WESTBROOK – Pike Industries’ blasting activities could cost the company up to $4,500 in fines from the city.

The company conducted production blasts at its Spring Street quarry on Dec. 9, Dec. 14, and Dec. 16, and Westbrook officials believe at least two of those blasts violated vibration limits set by an agreement between Pike and the city. City Administrator Jerre Bryant said the city would likely issue two fines to Pike, one for each violation.

“That’s what we expect to do, yes,” Bryant said this week.

According to City Engineer Eric Dudley, data collected from two seismic sensors show two violations. The first, on Dec. 9, shows a reading of 0.73 inches per second, recorded at 690 Spring St., and the second, on Dec. 14, shows a reading of 0.59 inches per second, recorded at 684 Spring St.. According to the consent agreement, no blast can cause vibrations in excess of 0.5 inches per second, Dudley said

This is not the first time the city has cited Pike for blasting violations. In June 2011, the city fined Pike a total of $2,000 for three violations committed during construction blasts the company conducted in May. At the time, the company was building an access road running parallel to Spring Street.

Bryant said Pike blasted either too loudly or too late in the day, necessitating escalating fines of $500, $1,000, and $1,500. By that rationale, Bryant said, the two new violations should cost Pike $2,000 and $2,500 in new fines.

“That would appear logical to me at this point,” Bryant said.

No one from Pike was available Wednesday for comment.

Pike has been in the spotlight ever since it announced plans to ramp up operations at its 645 Spring St. location, which would include periodic production blasting. That angered residents and businesses nearby, including Idexx Laboratories, Artel, Smiling Hlll Farm, and residents of Spring Street and the nearby Birdland neighborhood.

The neighbors argued that while the property has existed as a quarry under various owners for decades, it has laid virtually dormant for years. Idexx, which manufactures veterinary testing equipment and water quality testing kits, had been planning to build a new $50 million headquarters on its property which abuts the quarry, but executives mulled scrapping that idea once they learned of Pike’s plans.

That led to a discussion among Pike, Idexx and the city that created a consent agreement, signed off on by a judge in Cumberland County Superior Court in the fall of 2010 that spelled out just when and how Pike could use the quarry.

That agreement allowed Pike to apply for permission to conduct up to eight production blasts per calendar year. While Idexx has agreed to build its complex, other residents have voiced displeasure with the agreement, and filed suit to challenge it in court.

But the court has granted Pike permission to continue business, even though the challenging lawsuit has not been resolved, and on Nov. 15 the company applied for and got its permit to blast.

Officials in the city’s code enforcement office, which issued the permit, said Pike had the option to blast up to eight times before the end of 2011, but weather conditions only permitted the three blasts in December. Pike will have to reapply for a new blasting permit to continue production blasting this year, according to the agreement.