Voters in Bar Harbor narrowly rejected a proposal Tuesday that would have overturned a 2022 ordinance capping the number of cruise ship passengers allowed to disembark per day at 1,000, replacing it with an updated set of rules that took a markedly different approach to cruise ship regulation.
According to results published by the Town of Bar Harbor, the measure’s failure was determined by just 63 votes, representing only 1.8 percent of ballots cast and around 1 percent of the town’s registered voters.
Because of these extremely close margins, Tuesday’s vote may be subject to a taxpayer-funded recount if 100 Bar Harbor voters or 10 percent of those registered in the town — whichever is lower — submit a request within five business days.
Had this referendum been approved, the 2022 ordinance would have been replaced by one allowing for more than three times the current cap, with variable monthly limits intended to better reflect the nature of tourism in Maine.
In November of 2022, Bar Harbor voters approved — with 58 percent support — a new law limiting the number of cruise ship passengers allowed to disembark into the town on any given day to 1,000.
Prior to the implementation of this ordinance, Bar Harbor permitted 3,500 passengers to disembark from cruise ships daily, just a few hundred more than the 3,200 proposed under the new rules.
Raising the cap on cruise ship passengers is not, however, the only change that would have been implemented by the proposed ordinance had it been approved by voters.
Currently, cruise ships coordinate with eligible dock owners when coming to Bar Harbor, but under the now-rejected ordinance, cruise lines would have needed to work with town officials instead.
[RELATED: New Cruise Ship Ordinance on the Ballot in Bar Harbor This November]
Placing limitations on cruise tourism has proven controversial for Bar Harbor in recent years, spurring two separate legal battles since 2022.
About a month after voters approved the ordinance, a group of businesses filed a complaint against the town, alleging that the ordinance was in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, suggesting that cruise ships fall under the category of interstate commerce.
Charles Sidman — the man behind the original 2022 citizens initiative effort to implement these limitations — has also taken legal action against Bar Harbor over the Council’s decision in March to allow ships with more than 1,000 passengers to dock in Bar Harbor this season if they were booked prior to the November 2022 vote.
According to an update posted on the Town’s website in September, the Maine Superior Court granted their motion to dismiss one of the complaints in Sidman’s case against them.
The Town also noted that on September 10, Golden Anchor, L.C., doing business as Harborside Pier, filed a complaint in Hancock County Superior Court regarding Bar Harbor’s implementation of the 2022 referendum.
In September of 2023, the Bar Harbor Town Council voted unanimously to dissolve its Cruise Ship Committee, which was originally intended to help “grow and manage the cruise ship-based tourism and related activities within Bar Harbor,” according to a statement provided to the Maine Wire at the time by Councilor Kyle Shank.
According to the Bangor Daily News (BDN), many councilors expressed support for the committee’s purpose — and for the work done by those who served on it — but felt that it had outlived its usefulness.
[RELATED: Bar Harbor Town Council Unanimously Dissolves Cruise Ship Committee]
Councilors also told the news outlet at the time that they felt the town ought to have tourism committee geared toward balancing the needs of residents and tourists more effectively.
Similar sentiments were echoed by Shank in his statement to the Maine Wire.
Funny, the unhinged left are boycotting red states so this should be overturned. I can see it now thousands of miserable liberals wanting to come spread joy. They can call it the bar harbor pity party.
I’d be interested to see how many of the people pushing this limit and voting for it are really from away.
It can’t be good for all the small businesses.
But Bar Harbor loves to be liberal so you get what you vote for.
Envy.