In a 32-page order released Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker has declared that the Bar Harbor cruise ship ordinance is unconstitutional in all months other than July and August.
“I conclude that the ordinance’s 1,000-passenger cap is not clearly excessive in relation to its local benefits during the peak summer tourism season but is clearly excessive in relation to the shoulder seasons,” Judge Walker wrote. “Accordingly, I declare the ordinance unconstitutional and unenforceable in all months other than July and August.”
In December 2022 Association to Preserve and Protect Local Livelihoods (APPLL), the Penobscot Bay and River Pilots Association, and some other local businesses involved with cruise ship tendering had sued the town over its cruise ship disembarkation limits, saying the limits were unconstitutional.
Since then, for four years, there have been appeals and orders and remands, oral arguments, and briefs.
“On behalf of the board and all APPLL members we are thrilled to announce that we won our appeal in federal court,” APPLL president Kristi Bond said Friday. “The citizens’ initiative limiting cruise ships to 1,000 passengers or less will only be enforced in July and August. We look forward to welcoming all cruise visitors to Bar Harbor once again.”
How this impacts the town is not currently known.
“The Town of Bar Harbor acknowledges today’s decision by the United States District Court and the Town Council will meet in executive session on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, with legal counsel to review the decision and receive legal advice regarding next steps,” Town Manager James Smith said Friday.
The ordinance was the result of a citizens’ initiative and limited passenger disembarkations to 1,000 or less a day without fines. It had initially been passed by voters in November 2022, 1,780 to 1,273.
Since then, the town has dramatically decreased cruise ship visits with more of an impact occurring each year since its enactment, as each year brings fewer and fewer ships that were booked and confirmed to visit prior to the cap.
According to the Town of Bar Harbor, the maximum total number of cruise ship passengers visiting Bar Harbor for the 2026 season sits just beneath 50,000.
Prior to the change, the town saw more than 100 ships in the season, which typically runs from early May to early November.
The town has been delving deeply into tourism and its impact through a Sustainable Tourism Task Force. It’s also capped short-term vacation rentals in homes not a primary residence and has a lodging moratorium underway.
“It has been an abiding personal impression, rational in my view, that what may be fair and balanced for the peak season may not be fair and balanced for the shoulder season,” Judge Walker wrote.
According to Edmund Morris, a consultant who is doing work for the town, Bar Harbor can host fifteen thousand people a day at the waterfront in July and fewer than 500 in winter.
Judge Walker had heard oral arguments in February in a partially remanded federal case challenging Bar Harbor’s cruise ship passenger cap, following a nuanced ruling from the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
Judge Lance Walker’s initial late February 2024 ruling mostly agreed with the Town of Bar Harbor and local business Charles Sidman, who joined the legal battle as a defendant intervenor, and upheld the ordinance and its disembarkation limits.
On Friday, in a joint statement, Sidman and his attorney Robert Papazian referenced that earlier decision and said, “Judge Walker’s remand decision is an unexpected development, given that he disagreed with his own previous decision to give deference to Bar Harbor voters over inherently local matters. Bar Harbor citizens have voted twice now that we don’t just want more limited cruise disembarkations two months of the year; we want it year-round. We want our downtown back, even during the shoulder seasons. And as we have always maintained, big business does not get to dictate and impose its self-serving wishes onto an unwilling citizenry. If we have to make it clear again with a third vote, so be it.
“In any event, Judge Walker’s decision will not stand,” they continued.”It is not practical or possible for a federal judge to micromanage cruise tourism in Bar Harbor. We will appeal and hope that the town government does too.”
Congestion in the downtown Bar Harbor area near municipal pier and adjacent streets was a key element of the case and greatly discussed in the August 11, 2025, First Circuit opinion. The citizens’ initiative was meant to help limit pedestrian congestion via capping cruise ship disembarkations.
Those passenger caps (with financial penalty if exceeded) had been approved by voters in November 2022 and were enforced in summer 2024. An attempt to repeal that decision by bringing it back to voters in November 2024 lost by 65 votes and inspired a recount. The repeal would have been the first step to put in other measures limiting cruise ship visits.
It has since spawned multiple lawsuits, but this was the main one and headed all the way to the U.S. Court of Appeals.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, on August 11, 2025, had partially upheld and partially sent back to a lower court Bar Harbor’s legal dispute. That led to Judge Walker reviewing a portion of his original ruling, and to the revised ruling released on Friday.
This story was originally published by The Bar Harbor Story. To receive regular coverage from the Bar Harbor Story, sign up for a free subscription here.
