Design Review Board Backs Illuminated Lighting Plans

Carrie Jones

Apr 15, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Window Panes Home and Garden.

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BAR HARBOR—The Mount Desert Island Hospital’s expansion project came before the town’s Design Review Board again, last week, as the hospital asked the board if its exterior light plan met the town’s standards.

Because the signs are internally illuminated, the board has to determine if they meet the town’s aesthetics.

The approval was for internally illuminated signs at the hospital’s Main Street and Wayman Lane-facing entrances of its new Emergency Department.

That Emergency Department addition is part of the hospital’s Master Campus Expansion project, which was approved by the Planning Board Board in March 2025.

According to MDI Hospital CEO Christina Maguire the lights are necessary to meet federal emergency room requirements.

The hospital is undergoing a $42 million expansion of its in-town Bar Harbor location off Main Street. The hospital broke ground on that 42,600-square foot expansion this past year.

“The hospital is almost 130 years old and she has served this community,” well for those years, Maguire told Bar Harbor Planning Board members, just over a year ago.

The project on a 5.61-acre parcel at 10 Wayman Lane had already received lighting approval in November 2024.

”We are in desperate need of expanding our emergency needs center,” Maguire has previously told the town’s Planning Board.

The pandemic proved this, she said, as the hospital struggled to keep separation between potentially contagious patients. The renovations and construction will also help create more dedicated spaces for those with emergency behavioral health needs.

Maguire often cites that in 2023, Maine had approximately 15.3 million tourists and, she says, that a quarter of those came to Mount Desert Island which made June through October busy for the hospital’s emergency room, tripling the number of visits compared to the rest of the year.

The redesign allows more visibility to the emergency room. In the summer of 2024, some people with emergency room needs were unable to easily find the hospital’s emergency department, which is tucked away a bit toward the rear of the property, she’d said.

“Their health was at risk. Their lives were at risk,” Maguire said.

The signs for the hospital are part of creating the visibility for its entrance and its emergency room.

The hospital wrote in its application that “this modification can be considered as relocating and upgrading existing signage. The new main and emergency entrances of the hospital will be clearly visible from Main Street / ME RT-3, and Wayman Lane. The proposed signage intentionally provides a clear line of sight between Main Street, Wayman Lane, and the new emergency department entrances for improved wayfinding for patients and visitors, especially those seeking time-sensitive/emergency medical attention.”

Some in the neighborhood also had previously stated concerns about lights from the emergency room sign and how currently hospital employees park throughout the neighborhood.

The planning board had previously approved the channel letter lights. If anything else is used, such as a push through style, it would have to go back to the Planning Board and the hospital plan would open to public comment. The hospital would have preferred the push through.

“It’d be starting the rodeo all over again,” Maguire said.

If the hospital asks for a modification of standard, that can only be provided by the Planning Board. The lighting change can’t be a minor modification of standards, Planning Director Michele Gagnon explained.

But for the Design Review Board, the goal was to say if the lighting design meets the aesthetic standards of the town.

The board could say that one sign style or another or both does or does not.

In the end, the board members decided that the new lighting plan for a type three (typically channel lights) would meet their standards, but would still need planning board approval. It also approved type five lights, which are less intense.

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ANDREA LEPCIO RESIGNATION AND BOARD MEMBERSHIP.

Andrea Lepcio is resigning from the board because she’s moving to Ellsworth. The board has seven seats. Two are already vacant. She was thanked for her time.

There was a quick discussion about potential changes to Chapter 31 in the town’s ordinance, which governs boards and committees. The board discussed having enough members for a quorum as well as how to get more members.

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