A group of Bar Harbor businesses is suing the town over a new ordinance that limits visitors traveling by cruise ship, arguing that a daily cap of 1,000 passengers breaks federal law.
The referendum stemmed from a citizens petition, which Bar Harbor residents approved during the November election.
The plaintiffs, which was filed their lawsuit in federal court late last week, include retail stores, restaurants and businesses providing tours in Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor, and have formed a non-profit that participants are calling the "Association to Preserve and Protect Local Livelihoods," or APPLL, according to the complaint.
Other plaintiffs include the companies that operate the privately-owned piers and tender boats that ferry passengers from the ships anchored in Frenchman Bay to Bar Harbor.
"There isn't anyone who wants to sit down and prepare a lawsuit against their town or feel like this is a good thing. "But the petitioners left us with no choice," said Eben Salvatore, the director of operations of a family of hotels and tender facilities in Bar Harbor.
Those tender operators are named plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Salvatore also sits on the board of the APPLL, the new non-profit that formed to represent Bar Harbor business owners, employees and others who he said have a vested interest in the town's maritime economy.
The plaintiffs believe the new ordinance violates federal maritime laws, as well as the commerce and due process clauses in the US Constitution. They're seeking injunctive relief from the passenger caps.
"The purpose section of the initiative was asserting that somehow people who get off cruise ships have a greater impact on city services, town services, health services, the environment of the town, than people who arrive by all other means of conveyance, including automobiles," said attorney Tim Woodcock, who represents the plaintiffs. "We don't think there's any rational relationship between that argument and the way in which the ordinance was framed."
Charlie Sidman, one of the leaders behind the original Bar Harbor citizens petition, said the group plans to intervene.
"We citizen petitioners will be intervening on multiple levels, as we think the lawsuit’s arguments are largely spurious attempts at big-word bullying, by large corporations desperate to maintain their longstanding economic exploitation and colonization of normal citizens and communities," he said.
Town officials have previously said they anticipated a lawsuit and that creating a new system to count and track disembarking cruise ship passengers could be difficult to implement.
In a memo to town councilors last month, Bar Harbor harbormaster questioned whether passengers who are ferried from ships and into town for medical emergencies or crew members who are ending their tours should be counted among those 1,000 passengers who are allowed to disembark each day.
A Bar Harbor spokesperson said the town council is expected to meet Tuesday evening to discuss the lawsuit and next steps.
