OXFORD — A disagreement over the amount of financial penalty for violations at the Oxford Fairgrounds last year is apparently delaying signing a final agreement between the Oxford County Agricultural Society and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

“I know it seems like a conclusion has been a long time coming and, while the department certainly prides itself on a timely enforcement process, cases sometimes take time to reach a fair conclusion,” DEP spokeswoman Samantha DePoy-Warren said in a statement to the Sun Journal this week.

“In this case, the duration has been driven by the department’s dedication to making sure the site was cleaned up by this winter and now that that’s been completed, we’re able to refocus our efforts on resolving the financial penalty portion of the case,” she wrote.

DePoy-Warren said the restoration work at the fairgrounds off Pottle Road has been completed, including a soil filter pond, but the parties continued to work to finalize the agreement. The “sticking point” appears to be agreement of the appropriate penalty, DePoy-Warren said. She said the department is trying to make sure the penalty is appropriate and consistent with penalties assessed for similar violations.

On June 28, 2010, the Agricultural Society was cited for violating the Stormwater Management Law, the Natural Resources Protection Act, the Erosion and Sedimentation Control Law and illegally discharging sediment while clearing 21 acres that included a large hillside in Oxford and Norway.

The issue surfaced in May 2010 when abutters to the fairgrounds saw a nearby pond becoming filled with silt from site work on the fairgrounds. At that time it was determined that the responsible parties had not obtained a permit from the Norway Planning Board for the site work. The majority of the 21-acre site was in Norway.

Norway Planning Board Chairman Dennis Gray, who conducted a site inspection at the time as part of the Agricultural Society’s application to use some of the land for camping during the Nateva Festival, called the site, “a muddy mess” and an “ecological disaster waiting to happen.” Board members said they found trees excavated to the point of making the ground unstable, according to state and local officials.

In February, the DEP proposed a draft consent agreement for “significant” environmental violations that called for a fine close to $73,000 but did not assess individual parties. At that time, the Oxford County Agricultural Society, Black Bear Entertainment LLC, Rupert and Suzanne Grover, Steven Barber of Black Bear Realty Co. and McGee Construction of West Gardner were named in the agreement.

Lance Bean, then a member of the fairgrounds Board of Directors, said Barber, Black Bear Entertainment and Black Bear Realty were “wrongly identified” as being responsible for any environmental damage that occurred.

The current agreement names the Oxford County Agricultural Society, Rupert and Suzanne Grover and McGee Construction, DePoy-Warren said.

She said the DEP is committed to “firm and fair enforcement and will not allow for violations to provide for a competitive advantage against those businesses and individuals who are undertaking environmental stewardship and following our state’s laws.”

The consent agreement is a proposal by the DEP to resolve the matter through an administrative settlement agreement rather than through court action. It is a legally binding document with the state of Maine that must be approved by all parties, according to information from DEP.

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