Former Council Candidate Loses Short-Term Rental Case in Bar Harbor

Carrie Jones

Feb 11, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by the Maine Seacoast Mission.

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BAR HARBOR—An Ellsworth District Court judge supported the Town of Bar Harbor’s case against a short-term rental owner at 37 Eden Street in Bar Harbor.

The February 2 ruling found that Keith Goodrich has “taken no proceedings since such default was entered” and had not filed a “timely answer” in the complaint. He had not defended himself in the case.

The case originated in 2023 when the town said that Goodrich had not registered his property as a short-term rental property.

In 2021 residents voted 1,260-840 for restrictions on that type of property use. The intention of the changes was to limit the conversion of homes through the reduction of non-owner occupied rentals.

The town has two categories of short-term rentals. One category (VR-1) is uncapped and those are rentals out of a property owner’s primary residence or a second dwelling on the same parcel as the primary residence. The other (VR-2) is capped at 9% of the town’s housing stock.

Rentals that existed before the changes to the town’s rules and the cap were allowed to continue if they were inspected every three years and registered each year by a set spring deadline. Goodrich’s property had previously been registered.

Code Enforcement Officer Michael Gurtler explained at a February 4 planning board meeting that in 2025 there were a total of 615 short-term rentals. Of those, 195 are VR-1s (primary residences) and 420 VR-2s, which are capped. The current cap is calculated at just under 300 Gurtler said.

To have a VR-1, a home owner has to establish primary residence for six months.

The judge granted Bar Harbor a total combined $47,700 for fines and other penalties, agreeing that Goodrich’s property was not registered.

The minimum fine was $100 a day for the two seasons, totaling $8,200. This was for operating the rental for 53 stays in 2023 and 29 in 2024.

There was a $4,500 fine for the unauthorized operation, however, only $3,000 was assessed.

There was another $100 a day minimum fine for advertising the home as a short-term rental. Each season it was advertised for six months. That total came to $36,500.

In August 2023, then Code Enforcement Officer Angela Chamberlain told the Bar Harbor Town Council that it came to her attention that a property on Eden Street was acting as a short-term rental but did not have a current license. Goodrich lives in the property and rents out rooms, some of them, she said, fall under short-term rentals. It had been a VR-1. Multiple violation notices were sent by the town but were not claimed and then hand-delivered notices from the town received no replies.

The council then had two options. It could authorize the town attorney to file an enforcement action in court or enter a consent agreement with Goodrich.

Then Councilor Matthew Hochman said that if Goodrich or other violators hadn’t accepted the certified letter, there seems to be no reason to enter a consent agreement with that person.

The council unanimously accepted the code enforcement officer’s report as presented and then the council unanimously approved authorizing the town attorney to file that enforcement action.

Goodrich had previously run for town council in 2023 and lost.

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