The Maine Board of Environmental Protection is expected to decide Thursday whether to investigate the Scarborough Conservation Commission’s charge that the town’s newest housing development was improperly permitted.

Conservation Commission members filed their challenge to the project’s storm water permit issued by the Department of Environmental Protection on Feb. 19. The Board of Environmental Protection is charged by statute with providing decisions on the interpretation, administration and enforcement of the laws relating to environmental protection.

In its petition, the Conservation Commission said the DEP’s waiver of storm water standards will result in “substantial and potentially irreparable harm to the Scarborough Marsh” due to discharge of “petroleum products, metals, lawn products, chemicals, pesticides and silt” into the marsh during major floods. The development is located along the Eastern Trail near the Scarborough Marsh.

The petition also challenges that the project did not have easements, either for the properties that would be flooded during a storm or the drainage pipes used to drain Eastern Village.

However, Paul Austin, Conservation Commission chairman, said Sunday that problems with the storm water plans have been fixed and easements obtained since the petition was filed in February.

“Most of the issues that we raised are being addressed in one way or another,” he said. “They wouldn’t have been addressed at all if we hadn’t filed the petition.”

At the hearing, the board will decide either to hold a public hearing or dismiss the petition, board staff said in an e-mail.

Town Council Chairman Jeffrey Messer said town officials would like to see a quick resolution to the Conservation Commission’s complaints.

He said the town has spent three years reviewing the project, and it meets town housing standards as well as the town’s goals for residential development in certain areas.

“The (comprehensive) plan is very clear,” he said. “There’s been very strong interest on the town side, both in the comprehensive plan and (on the) Town Council, to have (housing) in that part of town.”

He called the Conservation Commission’s decision to appeal to the DEP “unfortunate.”

The Town Council was to hold its first full council meeting Wednesday since Chairman Jeffrey Messer attempted to discuss the Conservation Commission behind closed doors in early March. At the time, Messer failed to get the 5-2 majority necessary to enter into an executive session because three council members – Sylvia Most, Carol Rancourt and Judy Roy – said they had not been informed of what was going on and were not sure whether an executive session would be appropriate.

Messer has since sent a detailed e-mail to all commissioners concerning what he feels is the commission’s overstepping its duties and Austin’s rude behavior toward town employees. Messer said he would leave it up to the other members of the board to decide what step, if any, to take.

In interviews over the past several days, councilors Rancourt, Roy, Richard Sullivan and Ron Alquist said they did not plan to raise the issue of the Conservation Commission at Wednesday’s meeting. Councilors Most and Michael Wood could not be reached for comment by the Current’s deadline.

Messer said he won’t raise the issue either, but said he feels it still needs to be addressed.

“If the council decides to take any action against the Conservation Commission, that remains to be seen,” he said. “I think the council should take action or certainly should investigate it. I think they’re abrogating their responsibilities if they don’t.”