WESTBROOK – Opponents of a controversial quarry operating off Spring Street are demanding that the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals have a say in how – or if – the quarry should be allowed to operate.

Warren Knight, a member of the family that owns Smiling Hill Farm, filed an appeal on June 6, together with members of the Birdland neighborhood, with the city’s code enforcement office regarding the quarry run by Pike Industries Inc.

The appeal comes on the heels of construction blasting Pike did at the quarry in late May and early June, while building an access road. The city is dealing with two violations issued to the company related to the blasting, which could result in fines. The city has alleged that Pike blasted too loudly on one occasion, and too late in the day on another.

The quarry has angered area residents, including Knight, ever since Pike executives announced plans to step up production at the quarry, which is expected to include periodic blasting.

At issue is a consent agreement, reached between Pike and the city, which detailed specific conditions under which Pike could run the quarry. City officials have said the agreement was designed to allow Pike to keep working, and address residents’ concerns at the same time.

Right now, that agreement is being appealed in two separate court cases by the quarry’s neighbors. Both cases are still pending in Cumberland County Supreme Judicial Court.

Knight said the appeal filed with the city last week argues that the consent agreement allows Pike to run the quarry in a way that runs afoul of local zoning laws.

“It was done without following the rules of the city of Westbrook,” he said.

According to the language of the appeal, the quarry does not have a zoning variance for “extractive industry use,” which violates the zoning for that area. If any other company or individual, Knight said, wanted to do something like that, they would have to go to the Planning Board first, and then to the zoning board to get permission.

“(The city and Pike) went and bypassed those boards,” he said.

City Administrator Jerre Bryant declined to comment on Knight’s accusations, saying only that it is a legal question, and, “that’s a question that’s being addressed right now.”

Pike’s attorney, Sigmund Schutz, with the firm Preti Flaherty in Portland, called the appeal an “attempt to end-run the ongoing legal process.”

Schutz pointed out that a Superior Court judge signed off on the consent agreement last fall, and an attempt to stay Pike’s activities until the in-court appeals on the agreement were resolved has been denied.

Schutz said the new appeal to the city is an attempt to bring the objections to the quarry itself into another forum.

“The issue is before the court, and it should remain before the court,” he said.

Knight appealed to the code enforcement division, he said, since the consent agreement requires the code enforcement officer’s approval, which makes the agreement appealable to the zoning board.

A notation on the appeal indicates it will come before the zoning board on July 6, and Knight said he looks forward to being able to present the case to the board.

“What is happening is wrong. It is wrong, and we are going to show that,” he said.