Local planning boards weigh the ordinary—and sometimes surprisingly complicated—details of property improvements.
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BAR HARBOR—On the island, sometimes even Wi-Fi has to find its place. At Bar Harbor Oceanside Campground, improving internet service means adding five 35-foot poles; in Seal Harbor, a homeowner’s effort to gain privacy is being redesigned so that what once was a fence will no longer technically be one.
Bar Harbor Oceanside Campground (KOA) wanted to update the campground’s Wi-Fi and to do that, it had to be approved by the Bar Harbor Planning Board.
That’s because the project in Town Hill requires “installing five 35-foot-high poles, six vault/pull boxes, pedestal receivers, cabinet receivers, and related hardware” according to the Bar Harbor Planning Board’s September 16 agenda and application materials.
No members of the public commented for the changes to the campground, which covers just over 29 acres at 105 County Road.
The project reduces the site’s already existing nonconformity and was allowed.
The project, a KOA representative, said will begin once campers leave and hopefully be done before the end of the year.
MOUNT DESERT PLANNING BOARD
In Mount Desert, a fence at 6 Whoville Way in Seal Harbor is being removed, Code Enforcement Officer Kim Keene told the Mount Desert Planning Board, September 23.
The fence had originally come before the board in August for a conditional use permit and had been built prior to its approval. The application had been continued to the September meeting and was on the agenda, but was not a decision for the planning board because—as they learned—it is no longer going to be a fence.
“They’ve come up with a design that does not meet the fence definition. So therefore, they are withdrawing or I shouldn’t say they’re withdrawing, they’re removing the solid fence that’s currently in place and they’re going to put up a type of screening which is 51% open.” Keene said.
The homeowner’s intent was to increase privacy.
“So, she’s putting in a screen, but it’s more open and she’s going to plant more trees behind it,” Keene explained.
“So, it’s not a fence?” Chair William Hanley asked.
“And is it still as close to the road as it was?” Planning Board member Gail Marshall asked.
“It’s going to be close to the road. Yes,” Keene explained.
Because it’s now not a fence, but more open lattice, the town doesn’t have regulations to require that the structure be moved further back from the road. Much of it is open at the bottom, and since there is more open in the structure than closed, the town can’t treat it as a fence.
The current fence has been up since June, and the homeowners have been told to remove it immediately.
The owner of the property is GST Exempt Trust FBO.
Another project by Versant Power to modify an existing substation on 124 Harborside Road by removing the current control house brick building and instead installing a mobile substation was continued until October due to some items in the application being missing.
A third project at 10 Steamboat Wharf Road in Seal Harbor called for the construction of a 7 foot 8 inch retaining wall. The wall will have a granite cap. That property is owned by Bright Owl, LLC.
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