The Bar Harbor Town Council has developed a new option for managing cruise ship traffic in town.
The potential ordinance would set up a new licensing system for the town to enter into contracts with cruise lines, said council chair Valerie Peacock. The year-round daily limit would be 3,200 people, and the town sets a monthly cap that varies by season.
"The reservation system is built into the ordinance and the license structure, to seamlessly integrate a piece of day-to-day operations, oversight, violation ceiling violations and overall management," Peacock said.
This differs from the current ordinance, which focuses on the business owners that transport passengers from the cruise ships into town. The current ordinance requires businesses to count the number of people entering, and bases fees on the number of people surpassing the 1,000 person daily limit.
A public hearing will be held next Tuesday, after which the council will consider passing the ordinance. But it will not go into effect unless residents vote to repeal the current ordinance at a town meeting vote in November.
Peacock said that the proposed ordinance would offer a compromise option for handling cruise ships, and a way to end ongoing lawsuits over the current ordinance.
As part of the proposed licensing system, the contracts would include a clause that cruise lines cannot sue the town.
"And this approach actually brings us together, the council and the community together in managing visitation moving forward," Peacock said.
Kristi Bond is with the Association to Preserve and Protect Local Livelihoods, a group of local businesses suing Bar Harbor over the current cruise ship ordinance. In a statement, she said the group supports the council's efforts to find a "realistic and balanced solution" to the cruise ship controversy.
Resident Charles Sidman, who is in favor of the current ordinance and is suing the town for failing to enforce it, said the proposal is "completely unacceptable," and could open the town up to new legal liability.
