WESTBROOK – The Pike Industries consent agreement is out of the hands of the Westbrook City Council and back into the hands of the courts.

On Monday, the council, in a 4-3 vote, approved the final reading of the consent order between Pike and neighbor Idexx Laboratories.

Representatives from Smiling Hill Farms and Artel, abutters to the property, told the council recent court-ordered talks have brought them closer to getting what they wanted, but agreement still wasn’t there yet.

Artel president David Bertoni said they were close to settling, and George Rodrigues, senior scientific manager at Artel, said they were still hoping for an agreement on vibration limits from Pike’s blasting at the quarry.

“The reason Smiling Hill Farm opposes it is the inequality involved. We’ve only been given a 20-foot buffer; Idexx has a 100-foot vegetative buffer. Smiling Hill Farm would like to receive that same treatment. That is a moral issue for us,” said Warren Knight, owner of Smiling Hill Farm.

Councilors Paul Emery, John O’Hara and Victor Chau, who represent residents in the quarry district, voted against the consent order.

O’Hara said the reason he voted against the order was because all of the parties involved are close to reaching an agreement with Pike, and the council should wait until that happened before it voted. Emery agreed.

“What is a few days against years working together successfully in the community? If you work well together, the city benefits, particularly our legal costs go down, but I don’t want to hear the same requests in X number of days. ‘Well, we appreciate it but we still need more.’ In the spirit of hope, I hope the parties will sincerely give and parties will give up. There’s no magic wand here, guys. I can’t make everybody happy. None of the councilors can,” Emery said

The agreement is the culmination of years of negotiations over how Pike can operate its Spring Street quarry, including specifications covering when blasting can occur and the number of trips trucks can make in and out of the quarry each day.

New amendments, likes specifying where the blast vibrations will be measured, were ordered by the Maine Business and Consumer Court to fix discrepancies between the consent order and zoning amendments that went into affect in October. Both the zoning amendments and the original consent agreement have already been approved by City Council.

Pike, Idexx and the city filed a motion on Wednesday for final approval from the court. Artel and Smiling Hill Farm have until Feb. 13 to file objections to the motion and Pike, Idexx and Westbrook have six days to file a reply to the objections.

On Feb. 26, a motion hearing will be held at the Cumberland County Courthouse, which could be the final step in the ongoing disagreement.

“We all love a good neighbor, we encourage you guys to get along with your neighbors,” Chau said.

In other council action Monday, a new contract zone was approved for 102 Cumberland St., the Elms Bed & Breakfast parcel. The new zone aims to make the property more economically viable by allowing for more permitted commercial uses, including a hotel, restaurant, business offices and retail space, as a special exception.

The 2012 Comprehensive Plan was adopted with minor updates from the last time the city reviewed the plan in 2000. Maine requires the city to update the plan every 10 years. The plan works to enforce the Land Use and Zoning Ordinances.

Councilors unanimously gave first-reading approval to extend the Tax Increment Financing district encompassing Olympia Sports for an additional 15 years. Olympia Sports is considering expanding its Bradley Drive facility by 45,000 square feet to accommodate the growth the company has seen during the past 10 years. The proposed TIF would go into effect on July 1, 2014.

Changes to the Municipal Revolving Loan Fund and the creation of a TIF policy were also both approved on first reading. The Municipal Revolving Loan Fund changes deal with eligibility, collateral requirements and introduce a new funding mechanism – a line of credit instead of grant money to fund the loan.

Councilors voted unanimously to move along a bid of nearly $35,000 to a California website design company to update the city’s website. The Vision Internet bid will be heard at the next council meeting for second and final reading.

Finally, councilors scheduled a public hearing for Monday, March 4, on an amendment to allow for the installation of ramps and floats along the Presumpscot River.