Blasting work, echoing since September around Merrimack Premium Outlets, has stalled this week after a work violation, the third in seven days, led town officials to pull the required permit.
The noise violation, recorded Thursday at the construction site near Exit 10 off the F.E. Everett Turnpike, marks the third time this month that work crews have exceeded the maximum levels set by the town Planning Board in the development agreement for the 130-store outlet mall.
Fire Chief Michael Currier, the town’s blasting agent, did not pull the permit after crews exceeded the permitted decibel levels with a Dec. 3 blast. He allowed the project contractor, Maine Blasting and Drilling of Auburn, to continue work three days later when crews topped the vibration levels with a second explosion Dec. 6.
But Thursday’s violation, in which crews topped the permitted noise level by less than 1 decibel, proved too much for Currier, and he pulled the permit Monday, bringing construction to a stop.
As of Tuesday evening, he had not yet restored the permit and work remained stopped.
“This tells them they can’t just do anything they want without ramifications,” Currier said Tuesday. “In the grand scale of things, it’s not a big (deal) ... but if I don’t address it, then people can say I’m not following the requirements.”
Neighbors complained of property damage following the second violation, recorded Dec. 6. But Thursday’s blast, recorded near a cellular tower at the center of the 170-acre construction site, did not pose any threat to surrounding houses, according to Walter Warren, the town’s community development director.
The town’s blasting requirements are designed to protect neighboring houses, and the cellular tower is not inhabited. “It may not be appropriate to be applying the same monitoring limits to those structures,” he said. “But nonetheless, that’s what’s in the blasting plan now.”
To better stay within the testing limits, planners from Maine Blasting and Drilling intend to use additional insulation at the cellular tower and to relocate the test receptors, Warren said – a plan that town officials need to approve before Currier can reinstate the blasting permit.
“It is our goal that any firm we have contracted to do any work on this project comply with all established guidelines,” said Michele Rothstein, senior vice president of marketing for Premium Outlets, the project developer. She did not respond to questions about how the construction delay will affect the project costs or schedule.
Company officials are hoping to have the first phase of the $100 million project – which includes 100 stores over 392,000 square feet – complete and open by 2012, they have said.
Additional violations could cause further delays, prompting the town to call in a third party to review all calculations prior to each blast, town officials have said.
““I don’t believe they’re being neglectful,” Currier said Tuesday. “They’re one of better blasters in the United States, and I think they do everything they can, but there’s always some type of a nuance, an issue, a concern ... that’s going to cause some type of an issue.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to (move forward) soon.”
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