WESTBROOK — The City Council voted Monday night to amend its zoning ordinance to enable Pike Industries to continue quarrying on Spring Street.

The council voted 4-1, with Victor Chau opposed and two councilors absent, to include so-called performance standards for the Spring Street quarry in the city’s manufacturing district, said City Administrator Jerre Bryant.

The change was made in response to a decision in June by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, which ruled on an appeal of a consent agreement formed in 2010 among the city, Pike and neighboring Idexx Laboratories.

The agreement was formed after Idexx took issue with Pike’s planned expansion of its Spring Street quarry. It laid out regulations for the use of the quarry, including limitations on the number of blasts and on the noise and vibration blasts could create, and was approved by the Maine Business and Consumer Court.

Nearby businesses Artel Inc. and Smiling Hill Farm appealed the agreement.

The Supreme Court partially granted the appeal, saying the city would only have the authority to enforce the regulations in the consent agreement if they were written into a zoning ordinance.

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Since that decision, Pike has not blasted rock on Spring Street. Pike’s attorney, Tony Buxton, did not return a call Tuesday morning seeking comment.

The proposed amendments to the zoning ordinance were reviewed by the city’s Planning Board and then the council.

The Business Court temporarily approved the consent agreement in August, as long as the zoning changes were pursued, and now will have to decide whether to permanently approve it.

Warren Knight, president of Smiling Hill Farm, said the council did not include all of the performance standards, including those regarding buffering, in the zoning ordinance.

“Without a doubt, they’ve done it the wrong way,” he said.


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