya Caines said an email to the council spoke about how the town lacks a public boat launch and there’s a lack of access to the waterfront, unlike the ball field parking lot.

The issue at the ball field had been a bike retailer, doing business online and meeting people at the lot. There were at least two outfitters who used Hadley Point Beach on a regular basis, Gurtler said.

Jordan, a master Maine guide and business owner said “I’ve been bringing family, youth, adaptive paddlers” to the beach for ten years.

Jordan and others said that Hadley Point is special because it tends to be gentle water, flat, and protective, up in the Narrows, which is more conducive for younger paddlers, first time paddlers, and adaptive paddlers.

He said there are reasonable guardrails that the council could suggest after having more observation and dialogue. He said the complaints came from seasonal residents. He doesn’t think that additional use in the area is the wrong use.

Joanna Fogg, co-owner of Bar Harbor Oyster Company, has used the beach as a launch site for 10 years, using it as an access point. She said traffic and use has gone up.

“I definitely think the use of the area should be considered, and possibly managed and discussed,” Fogg said.

She spoke of how her company’s workers, and other agriculture businesses and volunteers worked to keep the beach and water clean when the quality was threatened last year.

“Most people don’t come to Maine with their own kayak,” she said. “We should think of some ways that work to make sure that different users can continue to operate in a way that works for everybody, that keeps the water clean.”

She said that her crew members mostly car pool and if they have to park there, they park on the back area to make sure they don’t interrupt the view-scape for others.

Rachel D’Angeli asked if it was possible to designate trailer parking spots and permits for the off-season. She spoke of cold water swims and saunas.

“All winter long we have the whole community gathering and going in the ocean together. Our neighbors are meeting each other at the sauna,” she said.

They pay to do that, but not at Hadley Beach, she said, and the trailer and sauna are never left overnight.

She asked for more discussion and clarity and possibly stipulations around uses. It’s important, she said, to really consider ways to sort it out clearly and allow for some commercial uses.

“Clarity is a good point,” Jordan said, adding that for a decade he’s been told to meet with multiple people throughout the town and never finding that clarity.

“What we’re trying to prevent is leaving trailers there overnight, setting up all day long, restricting access—either visual or physical—to parts of the beach and that’s what we’re trying to stop,” Gurtler said. “This isn’t just public because we have organizations and businesses coming in because they’re using town property in a way that reduces the ability for other public to use it.”

According to Bar Harbor Police Chief David Kerns, trailers and cars being parked at Hadley Point overnight started a bigger conversation about overnight parking and commercial use, eventually involving the town’s highway department, police department, and code enforcement office trying to get to some type of resolution.

“We really tightened up and got a lot of the trailers and stuff and really enforced that overnight parking, which I think did help,” Chief Kerns said.

He said there is no public parking at the in-town lots that isn’t permitted or paid. Parking is free at the beach.

Caines said she wasn’t currently ready to send the proposed changes to public hearing. The working waterfront and ball field feel like two distinct places and this would limit the working waterfront.

Brechlin was ready to send it on and that those using parking spaces are using public spaces in a private lot.

“It’s not a free parking lot for your business,” Brechlin said. Waiting on changes, would create greater uncertainty for the upcoming season.

Peacock was worried about enforcement and where the line is for a business to be “setting up shop.” There might not be enough information in the proposed changes and too much subjectivity in the proposed changes, she said.

“If this doesn’t go through tonight, it doesn’t mean that we don’t want to do this work,” Peacock said.

“I’d love to do this again,” Councilor Steven Boucher said and the changes have a great spine but are still a bit nebulous.

In the end, the council split in its recommendation.

Brechlin and David Kief voted to move it forward. Councilors Boucher, Caines, Joe Minutolo, and Peacock voted against, charging Gurtler to work on more details and clarity.

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CURRENT LANGUAGE

Trailers on public land is in direct violation of Town of Bar Harbor Municipal Code Chapter 144, Parks. Section 18, paragraph D of that chapter reads, “Night parking prohibited. A person shall not leave a vehicle, construction equipment or construction materials standing or parked at night in a park after closing hours. Any vehicle, equipment or materials found in a park after closing hours shall be removed and stored at the expense of the owner.”

Commercial use is also not mentioned in Chapter 31, Article VIII, which is the section outlining duties and powers of the parks and recreation committee. The committee, which is only advisory in nature, is given sweeping (advisory) authority over the use of town parks in sections 106 and 107.

Section 106 reads, “Mission. The parks and recreation committee shall act in an advisory capacity to the town council and town manager in all matters relating to the development and management of the town’s parks and recreation facilities.”

Section 107 reads in part, “Powers and duties. The committee will: A. Make recommendations for the use, maintenance, improvement, and development of Glen Mary Park, Park Street Playground, Athletic Field, Grant Park, the Village Green, Agamont Park, and the Town Beach and such other recreational facilities and areas as the town may acquire.”

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THE PETITION

As of noon, January 22, Jordan had collected 22 signatures on the petition that he began the night before.

Within the petitions language, he calls on Bar Harbor “to pause and commit to an impact study that examines:

• “Parking usage data: when congestion actually occurs, by season and time of day
• “Public access impacts: whether current uses prevent others from enjoying the park
• “Environmental considerations: evidence of ecological harm, if any
• “Neighborhood impacts: traffic, noise, and abutter concerns, supported by data
  Youth and accessibility impacts: how restrictions would affect children, educational programs, and people with disabilities
• “Equity and fairness: whether certain recreational choices are being unfairly limited while others are favored.”

Jordan’s petition states, “Public parks exist to serve the public — and that includes allowing people to choose how they recreate, whether that’s sitting on the beach, enjoying a picnic, or safely learning to kayak with their children or with the support they need.

“Redefining certain recreational choices as less ‘public’ than others risks narrowing access and excluding those who benefit most from inclusive, guided outdoor experiences.”

The petition asks that none of the rules or access to Hadley Point be changed until an impact study is finished and that it be a process that is both transparent, inclusive, and involves the public, with “decisions grounded in data, equity, and accessibility — not perception alone.”

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DRAFT ORDINANCE FROM THE JANUARY 20 MEETING

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LINKS TO LEARN MORE

The petition.

To watch the meeting.

To read the packet head to the town’s agenda center on its website.

Photos by Carrie Jones and Shaun Farrar/Bar Harbor Story

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