Danny Shaw of Shaw Brothers Construction addresses the Gorham Town Council Tuesday. Robert Lowell / American Journal
Gorham Town Council Tuesday rejected a citizens’ request to place more regulations on quarries. The agenda language was not specific to a particular quarry or company, but appeared to be aimed at Brickyard Quarry, owned by Shaw Brothers Construction, on Mosher Road.
A group of Gorham citizens created a Facebook group in January claiming Brickyard Quarry’s operation has impacted them and complaints include noise and dust. Town Councilor Seven Siegel, chair of the Ordinance Committee, proposed the item on this week’s agenda.
Danny Shaw, co-owner of the company with his brother Jon Shaw, spoke to the board and vowed to “punch back” if the town punches them.
Efforts to amend the item and tabling it both failed. Then councilors defeated the measure 5-1 with Siegel in favor and Councilor Rob Lavoie absent.
Town Councilor Phil Gagnon called the proposal a “jumbled order. I cannot support something that is not defined.”
Shaw invited quarry neighbors to call him if they have a problem. Shaw said the company has state-of-the-art rock crushers. “Come see, I can educate you,” Shaw said.
An abutter, Charles Hamblen of Hamblen Drive, said it’s time to take a look at quarry regulations and wants the town to consider tax rebates to neighbors of quarries.
Resident Ken Sanderson lives a quarter of a mile from the quarry and he praised Shaw Brothers as a good company and didn’t want to cause them problems. But, he said, there’s dust when the wind “comes our way.”
Gorham has three quarries with two active, according to Danny Shaw. Gorham Planning Board approved expansion of blasting at Brickyard Quarry earlier this year. The quarry was initially approved in 2008 on a former brick manufacturing site.
Mark Curtis, chair of the Gorham Economic Development Corporation, said the business made its investment under rules in place then. Curtis also pointed to state law that governs quarries and asked the Gorham council not to take up the request.
No one from the public advocated shutting the business down. “We don’t want Shaw Brothers to go out of business,” Sanderson said.
After the meeting, Shaw met outside town hall with several residents.
A post in the citizen’s Facebook group said Wednesday while the proposal didn’t pass, it raised awareness and they are “figuring out our next steps.”
Shaw Brothers Construction is a town benefactor. The company several years ago gifted Shaw Park, off Sebago Lake Road, to the town. More recently, it preserved the nearly 300-acre Shaw Cherry Hill Farm on Main Street that has three miles of public walking trails and houses the Gorham Historical Society in a restored antique barn.
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