This article is part of our Guide to Harpswell’s 2026 Town Meeting. Click here to read more.
Harpswell voters will decide a slate of local issues at this year’s annual Town Meeting on Saturday, March 14, including a contested referendum about improving public access to a state-owned parcel at Clark Cove.
Other key decisions include the election of a Select Board member and two school board members; a proposed town budget increase of 4.5%, including $300,000 to improve the recycling center; state-mandated amendments to Harpswell’s comprehensive plan; and updates to a handful of town ordinances.
Residents will gather at Harpswell Community School, where polls for the election of local officials and two referendum questions will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The business meeting, in which residents debate and vote on items in an open forum, will commence at 10 a.m., with more than 50 items on the warrant.
Three incumbents are seeking reelection: Select Board Chair Kevin Johnson and Maine School Administrative District 75 Board of Directors members William “Bart” Beattie and Gregory Greenleaf. Only Johnson faces a challenger: Great Island resident Ellen Glew, who is making her first run for local office.
The two referendum questions involve funding for Brunswick’s Curtis Memorial Library and the Clark Cove proposal. The town is asking residents to approve $164,400 for the library, which has about 1,500 Harpswell cardholders. The request is about $5,000 more than the $159,089 voters approved each of the past three years.
Johnson and Select Board member David Chipman recommended approval of the library funding. Member Matt Gilley recommended against it, saying he believes the funds would be better directed toward expanding Harpswell’s two community libraries and potentially establishing a third one.
Clark Cove decision nears
The Clark Cove access plan has been the most heavily debated issue on the ballot by a wide margin.
Approval would authorize Harpswell to enter into a 10-year management agreement with the state Bureau of Parks and Lands for the purposes of improving and maintaining public access to the 18-acre, state-owned shorefront parcel. It would allow the town to spend up to $5,000 on improvements and pursue grants for additional site work and management.
The Town Lands Committee initiated and developed the access plan. It would involve adding signage, up to six parking spaces and a beach access trail. The town is proposing on-street parking along Allen Point Road, but that could change to a small gravel lot farther from the roadway.
Nearby property owners have repeatedly voiced strong opposition to the plan, including during a December community meeting and a Feb. 11 public hearing, where their questions and criticisms dominated the discussion.
They objected to the Select Board’s decision to place the proposal on a secret ballot, rather than have it be debated and decided on the floor of Town Meeting. Johnson has said his aim was to increase voter participation.
The residents have raised objections about potential neighborhood traffic impacts, hidden taxpayer costs, visitors trespassing onto their properties, and the disturbance of sensitive wildlife habitat. Supporters have argued that the parcel is already public land, and there aren’t enough places for the public to access Harpswell’s extensive shoreline.
Opponents have mailed a flyer to residents and created a website in an effort to defeat the question.
Among the three Select Board members, only Gilley recommended voter approval of the plan, saying it would help preempt unwanted state action and promote local control of the site. Johnson and Chipman both recommended against it, noting the outsized impact it would have on nearby properties and the fact that neighbors strongly oppose it.
Chipman had abstained from an earlier vote to place the proposal before voters, saying he is a beneficiary of a family trust that owns land abutting the site. Still, he chose not to abstain from recommending that residents vote against it.
“I was not legally required to abstain, but simple bias placed me in the position of undermining the Select Board’s integrity,” Chipman said about his earlier abstention. “In the recommendation situation there isn’t as much weight, the legal requirement isn’t there and I felt the integrity of the board isn’t in jeopardy with a simple recommendation.”
Comp plan, recycling center
The Town Meeting warrant contains 55 articles, ranging from budget appropriations and ordinance amendments to capital spending and routine financial and administrative authorizations.
Two articles of note are proposed amendments to the town’s comprehensive plan, approved by voters in November, and a $300,000 appropriation for “Phase II” upgrades to the town’s A. Dennis Moore Recycling Center and Transfer Station, with a primary focus on improvements to the main building.
The amendments to the comprehensive plan were needed after a state review found the plan required minor updates — such as refreshing old data and clarifying Harpswell’s request for an exemption from designating growth areas — before it could be deemed complete and consistent with the Maine Growth Management Act.
Harpswell is planning to make major improvements to the Recycling Center, either through renovations or a complete teardown and rebuild. The estimated cost to renovate the building has increased to nearly $1.8 million — double the amount of a preliminary estimate a year earlier.
Based on the newer cost estimates, the town’s engineering firm has said it would actually be cheaper to tear down the recycling center and build a new one from scratch. The current estimate to construct a new metal building is just under $1.5 million.
In recent years, voters have approved funds for a $900,000 renovation project. Given the new, higher estimates, the town is asking residents to approve another $300,000 this year. Town Administrator Kristi Eiane said the town would ask voters to approve additional funds in 2027.
Ordinance changes
Four articles propose technical ordinance changes affecting land use, environmental regulation, site plan review and floodplain management.
They include revisions to administrative appeals under Harpswell’s Basic Land Use Ordinance, a clarified definition of freshwater wetlands aligned with federal standards, and updated rules for minor amendments to approved site plans reviewed by a staff committee.
Additional ordinance changes would allow small fishing sheds to be placed seaward of the mean high tide in certain cases, but only if they gain Planning Board approval and meet requirements for safety and flood protection.
Town Planner Margaret McIntire has described the proposed changes as “housekeeping items” that would make the ordinances clearer and more consistent with state and federal language without substantively changing their impact.
The warrant also includes funding to maintain town services, such as fire and rescue services, law enforcement, road maintenance and snow removal, as well as capital reserve contributions, debt payments, property tax assistance and continued support for local nonprofits, libraries and community organizations.
In a meeting on Feb. 20, all three Select Board members praised the efforts of municipal staff in preparing the budget and warrant for this year’s Town Meeting.
“This is my first year on the job, and it has been very eye-opening how much work goes on behind the scenes that the public doesn’t actually see,” Gilley said.
