AUGUSTA — A planned City Council vote Thursday could effectively shut down a West River Road paving plant that some neighbors say creates an unbearable stink.

Councilors are scheduled to consider the proposal when they meet at 7 p.m. in council chambers at Augusta City Center.

Officials of R.C. & Sons Paving, operators of the asphalt plant in a pit owned by McGee Construction, said the plant provides jobs and competitive prices for paving projects. The paving company says it has tried to work with the city and neighbors to be a good neighbor.

Beginning shortly after the plant came along in 2009, several residents of the Grandview neighborhood off West River Road have lodged numerous complaints with the city about the smell of asphalt coming from the plant, which is less than 1,500 feet away from their neighborhood.

Councilors have been debating what to do about the situation since then.

At a meeting last month on the paving plant, councilors said they were ready to vote on a long-postponed ordinance change that would ban paving plants from the zone where the R.C. plant is. That move would effectively put the plant out of business, or force it to move, when its license expires in May.

However, with lawyers for R.C. & Sons and McGee having been closely involved in council proceedings, councilors delayed a vote until they could meet in a closed door session with their own attorney, according to Mayor William Stokes. Councilors have been discussing the legalities of what they may enact, he said.

Councilors are also scheduled to:

* consider a zoning change to allow a Sewall Street property across from the State House in the low-density residential district to be used as office space;

* consider parking rule changes on Drew Street to address concerns of residents about employees of a nearby business blocking their driveways. The new rules would ban parking on the east side of Drew Street all year between Western Avenue and Lincoln Street and restrict parking to two hours on the west side of that same section of Drew Street between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.; and

* consider approving an agreement with the state Department of Transportation providing the city with $20,000 for repairs to snow removal equipment and $99,500 in other capital improvements at the state-owned, city-run Augusta State Airport. City Manager William Bridgeo noted the improvements will be made with no financial obligation being incurred by the city.

Keith Edwards — 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com

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