Zachary Lanning

BAR HARBOR — The town’s Board of Appeals met on Tuesday, Jan. 13, for the first time since September to take care of a few logistical matters now that the calendar has moved to 2026. Perhaps the most impactful discussion during the meeting concerned the recognition by several members of the board that their numbers had become relatively thin.

BAR HARBOR — The new year began with a shocking turn of events, as long-time Planning Board member Millard Dority informed the town that he would be stepping away from the board that he chaired. “Please find this note as my intent to resign my position on the Bar Harbor Planning Board effective immediately,” Dority wrote in his resignation letter, obtained by the Islander.

A “cool” development, both literally and figuratively, took place this weekend as a joint project between the Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association and the town came to fruition with the installation of a community ice skating rink on the ballfields. Volunteers from Witham Family Hotels, whose Charitable Fund paid for a majority of the cost of the rink, along with members of the Bar Harbor Fire Department and Town Manager James Smith, were out on the municipal athletic grounds on Jan.