Proposed potential change focuses on water.
Mar 04, 2026
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by the Maine Seacoast Mission.
SOUTHWEST HARBOR—Changes to the citizen’s petition that was overwhelmingly approved by voters in November and which created an amendment to the town’s land use ordinance will go forward, the Southwest Harbor Planning Board indicated, March 3.
The current ordinance calls for testing of soil contaminants for any property within a half-mile of anywhere the state has deemed “an uncontrolled site” prior to any land use that requires permitting.
Within Southwest Harbor, the only site considered “uncontrolled” and not remediated by the state is the Worcester Associates landfill property, which is in between Long Pond and the Marshall Brook Road and began in the 1930s with an open burning dump that was used by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and then the town. It has polluted ground water in the area.
However, the town’s code enforcement officer and others have worried that because the ordinance just says “uncontrolled,” soil testing rules apply to all three sites in town—including those remediated—, therefore limiting where development can occur without testing. Those three sites would be the Worcester Landfill, which is near the newly approved Trundy Farm subdivision, the Fox property, and the Stanley Boat Yard.
Southwest Harbor voters had passed those soil standard changes, meant to ensure property owners’ safety by keeping them away from dangerous chemicals in the soil, 554-187, on November 4, 2025.
Now, soil rules will likely go before the voters again with changes.
The town is hoping that if they work quickly enough, then the voters will get to decide on those changes in June.
Toward that end, Code Enforcement Officer Jarrod Kushla brought forward a draft for a revised soil testing ordinance language to the planning board, March 4, after the select board discussion of late February.
The planning board will likely revise the voter-approved and citizen-initiated soil-testing rules by replacing the current half-mile buffer with a risk-based trigger (e.g., proximity to a former gas station rather than .5 location to the uncontrolled site) and an exemption for properties on town water.
The goal, Kushla said, was to submit the revisions to the select board for March 10. It could then potentially be included on the June 2026 ballot.
“Their concern was with the water,” he said of MaineDOT’s original naming of the Worcester Landfill as an uncontrolled site.
He said he geared the changes more toward water than soil.
“It is a big change because now it’s geared to evidence that I found with Maine DEP, their concern was with the water, the contamination in any wells, groundwater,” Kushla told the planning board. “It even states in one of their reports where they designated the landfill as an uncontrolled site that there is a low concern of contamination migrating from soil.”
In the new proposal, if the lot is served by town water, then it would not trigger a soil test. The Trundy Farm subdivision will be served by town water, paid for by the developer, Planning Board Vice Chair Ben “Lee” Worcester.
“It’s a very expensive process to go through testing,” Worcester told fellow board members.
He had to have the soil tested for the Trundy Farm’s subdivision approval twice.
“They’d have to have a basis for that, then?” board member Charlotte Gill asked about property owners and the potential new risk-based trigger.
“I’m saying that if the code enforcement, the reviewing authority, which is the code enforcement officer or the planning board, if they determine that they believe there is a likelihood of contamination on that site, they can require a test,” Worcester said later.
Some members questioned whether voters knew that soil tests can be costly when they approved the changes.
Testing, Kushla has previously said, can cost between $10,000-$20,000. In a letter to the town, Worcester said the minimum cost is $5,000-$8,000.
Craig Kesselbaum, speaking from the public, said that the voter turnout was significant and important to remember as the planning board works through potential proposed revisions.
“And I just want to observe that that was, I think, a reaction, at least it was for me, to a perceived lack of concern in the past actions of the planning board, a willingness to go ahead and allow a proposal to go forward without sufficient testing,” Kesselbaum said.
He asked that the leaders of the ordinance change be available to partner with the board in the revision process.
“It would be an act of goodwill,” he said, “I think, to include some of the stakeholders, the citizens of this town who have told you as a planning board that we are concerned about the quality of our land, soil and our water, to include us in the language that you are proposing in a timely way.”
He also spoke to the impetus of the petition, which he said was the worries about the Trundy subdivision location by the landfill, an uncontrolled site for decades.
“Does Mr. Worcester intend to resolve the uncapped landfill and address the quality of life concerns that his fellow citizens have for our soil and our water?” Kesselbaum asked.
“In a way, we’re skirting around that issue by trying to revise the land use ordinance in ways that make it more reasonable and more affordable,” he said. “All of those things I appreciate, but we’re kind of dancing around the elephant in the room, and I wish the planning board would take that on straight ahead.”
The board members decided they’d like to have a public workshop on the potential proposed changes March 17. They could have a public hearing on March 31 or April 7.
OTHER BUSINESS AND DISCUSSION
The town is working for a state grant to work with the Musson Group on updating with the town’s land use ordinances. There are a half-dozen or so updates, Kushla said.
The town’s planning board held two public hearings, March 3, on two subdivisions, which it had failed to do prior to approving the changes requested in the two projects during a February 3 meeting.
The first was the Acadia Wellness Center/Acadia Yurts to subdivide a lot. The second was the Preserve at Acadia Pines, where Andrew Ray added a third dwelling. No members of the public had comments on either project.
The board reaffirmed its earlier findings as well.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
After Strong Voter Backing, Southwest Harbor Reconsiders Scope of Hazardous Soil Testing
Near a Century-Old Landfill, a Subdivision Stalls Over Questions of Soil Safety
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