The company that runs Bangor’s popular waterfront music series tried to build a structure at the city-owned concert site without a permit, according to a Bangor official.
Waterfront Concerts — which is negotiating a new contract with the city — was found building a 16-by-30-foot wooden structure intended to cover metal detectors at one of the Darling’s Waterfront Pavilion’s gate areas, said Brenda Bilotta, the city’s code enforcement licensing coordinator.
But the company never sought or received a permit to build it, and city officials were concerned that the structure was a fire hazard since it blocked an exit near the corner of Main and Railroad streets, she said.
Code enforcement officials issued a stop work order on Friday, and the company has since torn it down, she said.
“It was not structurally sound and there were some concerns from the [Bangor] Fire Department,” said Bilotta. “They hadn’t actually completed it. It was just the frames and the trusses.”
Waterfront Concerts leases the venue’s grounds from the city, and is restricted to the kinds of buildings or structures it is allowed to build on the site, as well as the hours and days it is allowed to host concerts.
The Old Town-based company has been negotiating a new contract with the city since October when the last one, which is still in effect, expired.
In May, the two sides were still negotiating issues around the volume of the music and the length of a new agreement. But on Monday, City Council Chairman Joe Baldacci said the city has a contract that is ready for Waterfront Concerts to sign and “the ball is in their court.” He declined to give any specifics about the terms of the proposed agreement.
Baldacci said he does not think the company trying to build a structure at the site without a permit will affect negotiations or the terms of a new agreement.
“I don’t see it impacting the finalization of the contract,” he said. “But the fact of the matter is that this was done without authority, without permits and whoever it is, everyone has to play by the same rules, including Waterfront Concerts.”
Waterfront Concerts Founder Alex Gray and representatives from the company did not respond to messages seeking comment on Monday. Gray is scheduled to go to trial Aug. 14 for a domestic violence charge after allegedly attacking his girlfriend in March at his Portland condominium.
To build a permanent structure on the site, Waterfront Concerts needed to secure a building permit through code enforcement first, said Baldacci. The company also needed to seek city council or city manager approval, since the structure was not listed under the still-active 2012 contract, he said.