BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 21, 2025
The largest municipality in Hancock County, which has seen some of the most significant population increases in Maine over recent decades, continues to embrace development, even as some of its neighbors are guarding against it. The growth of middle-income housing in Ellsworth has been hot in recent years, as the costs of real estate and housing in Maine have increased dramatically. But, just as new retail dominated the city’s growth in the 1990s and 2000s, the local development landscape continues to evolve. Some of Ellsworth’s neighbors have been pushing back against large-scale growth. In the past year, Bar Harbor has put a temporary halt on all new transient lodging development, Lamoine has banned resorts and glampgrounds, and Blue Hill has rejected a proposal to subdivide a 38-acre blueberry barren into high-end house lots.