Other cases continue.

Carrie Jones

Mar 26, 2026

BAR HARBOR—A legal challenge stemming from a Bar Harbor cruise ship violation reached its conclusion, Thursday, as the Maine Supreme Judicial Court denied two counts of an appeal filed by Charles Sidman and affirmed the Maine Business Court’s earlier rulings.

The March 26 decision by a panel of justices determined that the Business Court had not erred when dismissing Count 1 and Count 2 of Sidman’s complaint for a lack of standing. This affirmed the lower court’s judgement.

The case concerns the town’s Board of Appeals ruling on a violation that had been issued to the Golden Anchor L.C. concerning the allegation that the company had disembarked cruise ship passengers without a permit.

“Although Sidman advocated for this result before the Board, he now attacks the procedure and reasoning the Board employed in reaching its decision,” the justices wrote.

The justices quoted Tominsky v. Ogunquit writing, “‘A party lacks standing to appeal a judgement that grants the relief the party sought simply because the party would prefer to have the judgement rest on different reasoning.’”

It ruled that an exception to the rule that speaks to prejudicing the party through collateral estoppel in the future did not apply.

The justices wrote, “The court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing Sidman’s claim for declaratory relief as duplicative of his Rule80B claim.”

It also decided that the justices could “discern no error in the court’s conclusion that Sidman lacks standing to appeal.”

“The town is committed to carrying out its responsibilities in accordance with the law and to addressing issues thoughtfully and appropriately when they arise,” Bar Harbor Town Manager James Smith said March 26. “The town respects and appreciates the decision of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court and will continue to fulfill its responsibilities to the community as a whole.”

“What today’s Law Court decision actually reveals is that Golden Anchor cannot rely on the Board of Appeals’ uninformed pronouncement that the disembarkation of cruise ship passengers ‘is, and has been, a permitted use in the applicable zoning district,’” Sidman’s attorney Robert Papazian said. “Although it is not clear why the Board felt the need to pontificate about the issue in its decision, what is clear is that the Law Court does not find the Board’s digression relevant to Golden Anchor’s various appeals. In Golden Anchor’s administrative appeal, we tried to make arguments to the Board and the Board unlawfully curtailed the presentation of our case. We had to separately appeal from the Board’s decision to protect our rights in case the Courts did give credence to the Board’s statement about allowed uses downtown. One way or another, we are going to resolve the issue of permitted uses downtown in our separate litigation challenging the town’s use of the town pier to disembark passengers in the same district Golden Anchor believes it has an unfettered right to besiege downtown throughout the cruise ship season. Today’s Law Court decision only reaffirms that we won before the Board in defeating Golden Anchor’s administrative appeal and that we should be happy with our win.”

Sidman is a local business owner and lead petitioner of a citizen’s petition that significantly decreased cruise ship visits in Bar Harbor. That separate case is still in appeals.

Another case involves Sidman appealing the town’s decision to allow small cruise ships to disembark passengers at 23 Ells Pier. That is headed back to the town’s Appeals Board after Superior Court Judge Michael A Duddy decided in a March 2 ruling that Charles Sidman does count as an aggrieved party under the town’s ordinance when it comes to the administrative appeal of the town’s cruise ship disembarkation permit for the town pier.

---

HELP SUPPORT THE BAR HARBOR STORY

When we started The Bar Harbor Story, we didn’t know if anyone would read it. But you showed up. You shared. You sent tips. Now—over 400,000 views every month later—it’s clear: people here care about their community and each other.

We’ve kept everything free because news should never be out of reach, but every one of our stories takes time to write, and your support keeps The Bar Harbor Story going.

If you value our work, please consider a paid subscription, a founding membership, or a sponsorship.

It truly helps us cover one more meeting, tell one more story, shine one more light.

Even $5 a month makes a difference. Click here to become a one-time supporter now.

Thank you so much for being here.

Founding member information can be found here.

Have questions about sponsorships? Just send Shaun an email at sfarrar86@gmail.com, he’d love to hear from you.