Bar Harbor recently took new enforcement action against a business that brings passengers ashore from cruise ships — the latest flashpoint in a lengthy legal battle over the number of tourists disembarking in the popular destination.
The town on Mount Desert Island is embroiled in state and federal lawsuits stemming from an ordinance that aimed to dramatically cut back on cruise ship visitation. Officials, businesses and residents are waiting for a federal court order that could determine the scale of the industry going forward.
“We’d like to hope it’s relatively sooner rather than later,” said Everal Eaton, executive director of the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce. “That certainty is better for the business community and better for the residents as well to know going into next year what it’s going to look like.”
Since the early 2000s, Bar Harbor has become an increasingly popular destination for cruise ships. In 2022, 143 vessels called on the port, according to the town.
That growth brought concerns about congestion and safety. In 2022, voters approved an ordinance that limited disembarkations from cruise ships to 1,000 passengers a day. The citizen initiative passed with 58% of the vote. In 2024, an effort to repeal that ordinance failed by an even closer margin.
A group of businesses filed a federal lawsuit against the town in 2022 to challenge the ordinance. Nearly four years, a bench trial and a trip to the appeals court later, the case is still unresolved.
In May, Chief U.S. District Judge Lance Walker ruled that the 1,000-passenger cap is only constitutional and enforceable in July and August. Charles Sidman, a Bar Harbor resident who has championed the ordinance and intervened in the case, filed a motion asking the judge to reconsider and amend that order. Walker has not yet issued a ruling.
In the meantime, the parties have also become entrenched in disputes in state court over enforcement of the ordinance. Bar Harbor sent a notice of violation this month to a private pier owner for disembarking cruise ship passengers without a permit, which could add to the quagmire.
“The majority of people that I actually speak to in my day-to-day life are like, ‘When is this going to end?’ ” said Maya Caines, chair of the Bar Harbor Town Council.
Ongoing dispute
Bar Harbor does not have a pier big enough for cruise ships. Instead, the vessels anchor nearby, and smaller tender boats transport passengers to and from the shore.
Eben Salvatore, director of operations for Bar Harbor Resorts, as well as two private piers and the primary tender boats in town, said that the ordinance that limited disembarkations prompted “hundreds of cancellations.”
“Every time the phone rang, it was another massive amount of revenue for a business owner out the window,” Salvatore said. “It was a very painful shock, and it still is.”
In 2024, the Bar Harbor Town Council created a regulatory framework with two separate permits required to enforce the ordinance.
“It’s really just there to ensure we understand and know the level of visitation,” Town Manager James Smith said.
The private piers, overseen by Salvatore, have never applied for the permits.
That summer, the town sent a notice of violation to one of the piers for disembarking passengers from a cruise ship. That action set off a flurry of additional litigation in state court. The parties are waiting for the Maine Supreme Judicial Court to address two separate appeals. If the violation stands, the pier owner could have to pay steep fines.
The town and the business disagree on whether the permitting system is constitutional, based on the latest order from Walker in the federal case.
This month, Bar Harbor issued a second notice of violation to the pier, known as Golden Anchor LC in court records.
“It’s troubling that we seem to have been triggered without our own willingness into another round of litigation,” said Timothy Woodcock, the lawyer representing Golden Anchor and other businesses.
Businesses uncertain
Sidman, a retired scientist who operates a Bar Harbor gallery with his wife, fought to get the ordinance in front of voters in 2022 and has since defended it in court as an intervenor in the federal lawsuit.
“It was worse than bumper cars at a circus,” Sidman said of the peak traffic from cruise ships. “It was aesthetically unpleasant, it was dangerous and it was detrimental to business.”
He said he would pursue another citizen initiative if the federal court ultimately overturns the ordinance.
“If we have to, we will relegislate it even stronger and more clearly,” Sidman said. “We want our town. We don’t want it submerged by cruise ships and big hotels.”
With lawsuits pending, many say the town is in limbo. Vessels continue to call on Bar Harbor, but not in the same numbers as in the past, according to the town. A dozen or so cruises with a capacity of 3,000-plus visited this year because they made reservations in 2020 and weren’t subject to the newer rules, according to the town.
The town also reached an agreement with American Cruise Lines and got the required permits to regularly disembark its passengers at a public pier this year. Those vessels have a capacity of 250 or less, Smith said.
Eaton, from the local chamber of commerce, said some businesses are uncertain how to staff or order inventory for next year because they don’t know how many cruise ship passengers will be allowed. Kevin DesVeaux, who owns West Street Cafe, said the restaurant has not been profitable since 2022, and lunch sales are down 30% in that time.
He said he is draining his savings to keep the restaurant open.
“We have no more to give,” DesVeaux wrote in an email. “This winter we will decide if we are going to go on the market or hold on for one more year for the cruise ship traffic to return.”
Salvatore and Woodcock said town officials should be making plans to welcome visitors from cruise ships in 2027, especially in the shoulder seasons when the 1,000-passenger cap is not currently enforceable.
“Let’s sit down in a room and work this out,” Salvatore said. “It can’t be hard. Staying in litigation is the worst thing to do.”
Town officials said it’s hard to proceed when so many lawsuits are active.
“We’re trying to be respectful and honoring the citizens’ initiative while being mindful of the legal rights and interests of other parties,” Smith said. “We believe that there is a need for local regulations for disembarking cruise ship passengers, and we want to be able to do that in a way that will meet the test of the court.”
Caines, the town council chair, said she and others want to focus on compromise instead of reacting to court proceedings.
“It’s really dependent quite a lot on the other parties that have been initiating these lawsuits,” she said.
This story was originally published by the Maine Trust for Local News. Megan Gray can be reached at mgray@pressherald.com.