South parking area at Cooper Gilmore will be closed in November.

Carrie Jones

just now

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Coastal Kayaking Tours and Acadia Bike.

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BAR HARBOR—In a short meeting, Thursday, Bar Harbor’s Design Review Board approved a change to Mount Desert Island Hospital’s outdoor areas and the new sign for the Day’s Inn.

The memorial benches at the hospital will be 48 inches and 60 inches long. They are granite and heavy, according to Doug Springer, who was representing MDI Health.

The benches will be on the newly renovated portion of the hospital’s campus, which faces Main Street. There will be up to 16 benches placed.

It’s another piece of the hospital’s $55 million campaign project that is scheduled to take multiple years and has been largely funded by philanthropists and donors, such as Dick Wolf, creator of Law & Order, who summers in Seal Harbor and donated $10 million to the hospital project last year. There are multiple phases to the project, which has been funded by multiple grants as well.

The project on a 5.61-acre parcel at 10 Wayman Lane has been approved by the town and state.

The critical access hospital gives Mount Desert Island residents and first responders 24-hour hospital access. Though it serves a town of approximately 5,500, and an island of approximately 10,500, in the summer months through October its volumes at the emergency department triple. Hospital CEO Christina 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.

The new main entrance opened October 19.

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.

“There’s donors that are paying for them. Some of them are located on our already established approved fixed sidewalks, which Mike (Gurtler, Bar Harbor’s code enforcement officer) has said that’s fine, but we’ve planned to place some on the green space that we have in front and we’ve poured a concrete pad for them to set so that they don’t sink into the ground. And because I’ve poured the pad, they are considered a structure,” Doug Springer, representing the hospital said.

There was some discussion between some board members on whether they could approve benches or if it was more about the pad.

“We’re approving the concrete pads basically,” Chair Barbara Sassaman said.

“We can approve the pad,” member Pancho Cole said.

The hospital posted on social media that it expects to temporarily close the south-facing parking lot behind the Cooper Gilmore Health Center from November 2, through November 30.

“Patients and visitors may continue to park in the west-facing lot in front of the health center and in all available on-campus parking. We appreciate your patience while this work is completed,” the hospital’s social media explained.

Another application for a bench is upcoming and was received October 23.

That bench will be for Chris Maller and placed between the first two trees closest to the MDI YMCA’s front entrance, according to a note prepared by Ann Tikkanen, the YMCA’s executive director.

The board also agreed to Frenchman Bay Association’s request to change an internally illuminated sign at 120 Eden Street, which is the Day’s Inn.

The sign now needs to satisfy the new code, Planner Michele Gagnon said.

The size of the sign didn’t change.

The sign itself added one sentence. The board approved it with the condition that they would follow up with the town’s code enforcement officer over specifics.

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LINK TO LEARN MORE

To watch the meeting

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All photos from Design Review Board packet.

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