Salisbury Cove proposal for 18 vacation cabins faces questions over traffic, noise
Photo / Courtesy, G.F. Johnson & Associates
The proposed development is to the right of the hotel on the left. The applicant’s lobster pound is tucked into a small wedge-shaped area adjacent to the wooded area.
Near the popular tourist attractions of Bar Harbor, the planning board is considering an application to build 18 two-bedroom vacation cabins in the town’s outlying village of Salisbury Cove.
The proposed development falls in a heavily traveled section of Salisbury Cove called Ireson Hill Corridor, on Route 3. The local address for the proposed development is 414 Bar Harbor Road.
The estimated project cost is $2.5 million. The applicant, Aaron Jackson, bought the property in 2022.
Earlier this year, Machias Savings Bank provided a letter of interest in financing for the project.
The Retreat
The 7.86-acre development would be called the Retreat, according to the application.
It would include a check-in building with a gift shop and guest café. The 12-seat café 12 would serve breakfast and lunches packed to-go from the applicant’s neighboring Bar Harbor Lobster Pound. The café would be restricted to guests, not open to the public.
The site plan includes a dedicated 100-foot forested buffer to separate the operation from neighboring residences.
The site would be managed by three employees and is proposed as a seasonal operation.
A traffic impact assessment performed by Bangor-based James W. Sewall Co. found the proposed cabins could generate 112 new one-way trips daily, which the engineering and consulting firm said would not have a significant impact on off-site traffic operations. Peak summer volumes on Route 3 in the vicinity of the Retreat are approximately 12,400 cars a day, Sewall said.
The Retreat would provide “upscale accommodations” and would be run by Aaron and Krista Jackson, who have career experience in professional waterfront restoration, dock construction, multiple multi-million-dollar real estate renovations and sales and running a Bar Harbor restaurant, according to the application.
The cabins would be 14 feet by 30 feet.
Market demand would be expected from “seasoned vacationers.”
The location is projected to be seen by “a significant portion of the traffic heading toward Bar Harbor,” the application says.
Operations would be from May through October.
Neighbors' concerns
At a recent planning board meeting, a neighboring resident said he was concerned that the development could disrupt vernal pools and vernal streams in the area. He said he was also concerned that the use of well water for the 18 cabins could decrease the water table and affect houses in the area.
Earlier this summer, the board fielded letters from two abutters objecting to the project.
“Firstly, I would like to compliment the owners of the Bar Harbor Lobster Pound for the very nice job they have done renovating the property,” wrote Jill Constantine. “That said, l am writing to request that the proposed 18 vacation cabin and gift shop complex adjoining the Bar Harbor Lobster Pound please be denied.”
Constantine said the corridor is already subject to tricky traffic situations during tourist months, including speeding vehicles combined with cyclists pedestrians on busy Route 3.
“New commercial development on Ireson Hill will only add to the traffic and traffic-created air pollution load across the Ireson Hill Corridor,” she said.
Jennifer Morgan-Binns wrote that she was concerned about the potential for noise pollution and the potential impact of the project on the property’s vernal ponds, as well as the prospect of drilling new wells in an area where “neighbors have historically had issues with deficient water,” she wrote.
The planning board found application incomplete, as it was missing a capacity letter from Bar Harbor’s public works director, floor plans for the cabins and other documentation, but decided to take up the matter again, at a public hearing scheduled for Sept. 4.
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