From cruise ship rules to marijuana licensing to soil testing, citizen initiatives have helped shape local policy.
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BAR HARBOR—Last week, Bar Harbor resident Charles Sidman took out papers for three citizen initiatives and said he intends to collect signatures for the three at the November 3 election.
It is the latest in a long line of citizen-led initiatives in Bar Harbor since 2017.
In Bar Harbor amendment to the Land Use Ordinance by citizen petition is governed by Article IX of the town’s charter and Chapter 125-9(A)(1) of the town’s municipal code.
Citizen petitions to amend the Bar Harbor Town Charter are governed by Maine’s Home Rule Act, 30-A M.R.S. §§ 2101-2109, according to Bar Harbor Town Clerk Elizabeth Graves.
Despite their use, ballot initiatives and citizen initiatives aren’t always understood. They are basically—and most simplistically—just the process that citizens get other citizens to vote on things.
ThoughtCo explains ballot initiatives as “the process through which citizens exercise the power to place measures otherwise considered by state legislatures or local governments on statewide and local ballots for a public vote. Successful ballot initiatives can create, change or repeal state and local laws, or amend state constitutions and local charters. Ballot initiatives can also be used simply to force state or local legislative bodies to consider the subject of the initiative.”
In Bar Harbor, citizens have weighed in on the following:
- June 2017 LUO – Shoreland Standards, Cruise Ship Tendering/Berthing Facility and Cruise Ship Passenger Cap
- June 2019 – Residency Prerequisite (amendment to Ch. 31)
- June 2019 LUO – Limits on Pier Length and Size of Berthed Cruise Ships
- June 2020 LUO – Changes to the Definition of Vacation Rentals
- June 2022 – Adult Use Marijuana Store Ordinance
- November 2022 LUO – Marijuana Stores
- November 2022 – Marijuana Stores Licensing Ordinance
- November 2024 LUO – Cruise Ship Disembarkation
Graves said that a couple other initiatives were not sent to voters.
“In January 2025, Mr. Sidman was issued petition blanks for a charter amendment; signed petitions were not returned,” Graves said.
Also, earlier this year, she said, the petition to create what is now Chapter 112, Immigration Enforcement, was adopted by the Town Council and didn’t have to proceed to voters.
In 2025 in Southwest Harbor, a citizens initiative led to changes in the town’s soil testing ordinance.
The power to the people has often brought multiple questions to the ballots of Maine voters for both town and state issues.
At least 24 states have ballot initiative measures. No federal laws control this process, which varies by state.
The process often creates a quicker endpoint for discussion or change with a simple yes or no vote unlike changes that go through the lengthier process of municipalities or legislatures, but it can sometimes have pitfalls and unintended consequences or need fleshing out, which Southwest Harbor has been dealing with after its soil changes resoundingly passed.
Back in 2022, the Portland Press Herald held “Ballot Initiatives: Power to the People,” part of a “Policy Matters” series created by the paper. This session was moderated by the Press Herald’s Carol Coultas, business projects editor at the paper, and featured University of Maine Farmington’s Jim Melcher, Ph.D and John Brautigam, senior advisor to the Maine chapter of the League of Women Voters.
“Initiatives are very blunt instruments,” Melcher had said. “Initiatives work best in places where people have enough knowledge to know what they were voting on.” Or the time, desire, or access to get that knowledge.
“Budgetary things don’t lend themselves to that (process) or things that have multiple positions in between,” he continued.
Some issues, he said, are complicated or nuanced and better off with more compromise rather than being black or white, yes or no votes.
The amount of money spent on local issues is not usually tracked in municipalities with populations of less than 15,000, both panelists said. All the Mount Desert Island region towns have populations of less than 15,000.
“Democracy comes down to us, our family and our neighbors,” Brautigam had said. Sometimes it’s a hassle when people ask you to sign petitions to get things before votes, but he says, “It’s a healthy benefit and it reminds us all that we are in a democracy.”
According to the Press Herald, “Since 1911, Mainers have had the right to introduce ballot measures to change or create law. These citizen-led initiatives have had a profound impact at the municipal and state levels: think gay marriage, clearcutting, zoning restrictions, and bearbaiting.”
Of the three initiatives that Sidman said he intends to collect signatures, one would create a recall provision for elected town officials. It is not recalling the officials, but creating a mechanism in the town rules to do so.
The second calls for a change to the town’s charter and allows for that recall provision for elected officials.
The third focuses on allowing a notary-called town meeting if the petition to move the graduated lodging scale isn’t moved to the June meeting by the Town Council.
On the documents that require one, there is a petitioning committee which includes Charles Sidman, wife Amy Sidman, Jim O’Connell, David Rapkevian, and Nathan Young.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Charles Sidman’s New Bar Harbor Citizens’ Petition Seeks Recall Provision for Elected Officials.
Charles Sidman’s New Bar Harbor Citizens’ Petition Seeks Recall Provision for Elected Officials.
Charles Sidman’s New Bar Harbor Citizens’ Petition Seeks Recall Provision for Elected Officials.
https://www.maine.gov/legis/lawlib/lldl/citizeninitiated
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-ballot-initiative-process-3322046
https://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/citizens/inipak.html
https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/30-A/title30-Asec2522.html
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1980/07/20/111798732.html?pageNumber=192
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