A federal judge has ruled that Bar Harbor can limit cruise ship passenger visits to 1,000 passengers per day without violating federal laws that govern interstate commerce.
The decision Thursday by Judge Lance Walker upholds the limits that Bar Harbor voters adopted in November 2022. The restriction was adopted after town officials were pressured to reduce the impact that cruise ships have on the town during the busy summer and fall tourist seasons.
In response, a group of local businesses, pier operators and tour companies sued the town in 2023 over the restrictions, arguing that they violated federal maritime law and parts of the U.S. Constitution. They also claimed the limits would hurt their businesses.
In a 61-page decision, Walker said that reduced limits do not amount to protectionism by discriminating against out-of-state interests in favor of local businesses, which would violate federal law.
“They have engaged in the exercise of imposing a restriction based on their first hand experience of the relative deleterious impact of high-volume disembarkations at the waterfront while remaining open to the entire world’s visitation,” Walker wrote. “In both purpose and effect, they have acted only to limit the extent to which Bar Harbor must be victim to its own success, while continuing to welcome travelers from every corner of the world.”
Walker added that federal law does require the town to allow seafarers — a category that does not include cruise ship passengers — to have access to and from their vessels from the town’s waterfront. Should the town attempt to use the cruise ship passenger cap to restrict seafarer access to shore, it could run afoul of federal law, he added.
Town officials said Thursday they were “pleased” with Walker’s ruling.
“The town council will provide a public statement concerning the decision after it assembles and meets with legal counsel in executive session on March 4, 2024,” Bar Harbor officials said in a statement. “The town remains committed to defending and exercising its home rule authority to enact and enforce reasonable regulations to protect the health, well-being, and happiness of its citizens.”
The decision caps a long-running battle in Bar Harbor over how to manage cruise ship traffic. Some residents and business owners believe the visits provide a crucial economic benefit, but others have become increasingly critical, saying that summertime throngs of cruise passengers hurt the local quality of life.
Just over half of the responses to a town survey of residents and property owners in 2021 indicated that cruise ships had a negative overall impact and took away from the attraction of Bar Harbor, one of Maine’s biggest tourism destinations and the gateway to Acadia National Park, which gets close to 4 million visits a year.
Detractors primarily complain that the cruises bring overcrowding and congestion. Their environmental impact also has been raised as an issue.
The November 2022 referendum passed by roughly a 500-vote margin, with 1,780 voters in favor of the 1,000-passenger daily limit and 1,273 opposed. The result derailed a less restrictive competing plan by town officials to limit passenger visits to 3,500 or 3,800 per day, depending on the time of year.
