OXFORD – Department of Environmental Protection officials say they are drawing up a consent agreement that will include a financial penalty for the owner of the Oxford Fairgrounds.

The Oxford County Agricultural Society was cited June 28 for violating the Stormwater Management Law, the Natural Resources Protection Act, the Erosion and Sedimentation Control Law and illegally discharging sediment in clearing 21 acres at the fairgrounds off Pottle Road, said Michael Mullen of the DEP enforcement division.

The site included a 15-acre hillside that was excavated to the point of becoming unstable, according to state and local officials. Concern over the work surfaced in May when abutters to the fairgrounds saw a nearby pond becoming filled with silt from site work on the fairgrounds.

Local officials said the landowners also failed to get  site plan review approval by the Norway Planning Board for the work. Board Chairman Dennis Gray said this week that he has no pending application before the board from the fairgrounds owners for the land which is in Norway and Oxford.

“We’ve done our investigation. It’s really just a matter of getting to it,” Mullen  said of the consent agreement that is being drafted.

Mullen said there has been some delay in the enforcement action because of the time of year. “You’re at the very height of field survey season,” he explained of the agents who spend the good weather in the field assessing alleged violations rather than at their desks.

While work to write and negotiate the consent agreement proceeds, Mullen said the landowners have filed applications for permits under the Natural Resources Protection Act and the Stormwater Management Law that were accepted for review about two weeks ago. Mullen said the time frame for review on the applications is about 90 days in this case.

The hillside was considered for use by Nateva Festival organizers for campers over the Fourth of July weekend, but that plan was scrubbed when it became evident that the hillside could not be used.

“There are no plans for that area yet. Right now it is just a picturesque landscaped hillside without a purpose,” said society director and treasurer Lance Bean in an e-mail to the Sun Journal on Wednesday.

Mullen said the hillside appeared to be stable at the time they checked it earlier this month.

“We went back and checked the site after the festival to check its stability. Thank goodness it’s dry but there’s still the potential to erode,” he said.

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