Westbrook has fined Pike Industries $4,500 for two blasts in its Spring Street quarry last month that exceeded vibration limits agreed upon by the city, Pike and neighboring Idexx Laboratories.

The violations occurred with the first two production blasts in the quarry since a judge approved a consent agreement in the fall of 2010, after a years-long dispute between Pike and its neighbors over its right to quarry rock off Spring Street.

The accord limits Pike to eight blasts per year, limits noise and vibration, and requires Pike to build berms and make other improvements to mitigate the effects of its blasts.

The $4,500 fine, issued Jan. 11, was for blasts on Dec. 9 and Dec. 14 that exceeded the ground vibration limit of 0.5 inches per second.

A reading taken at 690 Spring St. registered the blast Dec. 9 at 0.73 inches per second. A reading at 648 Spring St. on Dec. 14 registered that blast at 0.59 inches per second.

A third blast, on Dec. 16, did not exceed the limit.

Tom Spellman, Pike’s crushing manager for Maine and New Hampshire, said the company will pay the fine and does not expect future blasts to exceed the limit.

“It had been several years since we blasted in there,” Spellman said.

He said the company had to adjust its technique to make sure it was meeting the standard, and did that with the third blast.

“It just took us those initial shots to get everything in sequence properly,” said Spellman.

The violation on Dec. 14 was recorded at the home of Tim Bachelder, chairman of a neighborhood group that has acted as a watchdog over Pike’s operation.

He said he is “pleased that the city is seriously pursuing compliance with the consent order.”

City Administrator Jerre Bryant said he believes Pike has made a “good faith effort” to comply with the requirements.

“Each time they’ve blasted, they’ve tried to modify the next one to avoid a violation,” he said. “One thing this should say is, we’ve got very tough standards.”

Bryant said the fines constituted more than a “(slap) on the wrist.”

“They can’t repeatedly have thousands of dollars in fines every time they have a blast,” he said.

In June, Pike was fined $3,000 for violating the agreement while blasting rock in May to build a new access road to the quarry – one of the required site improvements. That fine was for exceeding noise and vibration limits and blasting after the 3 p.m. daily deadline.

Spellman said Pike doesn’t plan to blast again until the spring, and will use most of its annual allotment of blasts in the fall.

Bachelder said the neighborhood group plans to meet before the blasting resumes to evaluate Pike’s performance this year.

Staff Writer Leslie Bridgers can be contacted at 791-6364 or at:

lbridgers@pressherald.com