Mar 05, 2026
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Acadia Psychiatry.
BAR HARBOR—If new changes to how the town manages its public property continue to move forward, businesses will no longer be able to stage at places like the town’s ball fields and Hadley Point Beach.
The changes were discussed at a Bar Harbor Town Council workshop, March 4, where Code Enforcement Officer Michael Gurtler explained the proposal, which came after some residents’ concerns primarily about commercial use at Hadley Point Beach.
“We did specifically put in a section that doesn’t allow staging, which is what’s currently going on, particularly down at Hadley Point, and also down at the ball field parking lot with some bike rentals,” Gurtler told the councilors. “Those were kind of the major changes in there.”
Events like Art in the Park and the Bar Harbor (MDI) Rotary Club’s Fourth of July Pancake Breakfast and Seafood Festival will still be allowed and are permitted through the town’s Parks & Recreation Committee.
“We’re putting similar restrictions that have been in place for 30 years for food and merchandise to services,” Gurtler said.
The proposed draft rules define service as “an act such as rental of items, delivery of products, and/or other business activities for compensation.”
Charles Sidman asked the councilors that they might want to be clearer about addressing commercial sales on public property or commercial uses on public property.
He spoke of an artist who sits on a public bench and whittles a stick that will eventually be for sale.
Gurtler explained that the changes would not mean that an artist can’t whittle and carve a walking stick while sitting on a bench in Agamont Park, but she would not be able to sell the stick while there. This is the same as how a hotdog vendor can’t go to the town’s ballfields and sell hot dogs during an event.
None of that is changing, he said. What’s happening is that they are adding services.
“It’s been in place for over 30 years. The majority of the chapter is intact,” Gurtler said of what the town officially refers to as “Chapter 94, food, merchandise and other sales on public property.”
Most of the changes, Gurtler said, are about adding services because the ordinances weren’t regulating all that they necessarily needed to regulate.
“We’ve had businesses basically operating out of town property,” he said.
This caused concerns about congestion, use of property, traffic, and parking in those places.
Gurtler said he’s tweaked the changes since the last workshop with the council, and since that tweak, he’s spoken to some of the people who use Hadley Point for commercial, traditional, maritime uses such as fishing and aquaculture.
They also want to make sure it doesn’t limit the ability for the town to have a working waterfront. That language was added and still might need some tweaking, Gurtler said.
The new rules, he said, also allow for commercial drop off and pickup. It also allows for council agreements about the uses of certain activities.
“We’re trying to ensure people still have adequate access to the water while preserving some regulatory structure,” Town Manager James Smith said.
The Bar Harbor Parks and Recreation Committee have purview for parts of Hadley Point above the high waterline.
At some point, Smith suggested, the town may want to look at a master plan for Hadley Point, which Gurtler said was becoming more busy, particularly for watching sunsets.
“Hadley Point is a nice place to escape the touristy part of Bar Harbor,” Councilor Randell Sprague said.
Bill Hersey, a property owner near Hadley Point, said,“My main concern is I just feel that the operations that are down there now are making profits—making money—off the town land. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not when you could just say no.”
There are other sites that they could go to, he said.
“Something doesn’t set right with me that they’re using town land, making money, in and out all the time, day after day, week after week, month after month. That’s just about all I have to say,” Hersey said.
Councilor Earl Brechlin said there is little public access waterfront in Bar Harbor and what is there needs to be preserved.
Ezra Sassaman asked if it made more sense to have the rules trigger after there is a concern about congestion or to restrict first in the hope of accomplishing the goal. He asked if it applied to individuals or only businesses of a certain size.
If he met with someone on Craigslist to purchase an item, could they do the transaction at the ball field? he asked.
The goal is to bring the changes to the next town council meeting on March 17.
Gurtler wanted to clarify with the council if they thought camping was appropriate or not on public property. Caines said she was ambivalent. Brechlin said he was not in favor.
“I think people can sleep wherever they want,” Caines said later, but understood if the rest of the council was against the idea.
Gurtler also asked about campfires on Hadley Point, which he’s seen evidence of there.
Brechlin said he’d be interested in what Fire Chief Matt Bartlett would say about it.
Gurtler said that if the activity was allowed, perhaps there could be a more appropriate way to do it, such as setting up a fire ring or barbecue pit.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
To read the presented proposed draft.
Commercial Uses at Hadley Point Landing Come Under Scrutiny
No Recommendation About Hadley Point Landing Being Used for Commercial Purposes
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