AUGUSTA — Contractor and quarry owner Steve McGee has signed a consent agreement with the city that acknowledges a subcontractor working for his firm failed to properly notify all neighbors prior to two blasts in his West River Road pit last year.

He also agreed to pay $3,500 to the city, though the subcontractor, Gardiner-based Maine Drilling and Blasting, wrote the actual check to the city, not McGee.

McGee signed the agreement only after the city filed a lawsuit against his West Gardiner-based Steve McGee Construction last week.

Of the $3,500 paid to the city, $3,000 was for a fine imposed on McGee. The remaining $500, according to City Attorney Stephen Langsdorf, is to cover the city’s costs incurred in drafting and filing the lawsuit.

The incidents that prompted the city lawsuit and resulting consent agreement were two blasts at McGee’s quarry operation in a pit off West River Road, near the Grandview neighborhood, on Nov. 3 and Dec. 14 of last year.

Department of Environmental Protection officials, who are also considering sanctions against McGee for the same two incidents, said the blasts sent dust into the Grandview neighborhood.

Advertisement

In March, the city said McGee Construction failed to comply with all requirements of the city’s blasting ordinance to notify neighbors within a certain distance of the pit before those two blasts.

The city, in its first proposed consent agreement regarding the blasts, suggested McGee pay a $5,000 fine and agree to comply with the city’s blasting ordinance, setting a deadline of March 14 to do so. However McGee did not sign the agreement nor pay the fine, which was negotiated down to $3,000, until after the city filed its lawsuit.

“As a result of my filing suit he decided to sign the agreement I had previously drafted,” Langsdorf told city councilors. “Because he did not do so prior to litigation he agreed to pay an additional $500 to cover the city’s costs for drafting and filing the complaint. I will now be dismissing the case.”

The consent agreement signed by McGee acknowledges “Maine Drilling and Blasting did not properly provide notice… to property owners in accordance with the ordinance. Specifically, only a selected subset of property owners qualified to receive notice was notified. In the event that McGee, or a subcontractor, is in violation of blasting or any related ordinance in the future, the city will take further action, including but not limited to the possibility of rescinding licenses for the operation of the McGee Quarry.”

Langsdorf noted that McGee previously signed a consent agreement after failing to comply with the same notification requirements for a Sept. 8, 2008, blast, and paid a $1,500 fine, making the two latest blasts the second and third documented violations.

The McGee quarry is in a pit which is also the site of a R.C. & Sons Paving asphalt plant that, while not involved in the two blasts, has also drawn complaints from neighbors about odor, noise and dust.

Keith Edwards — 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.