The owner of the Bangor Mall told a contractor to stop fixing a broken sewer pipe, allowing sewage to continue spilling into the ground, according to testimony at a court hearing Tuesday.
The city later hired a contractor to fix the broken pipe, stopping the spill.
After the mall failed to fix the broken sewer pipe, as well as other code violations including a leaking roof, large potholes and a dilapidated sign, the city filed two different lawsuits against the mall owner, Namdar Realty Group. Witnesses testified about the violations Tuesday during the first day of a two-day court hearing at Bangor District Court
At the hearing Thursday, the city of Bangor’s water quality director outlined the steps the local mall manager took to fix the broken sewer line in August before stopping all activity.
A sinkhole opened around a 54-inch stormwater pipe, causing a break in a 10-inch sewer line and 18-inch stormwater pipe that the city learned about Aug. 22. The city eventually fixed the break Aug. 26 after the mall failed to take care of it, according to one of two lawsuits filed by the city against the mall and its owner Namdar Realty Group.
Two witnesses testified Thursday during the first day of the preliminary injunction hearing, which is scheduled to continue Friday.
A contractor for the mall had a set up bypass – which captures the sewage and then deposits it back into the pipes after the break – that was operational by 7 p.m. Aug. 23, the second day of the broken pipe, Director of Water Quality Management Amanda Smith testified.
The next day, Saturday, Aug. 24, she received a call from the contractor, Eddie Campbell, and local mall property manager, Dawn Lazore, because Namdar Realty Group said it would not be paying the contractor for any of the work, Smith said.
Mall management made it clear that the contractor needed to take his equipment and stop the bypass, which the contractor told Smith he thought was unethical, she said. Later that day she got a phone call that the contractor was leaving the scene and stopping the bypass.
The sinkhole was “actively filling with sewage,” when Smith arrived at the site about 45 minutes after the call, she testified. No one from the mall remained, but there were city employees.
Pink and foamy sewage was filling the sinkhole, along with rags that were coming out of the sewer pipe, Smith said.
“The pink color of the sewer was disconcerting from an environmental standpoint … not knowing what that was,” Smith said.
Before leaving the scene, the contractor had partially filled in the sinkhole which redirected the spilling sewage, sending it toward the city’s public sewer line and washing away soil, Smith said. There was concern it would damage the public lines.
At that point Smith called City Manager Debbie Laurie and the city decided to step in and do the bypass itself to prevent further damage. The city hired a contractor that set up a bypass until the pipe was repaired on Aug. 26, Smith said.
Between the emergency repairs and clean-up to the city’s sewer line, it cost the city about $38,900, Smith said. The city wants the judge to order Namdar Realty Group to reimburse it, as well as institute civil fines as allowed in the ordinances.
The sinkhole opened on along the mall’s private sewer line, on a property owned by another company, Storm Water Manager Richard May testified. However, the mall has an easement, which keeps it mall property.
The mall has made some of the repairs the city has raised as issues, including to the parking lot and about 50 percent of the roof repair, the mall’s attorney, William Gallitto III, said.
“My clients have been working tirelessly to find contractors who are willing to work with them,” Gallitto said. “There have been significant hurdles simply to find contractors who are willing to get out there and provide bids.”
The mall is making “great strides” in finding contractors and more repairs will be happening, he said.
Court is scheduled to resume at 8:30 a.m. Friday.
