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Ellsworth could be home to a new 28-site RV campground as soon as next summer.
The proposed campground would serve seasonal and short-term visitors.
Superior Realty Inc., a Maine business with an Ellsworth mailing address, has submitted a preliminary application to construct the campground, according to city planner Brittany Merrill. The proposal will go before the planning board Wednesday, June 3. If it receives initial approval, the plan will return to the board within six months for final review — though applicants typically return within a month, Merrill said.
The campground would represent the latest expansion of the city’s tourist lodging business, which has grown significantly in recent years as many houses, old and new, have become weekly vacation rentals that cater to visitors to Acadia National Park. Other hotel-style lodging added in recent years or under construction include a 72-unit suite on High Street called Stone Park that opened in 2024, and an 83-room Home2 Suites that is still being built on High Street next to the 86-room Hampton Inn, which opened in 2010.
The RV project , which will be named Anchor In Campground, will be constructed on a 52-acre mostly-wooded property at 566 Bayside Road, on the east side of the road about a mile and a half past Beechland Road towards Trenton.
The spaces — each of which would be equipped with electric, sewer and water connections — would be large enough to accommodate one RV and one passenger vehicle.
It would be closed during the winter, according to a land development permit application submitted to the city.
The applicant plans to break ground in September 2026 and finish the project by July 2027, Merrill said.
Four buildings currently sit on the property, at least two of which will be renovated. A dilapidated residence will be repurposed as an office and bathroom, and the existing barn will become a gathering space for camp residents, according to the application. A shed will be removed.
The proposed construction is expected to cost $650,000, according to the application.
The city mailed 17 notices to advertise the board’s Wednesday meeting to property owners within 500 feet of the site, according to a planning board report.
A representative with Superior Realty was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday afternoon.
Ellsworth currently has three RV campgrounds exclusively within city boundaries: Forest Ridge, Patten Pond and Branch Lake, Merrill said.