WILTON — Adam Mack of Wilton Recycling has failed to meet a Monday deadline to submit a remediation plan for asbestos at a Depot Street demolition site, according to state officials.

The Environmental Protection Agency will pursue a court order to access the property if necessary, said Samantha Depoy-Warren, spokeswoman for the Department of Environmental Protection.

While Mack hasn’t met the deadline, he is communicating with the department and has indicated he needs a little more time to submit the plan, Depoy-Warren said.

The missed deadline comes after a year of delays in ridding the former Forster Mill of asbestos, a mineral with long, fibrous crystals that causes lung cancer and other serious health concerns.

The site has been called one of the worst in the state by enforcement agents.

Depoy-Warren said that she was heartened when Mack made the site more secure last week as part of a timetable established by the department.

“We hope this new delay is not indicative of a return to the stagnation that we’d seen at that site throughout much of the past year and that remediation work and ultimately redevelopment will continue moving forward,” Depoy-Warren said.

The enforcement agencies had ordered Mack to submit a remediation plan by Monday that includes the name of a contractor to perform the removal work.

But as of Monday evening, the department had not received anything.

Mack had said on Friday that he had not been made aware of the Monday deadline, but Depoy-Warren said that he had received a detailed letter outlining the expected schedule.

On Tuesday, Depoy-Warren reported that the department was in touch with Mack, and that he is seeking cost estimates from contractors who can do the work.

“We’ve told them they need to get us a timeline of those meetings no later than tomorrow (Wednesday),” Depoy-Warren said.

Abatement Professionals did some cleanup work at the site at the site last year, but the work stalled when funds ran out, said owner Bob Rickett. The company has a lien on the property and is owed $75,000 for the previous work.

Rickett is in talks with Mack to complete the work, he said, in an agreement that would include payment for last year’s work.

“If anybody else goes in there to do the work, I’ll sue for a court order to stop them,” he said. “If they go in there and dismantle the building, that’s my collateral on what I’m owed.”

Rickett said that he felt a plan to restart and fund the project would be in place by the end of the week.

Depoy-Warren also said that Mack has received a form that would grant the EPA access to the site.

If Mack fails to sign and return the form within three days, she said, the EPA will pursue a court order for access, which would allow it to perform the work if needed.

“We’re doing everything we can to keep them on track,” she said.

Mack’s Wilton Recycling owns the Depot Street property; the demolition work was done by Ryan Blyther, a 35-year-old Scarborough man who is in jail for stealing $50,000 from American Legion Post 56 in York in an unrelated building project.

Both men face significant fines from the DEP and EPA, while Blyther faces additional fines of $154,200 from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for workplace safety violations.

WIlliam Coffin, the federal labor agency’s area director in Maine, said that the fines have not been paid, and have been sent to the national office for collection.

Mack did not return a phone call and e-mail.

Matt Hongoltz-Hetling — 861-9287

mhhetling@centralmaine.com

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