Others worry about unruly behavior at Hadley Point.
Mar 21, 2026
BAR HARBOR—Small business owners who use Hadley Point continue to worry about proposed tweaks to the town’s ordinance and its potential consequences to their livelihoods, they told Bar Harbor Town Councilors this week.
However, two more island residents had broader concerns about the activity on the small, town-owned beach that often hosts guide service launches, aquaculture uses, and private recreation.
The discussion steps from the town’s current draft proposal for how the town manages its public properties—not just the beach, but also the town’s ball fields and other spaces.
Discussion at a March 4 workshop focused mostly on how businesses will no longer be able to stage at places like the town’s ball fields and Hadley Point Beach or meet customers there to transact business.
Kayak companies, guides, portable sauna owners, and others have worried about how that could impact their livelihoods.
At the March 17 Town Council meeting, those concerns continued during public comment.
Naturalist Rich MacDonald, a nature columnist for the Mount Desert Islander and owner of the Natural History Center, spoke about his nature tours which sometimes use Hadley Point.
Limiting kayak operations would have a huge and detrimental impact to him.
“I would lose about 25% of my business,” MacDonald said.
“I run a small nature tour business. We do nature adventure tours around Acadia and Downeast Maine and beyond,” MacDonald said. “I’m pretty much a one-man show. I get support from my wife, but she’s kind of behind the scenes.”
MacDonald’s expertise is in birding, hiking, and kayaking. He does approximately three three-hour tours a week from Hadley Point.
“I just wanted to be part of the discussion about any decisions made or thinking of making decisions on how to use Hadley Point commercially,” MacDonald said. “I know there’s aquaculture operations, fisheries, and there’s a long history of fishery use out of Hadley Point.”
The area has been used for launching tide tours, at least since 1991, he said. He’s been doing his own tours there since 2010.
“There’s a lot of recreation,” he said and until recent years, he said the area wasn’t heavily used.
In 2005, the town focused on building a boat ramp at the beach to “help alleviate heavy seasonal use” at Ells Pier, which is located downtown, according to a Bangor Daily News article by Bill Trotter at the time.
“I’ve been down there all the time for 25 years and when Acadia National Park implemented their timed entry permit to go up Cadillac in 2021, we suddenly saw a huge spike of people going to Hadley Point in the evening to watch the sunset because you couldn’t go up Cadillac Mountain. I think it was a good decision for Cadillac, but it’s had a huge impact on Hadley Point,” MacDonald said.
Social media posts promoting the area as a good place to hang out has also increased the popularity of the beach during the day. The use, he said, has changed in the last five years.
“I’d like to be part of that conversation when discussions are made about what to do about Hadley Point,” MacDonald said.
The town’s potential changes weren’t discussed at the latest Town Council meeting, but were at a workshop earlier in March.
“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,” Code Enforcement Officer Michael Gurtler told the councilors at that March 4 workshop. “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 and Recreation Committee.
“We’re putting similar restrictions that have been in place for 30 years for food and merchandise to services,” Gurtler had 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.”
Gurtler had 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’d 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 had said of what the town officially refers to as “Chapter 94, food, merchandise and other sales on public property.”
Most of the changes, Gurtler had 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’d said.
This caused concerns about congestion, use of property, traffic, and parking in those places.
A woman who identified herself as Emily also spoke and said she did so on behalf of Jared Monahan of Acadia Sea Kayaking Adventures who couldn’t attend because of family obligations and was away.
“One of the biggest things that he pushes with guests that come to the island is respect,” she said.
He worried about some of the definitions in the proposed changes (that of public property and commercial activity) need to be clarified and that, as currently written, they could limit professional dog walkers from repeatedly using town sidewalks.
Similar concerns have been stated at previous workshops and meetings of the town’s Parks and Recreation Committee, which is where two neighbors of the beach had brought up concerns about its commercial use and congestion.
One local kayak guide who uses the point, Brad Jordan, has started a petition asking for no changes yet and an inclusive process and data-based decisions.
“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,” Brad Jordan wrote of the town’s potential changes.
“Kayaks are most certainly part of our working waterfront in Maine,” Emily said Monahan had written.
A broad overhaul right before the season could have major repercussions and temporary permits could be used as a potential stopgap before the next season, he said.
Scott Grierson of Bass Harbor had a different take.
Grierson said, ”I’ve been on this rock here. I was conceived on this rock and I’ve lived here 53 of my 58 years. You can lose public access to a place, not just by stopping it,” he said, referencing when individual property owners close access to the waterfront, but also from over commercialization.
“Not all of your kayak operators are the same,” he said.
“You have to zone to protect your public,” Grierson said. “I don’t think you know entirely everyone you’re dealing with.”
For Kala Ward, it wasn’t the kayak companies or nature guides’ use that worried her about the area and its impact on the “couple of dozen children” who live and play in the area.
“I did notice this summer that there was a lot more activity that was of concern especially when the families were gathering. There were people camping in the woods down at Hadley Point. There was a lot more drinking this summer. And some behavior that was unruly on certain nights.
She hoped that the Town Council would also think about the environment and activity in general and not just the businesses that are using the area.
“I grew up down there. Regularly with my dad, we’d take time down on the sea shore. There’s lots of kids in our community who do the same thing regularly,” she said.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
To read the presented proposed draft.
Bar Harbor Will Consider Rule That Would Limit Businesses Staging on Hadley Point and Park Street Ball Fields
Commercial Uses at Hadley Point Landing Come Under Scrutiny
No Recommendation About Hadley Point Landing Being Used for Commercial Purposes
Follow us on Facebook or BlueSky or Instagram. And as a reminder, you can easily view all our past stories and press releases here.
Bar Harbor Story is a mostly reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thanks for being here with us and being part of our community too!
Please help us keep bringing you daily, local news for free.
Make a monthly donation
Make a yearly donation
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearlyDiscover more from Bar Harbor Story
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.