20-month quest ends with OK for asphalt plant

Tag: Asphalt Mixing Plant The project – a contentious issue that dragged on for 20 months – finally won approval from the Gorham Planning Board Monday night. Shaw Brothers Construction Inc. introduced plans in August 2006 for Brickyard Quarry asphalt plant, a 60-acre stone quarry with a $3 million portable asphalt plant, located on a 125-acre, industrially zoned site off Mosher Road. The plans call for replacing the portable plant with a permanent, $10 million plant. The construction company bought the land from Lachance Brick Co., which kept a parcel to sell bricks. Bricks were manufactured there for decades. The Mosher Road site is served by sewer and natural gas. The asphalt plant would have the option of being fired by either gas or oil. Planners approved the quarry in March. “The town of Gorham will be happy with this,” Jon Shaw, co-owner of Shaw Brothers Construction Inc., told the Gorham Planning Board at its meeting, where members voted unanimously, 6-0 (Michael Parker absent), to approve the project. “The neighbors won’t know it’s there.” Those neighbors were outspoken in their opposition during the lengthy, often heated, public hearing process, which began in January 2007. An asphalt plant produces pavement by mixing gravel and crushed stone with black, liquid petroleum and heating the mixture to 300 degrees. Opponents – many organized as Concerned Citizens of Gorham – cited concerns about health, noise and traffic. The plant even became an issue in November's town elections. By Monday night, only six residents attended the meeting. Theresa Dolan, who lives in a 200-year-old farmhouse near the site on Mosher Road and has horses, called the project an inappropriate use. “I will never appreciate having it as my neighbor,” said Dolan, who said she was speaking without written notes at hearings for the first time in 19 months. “We aren’t going to be proud to have a quarry and asphalt plant in Gorham,” she said. Russell Sprague of Libby Avenue, who has opposed the project, said the process has been frustrating. “I understand it’s a painstaking process,” Sprague said. Planning Board member Tom Hughes said the project was approved with twice the number of conditions of any project since he has been on the board. “We can’t change ordinances,” Hughes said. Walt Stinson of Sebago Technics in Westbrook, the project engineer, said numerous changes in plans were the result of public input. Stinson said he hadn’t seen a project more carefully reviewed or under more scrutiny. Dolan said the Planning Board had been diligent. “I appreciate your efforts,” Dolan said. Company representatives met with town planners Tuesday to discuss construction. “We want to get started as soon as we can,” Shaw said. “It’s going to take a year.” Approval of the project came on a motion by Planning Board member Mark Stelmack and seconded by Doug Boyce. A member of Concerned Citizens of Gorham declined to comment Wednesday on whether the group planned to appeal the Planning Board decision.