By Kelly Morgan,Staff Writer

PARIS – At the request of Selectman Barbara Payne, the town manager will be looking into whether past environmental violations have been remedied at the gravel pit off High Street.

Payne raised the issue of the gravel pit during the public comment portion of a Paris Board of Selectmen’s meeting Monday. She said violations found in early 2000 resulted in fines and a requirement that the town plant new trees along the Androscoggin River at the edge of the pit.

“We do have a June 30 deadline coming up,” she said, referring to the tree plantings required under a consent agreement signed by the town and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection in 2002 and 2003.

Payne and selectmen Vice Chairman Bruce Hanson disagreed on the nature of the past violations. While Payne believed the town was cited in part for a logging operation in the gravel pit, Hanson said the violations stemmed from excavation of land in and near the pit in the 1960s and ’70s.

According to a copy of the consent agreement, the town paid a total of $6,950 in penalties and fees after the Department of Environmental Protection in 2002 found the gravel pit had been “expanded by approximately 13 acres since 1970.”

Aerial photographs and a ground survey showed that the excavation at the east end of the pit had been conducted within 75 feet of the Little Androscoggin River, violating state requirements that a “75-foot natural buffer strip be maintained between the excavation and a protected natural resource.”

The town was also found not to have filed a “Notice of Intent to Comply” while expanding the gravel pit by more than 5 acres, and was found not to have paid “past annual dues.”

Mark Stebbins at the environmental protection agency offices in Portland, who signed the consent agreement, could not be reached Tuesday to clarify what dues were required.

According to the agreement, the town was required to re-establish a 75-foot buffer of trees along the Little Androscoggin River by June 30 of this year, pay $4,600 in penalties, and pay $2,350 in past dues. The town also was required by March 15, 2003, to submit an after-the-fact variance application requesting permission to operate a working gravel pit of more than 10 acres, or submit plans to reduce the size of the pit.

Selectmen Chairman Bill Merrill on Monday asked that Town Manager Sharon Jackson include discussion of the gravel pit on the agenda of the next board meeting, which is scheduled for April 25.

Barbara Payne spoke during the public comment portion of Monday’s meeting because the board does not have a space on its agenda for member comments.