August public hearing will examine continued limits on larger hotels while potential land-use changes continue to move toward voters.
Jul 23, 2026
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by First National Bank.
BAR HARBOR—Bar Harbor’s current moratorium on building and renovating hotels, motels, and inns ends July 27.
However, at the Bar Harbor Town Council workshop, July 7, discussion circled about possibly extending that halt on building or renovating transient accommodations again, but in a slightly different way—a way that would not include all lodging types, but two in seven districts.
Now, the council has committed to the next step, scheduling a public hearing on the moratorium, as well as hearings for two land use amendments (graduated lodging scale; alignment and integration of definitions).
The public hearings will be in Council Chambers in the Bar Harbor Municipal Building, August 18.
The moratorium hearing is a step toward potential enactment, but it is not the actual enactment. That vote occurs after the public hearing.
“[T]he Town Council finds that a temporary and narrowly tailored moratorium limited to Lodging IV and Lodging V developments in the affected geographic areas is the minimum action necessary to protect the public health, safety, and welfare while completion of the pending ordinance amendments occurs,” the moratorium reads.
The pending ordinance amendment is the graduated lodging scale, which would limit lodging built in town in multiple ways.
Along with changing lodging definitions and where certain lodging types could be placed throughout Bar Harbor, that scale would cap hotels in much of the downtown area to 12 guest units or less.
The proposal is supported by people who worry about displacement of homes and congestion in downtown proper.
Those against the proposal feel it’s government overreach and that it will simply displace hotel development to Trenton or Ellsworth, increasing traffic congestion onto the island as visitors come back and forth to Acadia National Park, driving more each day to visit.
Part of the moratorium’s language expresses that the downtown village districts have “experienced a transition from small- and mid-sized lodging establishments to higher-intensity hotel development.”
It cites two examples, built ten years apart. One is the Pathmaker, a 45-room hotel in built in 2023. The other is the West Street Hotel, which it says is 85 rooms and built a decade earlier in 2013.
It does not cite the Bar Harbor Grand Hotel, built in 2003, which is a replica of the Rodick House. According to the Bar Harbor Grand Hotel’s website, the original, historic Rodick House “was advertised as the largest hotel in Maine. It included 400 guest rooms, dining facilities for 1000 and a renowned watering hole known as the ‘Fish Pond.’”
Outside of Downtown Village 1 and 2, but close by, the Harborside on West Street was built in 2003. The Hampton Inn, on Norman Road where the Summit House Nursing Home formerly resided, received Bar Harbor Planning Board approval in 2013. Both are larger hotels for the area.
The moratorium also states that the Bar Harbor Gateway, Shoreland General Development 1, and Shoreland General Development III districts hold “large-capacity hotels that accommodate high visitor volumes and collectively contain approximately 1,500 guest rooms, which represent about half of the town’s total guest room inventory,” which is why the town wants to “develop regulations addressing the impacts of large-scale lodging development.”
THE PROPOSED MORATORIUM
The new moratorium extension’s goal is to continue the work of the Planning Board, which has been tackling the potential lodging-related amendments to the town’s land use ordinance with the town’s planning department.
It speaks to guest unit caps, building scale, community character, environment and traffic. It also calls for decreased conversion of housing uses to lodging uses.
The “whereas” clauses on the proposed potential moratorium continue for approximately three pages, though the moratorium is smaller in scope than its previous iterations.
The moratorium would continue to halt Lodging IV and Lodging V builds or renovations in the Downtown Village I and Downtown Village II districts; Ireson Hill Corridor and Salisbury Cove Village districts; and Bar Harbor Gateway, Shoreland General Development I, and Shoreland General Development III districts.
Lodging IV is lodging for overnight guests that might include accessory facilities and services. Lodging V is the same, but also includes services for the general public and conference centers.
According to the moratorium’s language, “The purpose of this moratorium is to temporarily suspend Lodging IV and Lodging V development applications in seven districts while the Town completes ordinance amendments addressing regulatory deficiencies affecting those uses, thereby protecting the public health, safety and welfare and preventing development approvals that would substantially impair implementation of those amendments.”
It continues, stating that the moratorium gives the town government more time to:
- “Identify appropriate guest unit caps for the seven districts where Lodging IV and Lodging V are allowed based on building scale, infrastructure, community character, traffic, and environmental compatibility.
- “Develop requirements that protect year-round housing and reduce the conversion of housing to lodging uses.
- “Develop design requirements that ensure new lodging is compatible with the scale, character, and historic identity of Bar Harbor.
- “Consider regulations that encourage mixed-use development and enhance neighborhood livability.
- “Continue to receive public input and work with residents, businesses, the Planning Board, and other interested parties before adopting final regulations.”
In Maine, moratoriums can only last 180 days.
Councils (or in other towns, select boards) can choose to renew moratoriums as Bar Harbor has multiple times.
The work that the moratorium is meant to give the town the space to do will still continue no matter if the moratorium is extended or not, Town Manager James Smith has previously explained.
Some of that work has already taken place. The Planning Board and staff collected and collated a lot of information when looking at infrastructure needs in 2025.
That work was originally about ensuring that lodging development didn’t stress the town’s infrastructure. The town’s Planning Board originally found that it mostly wasn’t and in split vote in October 2025 recommended not to extend the moratorium.
It was extended.
Worries, at the time, were about congestion, potential stress on the town’s emergency services, water, and sewer supplies.
But the moratorium discussion was also very much about housing and how new hotels could potentially displace homes.
Data collected included the number of guest rooms and maximum guest capacity, conversions from residential use to lodging, mapping of lodging by district and neighborhood, mapping locations of short-term and long-term rentals, mapping areas serviced by public sewer and water.
Another regular moratorium extension would follow two emergency moratoriums and two regular moratoriums, which means that any potential lodging development has been frozen since November 19, 2024.
During that time, the town’s planning staff and planning board have collected data and had meetings to look at, according to the 2025 moratorium, the “development and operation of certain transient accommodations, including impacts on health and safety, environmental quality, quality of life, adjacent property values, size, and the approval process, especially for accommodations approved without Planning Board review.”
CALL FOR INCLUSION
Three hoteliers—Stephen Coston, Tom St.Germain, and David Witham—sent emails to the Planning Board this past June.
St.Germain worried not just about the substance of the proposed amendments, “but whether they are consistent with the Town’s own adopted policies, the stated purposes of Chapter 125, and the Planning Board’s recent interpretations of those policies during public workshops.”
He argues that they are inconsistent with the town’s recently voter-approved Comprehensive Plan.
He writes, “The Bar Harbor Comprehensive Plan repeatedly emphasizes that future development — particularly commercial development — should occur in areas already served by existing infrastructure, including public water, sewer, roads, sidewalks, and municipal services. The purpose behind this guidance is obvious: concentrating growth where infrastructure already exists reduces sprawl, minimizes environmental impacts, preserves outlying residential and rural areas, and makes efficient use of public investment.
“The two Downtown Village districts are precisely the areas where these services already exist at the highest level. They are walkable, sewered, watered, accessible, and historically intended to accommodate commercial activity, mixed use development, and visitor-serving uses.”
Chapter 125 also reinforces that, he reasons.
He also worried that the changes would create new nonconformities and that the Planning Board should continue to apply those principles throughout its decisions and recommendations.
In another letter, he questioned the Planning Board’s most recent change which lowered a recommended 30-guest suite cap in downtown districts to 12.
In another letter, June 5, St.Germain encouraged the town not to see residential and commercial development as “competing interests” but instead as places where community benefits could occur through linkages.
In a June 5 email to the town manager and others, Witham wrote, “As I am sure that you are both aware, there is a group of local business owners who are proposing a concerted effort to bring the stakeholders to the table to work towards a balanced zoning policy that addresses both the needs of the business and residential communities. I personally am unaware of what exactly the goals are or any specific ideas proposed of how to get there.”
Another June email, this time from Bar Harbor businessman Stephen Coston, also asked for and encouraged the town to engage in lodging industry representatives about potential changes.
Coston wrote, “The Town would benefit greatly if the Planning Board and Planning Staff would engage the local lodging industry in collaborative conversations around creating zoning that maintains certain longstanding industry standards around guest room layouts and commercial zoning conformities while also addressing concerns around housing, development, and other stated priorities. There are simple opportunities, if a handful of very willing local stakeholders from the lodging industry can simply be engaged, to make this work quite effectively for everyone involved. I am a proponent of creating simple and effective zoning changes that encourage mixed use developments that increase housing, make the downtown more walkable and cohesive, and increase the likelihood of year-round business activity in the community’s primary commercial areas. This can be done in extremely simple ways if we simply slow down, come to the table, and do it.
“If it is perceived that more time is needed in regards to the moratorium in order to get this right, nobody is fighting the moratorium anymore. While I don’t agree with the way the moratorium came about and believe it’s been unfair in a handful of ways, I have also not been at any of the past several meetings about it—I’m not fighting the moratorium, as that ship sailed some time ago. If you need time to get this right, take the time. I am very confident the pertinent stakeholders are willing to join the community in a conversation that ensures we get this very important policymaking done successfully.”
SOME SLIDES
The following are slides from Michele Gagnon’s presentation to the Town Council. They quickly explain the town’s potentially proposed Graduated Lodging Uses amendment to the Land Use Ordinance.
All the slides will likely be in the agenda packet (link below) by the end of Thursday, July 23, according to Town Clerk Liz Graves.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Meeting agenda and packet.
Watch the meeting here.
This story was updated at 11:30 a.m., July 23 to include the slides.
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.
Help us keep bringing you the Bar Harbor Story: free, local, community news every day from two people who live here.
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.
Discover more from Bar Harbor Story
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.