Planning board grants conditional permit for Queen City Mining with remediation conditions
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Summary
The board renewed/approved a conditional land‑development permit for mineral extraction at 35 Queen City Boulevard (Queen City Mining LLC) while placing conditions on wetland reclamation and a 60‑day documentation requirement; the permit will be backdated to the prior permit’s expiration date.
The Bangor City Planning Board granted a conditional land‑development permit July 15 to Queen City Mining LLC for continued mineral extraction at 35 Queen City Boulevard (Map Block R08‑006), subject to conditions requiring written documentation of progress on wetland remediation and a schedule for bringing a current encroachment back to the required setback.
Applicant Randy Gather (Queen City Mining / Gather Construction) told the board the operation began under prior permits and that the company has been working to remediate wetlands disturbed in earlier activity. Staff and the applicant described ongoing work to remove material that had been placed in wetlands and to restore native soils and vegetation; the applicant said much of the removal work is complete and that the planting phase remains. The transcript records that a wetland consultant produced a remediation plan in 2019; the plan’s original timeline estimated remediation could take roughly two years. Board members asked why the remediation was not completed within that original estimate.
At the meeting, the board and applicant discussed reasons for the slower timeline (including operational changes and weather) and agreed that the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the applicant’s wetland consultant have been involved in oversight. The applicant indicated DEP staff had visited the site and that DEP was satisfied with progress on erosion control and remediation steps, but board members requested written confirmation.
The board’s conditional approval includes the following conditions recorded in the meeting: (1) the applicant must provide a letter from the wetland consultant documenting that mitigation and remediation are progressing adequately; that letter must be submitted to planning staff within 60 days of the July 15 meeting; (2) the remediation work is expected to be completed within three years (the board set the goal that mitigation be finished within three years, consistent with prior discussion); and (3) the applicant must correct an existing excavation encroachment by bringing the disturbed area back to the required setback adjacent to the Bangor Water District property (Map Lot R08‑006B) within 60 days, confirmed by a code‑enforcement inspection. The board also agreed to backdate the new permit to the expiration date of the previous permit as recorded in the city’s files.
Board members voted unanimously to grant the conditional permit with the stated conditions. The board asked staff to include the consultant letter in the project file and to coordinate any necessary follow‑up inspections.
