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Rosemary Osann's avatar

OMG is right. With 7-story buildings in downtown Bar Harbor, we would be losing our small town and turning into a city.

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Lincoln Millstein's avatar

You've already lost it. There are boardwalk towns on the Jersey Shore with fewer t-shirt shops per capita than Bar Harbor. Few places on earth as cheesy ...

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Mich's avatar

Hey look, the rendering of the Pathmaker B&B includes planters and railing facades, instead we look at HVAC units! I seem to remember a promise from the management that this would be completed before summer. Brandon?

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Mike's avatar

People stacked on people is not compatible with the swh comprehensive plan. We like it the way it is with out much change in order to keep the small town feel.

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Ignacio Pessoa's avatar

Think of "conditional zoning" this way. Local government typically has jurisdiction over zoning decisions. Zoning decisions directly affect property value. The property tax is the principal source of local government revenue. So there is already an inherent conflict between zoning to protect the public interest and raising revenue. Remember, under existing and settled zoning law "Contract zoning is illegal." Do you really want to legalize quid-pro-quo bargaining for other goodies which the town council wants but doesn't want to pay for? And which the developer is only willing to provide in exchange for additional density, height or other perks beyond what the zoning and comprehensive plan allow. In practice, conditional zoning is a stratagem to undermine the comprehensive plan and existing zoning, to the detriment of local residents.

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Lincoln Millstein's avatar

Did you actually read Bar Harbor's porous comprehensive plan? It's a Chinese American restaurant menu where if you don't like Column A, you can go to Column B. You can find anything you want. The town has already given away the jewels. Time to get something back.

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Ignacio Pessoa's avatar

Comprehensive plans are often loose and aspirational, not regulatory. But conditional zoning is like signing over the mine where the jewels come from, so not particularly effective in the real world.

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Jill Constantine's avatar

OMG

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