WINSLOW — State officials shut down a construction project at the police station Friday for a lack of permit.

Assistant Fire Marshal Rich McCarthy said his office hadn’t received a permit application for the project until Monday, three days after the work stoppage. Construction at the site began last month and is scheduled to end in November.

McCarthy said it’s unknown how long the stoppage will last. He’s unaware of any issues that would prevent his office from issuing a permit, but he hadn’t had a chance to review the application in detail. So far, the contractor has done some foundation work and plumbing.

Town officials and the general contractor said they aren’t sure why the permit application was overlooked. Gary Peachey, president of Peachey Builders, said his company had received a building permit from the town before beginning its work last month.

“We thought we were OK,” Peachey said. “In Augusta, they won’t issue a building permit unless you have the fire marshal’s permit. So that kind of caught us off guard. We had the building permit, but we should have also made sure we had the fire marshal’s permit, so we accept some responsibility that we should have had both in place, and we didn’t.”

Town Manager Michael Heavener said he didn’t realize the permit hadn’t been granted. Councilor Steve Russell said he believed the permit application “fell through the cracks.” Code Enforcement Officer Frank Stankevitz couldn’t be reached.

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McCarthy said the permit is necessary for construction of any public buildings. He said his office wouldn’t issue any fines for the work that already has been done, acknowledging that mistakes happen.

“Sometimes people think someone else has obtained the permit or is getting one, and it just gets missed. It not uncommon,” he said.

Peachey said he thinks the fire marshal’s office will issue the permit this week. When it does, the office also will decide on the scope of the building’s sprinkler system, he said. The building’s addition will need a fire-suppression system, but it’s unclear whether the rest of the Town Office will need to be retrofitted to include the system as well. Peachey said his company provided the town with quotes for both.

Gerald St. Amand, chairman of the Town Council, didn’t know the exact amount of the price quotes when reached by phone Monday evening, but he said the difference between them is substantial.

Earlier this year, the council argued about three options for the expanded police station, and eventually settled on the most modest proposal, estimated at $638,000.


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