Bar Harbor and VIA Each Pledge $750K to Bring Childhood Landmark Back to Life.
May 22, 2026
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by First National Wealth Management.
BAR HARBOR—The Town Council has committed to a $750,000 match to revitalize the Glen Mary Wading Pool area, which has been broken and decommissioned for the last several years.
Town staff and Town Manager James Smith have been looking to funding sources that wouldn’t shock future budgets or necessitate a future tax increase, Smith told Bar Harbor Town Council, May 19.
The Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association (VIA) has been leasing the pool and surrounding woodland park to the town since 1995 and 2014 respectively.
The Council order establishes the commitment of funds, but doesn’t authorize work at the site. That authorization would have to come in the future when the VIA comes back to the Council with a final plan.
The funds come from the following budget lines:
- Road Improvements, $400,000
- Sidewalk Construction, $50,000
- Unassigned Parking Fund Balance, $75,000
- Unassigned General Fund Balance, $35,000.
The remainder of the funds are in the Glen Mary Capital Improvement Fund portion of the town’s budget.
The Village Improvement Association has also said it will commit up to $750,000. That includes money it has already spent, which is approximately $100,000.
The order did a bit more than commit funds to the project, which sits in a residential area in Bar Harbor Proper.
This defines a budget, Smith said, that they can build a plan around. The town may also use some CIP budget for Glen Mary of approximately $25,000 for soft costs, such as engineering or design.
Councilor David Kief asked if there were any other avenues to raise funds.
Smith said that within the order it’s clarified that the town would like to pursue grants.
“But we’re not locked in if there was a windfall of some sort, then the plan could be enhanced?” Kief asked.
“Sure,” Smith said.
“I’m concerned and it looks to me like this is essentially the credit card approach,” Charles Sidman said during public comment. “It seems to me your authorizing funds to move from reserve accounts that were put there for specific purposes. In my expectation is that when those purposes need accomplishment, we will raise the taxes to replenish those reserve accounts so it looks like to me we’re doing the credit card deal.”
“We’re trying to clarify our relationship with the VIA,” Town Manager James Smith said.
The order also authorizes the town manager “to review existing agreements and other historical arrangements relating to the Glen Mary property, and to negotiate and enter into a revised agreement with the Village Improvement Association.”
On April 21, the Town Council had heard some worrisome news about the financial viability of fixing the Glen Mary wading pool as David Witham of the Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association asked the town to commit to a certain level of support—which would be matched by the VIA—to the project.
Witham had asked for a town match of $750,000. That amount would hopefully support a water feature and green space. The VIA would raise the same amount.
“We’ve spent well over $100,000 on design fees up to this point,” Witham had said, adding that the volunteer-run nonprofit is pushing forward as best it can after the Shore Path repair project that the VIA fundraised for after winter storms demolished the path. “We need to design towards a number.”
And that currently proposed number of $1.5 million won’t support the wading pool.
“It won’t be a swimming pool like we’ve all known it, we know that, I think at this point, but we should be able to do a nice park and hopefully have some kind of water feature for the smaller kids,” Witham had said.
At the May meeting, Vice Chair Maya Caines suggested that setting the budget ahead of time for large capital improvements and needs is good practice.
“This method of deciding what the budget is before creating a project is something that we should be following moving forward,” Caines said, adding that this isn’t to knock any other projects that have previously occurred, but that it was good practice.
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