Negotiations between a gravel pit operator and one of the city’s largest employers took a step back Tuesday night as Pike Industries took a compromise plan off the table and resubmitted the company’s original expansion plans for a new gravel pit and asphalt plant.
The plans had caused Idexx Laboratories to halt a multi-million-dollar plan to build its headquarters in Westbrook and the city to consider rezoning land owned by Pike to block the expansion of heavy industry in the area. Pike and Idexx had been in talks in an attempt to reach a compromise, but it appears talks broke down in recent months when a revised plan didn’t meet Idexx’s expectations.
“We could have made it work if it worked for others. This is what works best for Pike,” said Ted Johnson, of MAI Environmental Services, Pike’s engineering firm, of the original plan.
As Pike resubmitted its original expansion plans, a chorus of representatives from nearby companies joined Idexx in testifying to the detrimental effect blasting at Pike has on their businesses.
City Council President Brendan Rielly expressed disappointment about the failure of the two companies to compromise. He said after the meeting he wasn’t sure what the city would do. He said doing nothing would leave Idexx unhappy, and rezoning Pike’s property could lead to a lawsuit against the city.
“We’re kind of back to square one again,” said Rielly.
In March, Idexx, which develops, manufactures and distributes veterinary equipment, expressed concerns about the sight, sound and smell of Pike’s expansion plans. The company told the city that, if the plans were approved, it would likely not move forward with building its corporate headquarters, which was part of a plan Idexx proposed when the company was negotiating for a tax increment financing agreement with the city.
In an effort to stop Pike’s expansion and ensure that Idexx would stay, Mayor Bruce Chuluda proposed rezoning the land between Spring and Saco streets – including Five Star Industrial Park and Pike’s property – from industrial to light manufacturing. The Committee of the Whole tabled the issue in hopes that the two companies could reach a compromise, and the city wouldn’t have to chose sides between two of its biggest taxpayers.
Chuluda said Wednesday he continues to support rezoning the property. “With the vision that I have been trying to promote for that area, I think rezoning would be the best thing for the businesses that are there now and the businesses that would move in in the future,” he said.
Idexx isn’t the only abutter that has a problem with Pike’s plans. Several neighboring businesses spoke up at the meeting Tuesday about how the blasting has affected their companies and why an expansion of the operations is inconsistent with the vision presented to them regarding the city’s future.
Doug Finck, general manager of WPXT and WGME, a television station located on Ledgeview Drive, said the station moved to Westbrook from Portland because the city had indicated that it was severing its ties with heavy industry and was moving toward “something we wanted to be a part of.”
Already, Finck said, Pike’s blasting affects their business. He said it’s embarrassing to have guests in the studio when blasts interrupt interviews, causing them to start over.
“Our fillings vibrate. Our backbones shutter,” he said about the effect of the blasts.
Though Warren Knight said he could warn his employees at Smiling Hill Farm about when the blasts will occur, the animals are always going to be taken by surprise – sometimes causing them to bolt.
“I can’t tell the cows,” he said. “It has an effect on our livestock.”
George Rodrigues, senior scientific manager at Artel, a company specializing in analytical instruments, said Pike’s increased blasting is incompatible with the sensitivity of the company’s equipment.
“If the ground is fluctuating, that’s not going to work for us,” he said.
Dick Daigle, director of facilities for Idexx, reiterated issues the company had with the Pike’s expansion and told the board that it would oppose the project. He emphasized Idexx’s value to the city as its largest employer and reminded the board of the vision the city had for light manufacturing in the industrial park.
“We feel this development will negatively affect the overall image of the park and may potentially result in a loss of new or expanded business,” Daigle said. “We encourage the Planning Baord to consider the negative impacts this project would have on the city.”
The Planning Board will meet again to discuss the project, though City Planner Molly Just said she didn’t know when that would be.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
