By BETTY ADAMS
Staff Writer

ROME — The town government is suing a prominent businessman, his wife and a contractor for allegedly violating the town’s shoreland zone ordinance in a building project on Long Pond.

Frank Underkuffler, attorney for the town of Rome, filed a lawsuit Thursday in Kennebec County Superior Court against Scott and Lauren Bolduc of Rome and contractor Keenan Farwell of Mount Vernon, who operates Finishing Touch Landscape.

Scott Bolduc was honored earlier this year by the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce as its “Business Person of the Year.” He was cited for his three decades of work building a multimillion-dollar firm, Augusta-based Bolduc Technology Group, that develops adaptive technology that helps people with disabilities drive cars and trucks.

The town claims a patio and bark mulch at the Bolduc’s new home erected on Peninsula Drive were installed too close to Long Pond and in violation of a building permit issued in September 2011. That permit stated that no structure could be closer than 100 feet from the pond, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit says Bolduc applied for and received a permit to erect a “large country cottage” on Peninsula Drive. It also says the town code enforcement officer, Andrew Marble, made repeated attempts with the owners and contractor to resolve soil erosion control issues in which crushed stone and bark mulch were placed too close to the lake and a concrete patio reached within 85 feet of the shoreline.

“All of the attempts Andrew Marble took with the people came to no fruition,” said Selectman Paul Anderson. “The people refused to do anything.”

Anderson said the town previously has been able to negotiate a resolution with landowners prior to going to court. “It hadn’t been necessary in the last few years,” Anderson said Thursday.

The town issued a stop work order a year ago and also brought in the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to inspect the work.

The complaint says the homeowners and contractor failed to correct conditions they created, failed to contain run-off, and failed to remove both the “encroaching patio” and the bark mulch.

It also said the work on the property was a nuisance “corrupting the water of Long Pond.”

The town has asked a judge to order the alleged violations corrected and seeks attorney’s fees and damages.  

Documents in the court file indicate both Scott and Lauren Bolduc were notified of the lawsuit, but there wasn’t documentation showing whether Farwell had been notified yet. Farwell did not return a phone message left on Thursday.

No lawyers were listed for any of the defendants.

A woman who answered the phone Thursday at Bolduc Technology Group said Scott Bolduc would not be available to respond to the lawsuit until next week. 

Betty Adams — 621-5631
badams@centralmaine.com