BANGOR — The city of Bangor wants the owners of the Bangor Mall to pay at least $2 million in fines for alleged code violations.
The city first sued the owners of the mall, Namdar Realty, last year for alleged violations relating to a leaking roof, potholes and signage.
A second suit alleges stormwater and sewer violations.
In January, lawyers for both sides appeared in court and later issued written briefs with their final arguments.
Lawyers for the mall wrote that the city and its residents would be “best served by having defendants direct their money into improving the Bangor mall” instead of fines.
One Bangor Mall tenant says he thinks revitalizing the mall could help make it the attraction it once was.
“I definitely think Bangor needs a mall. I grew up here, I’ve been here all my life, and I remember when the mall was really good. I think it’s got potential to do that but there’s going to have to be some effort put forward to make that happen,” said Chip Carson, co-owner of the Dragon’s Lair at the Bangor Mall.
Bangor mall patrons Spectrum News spoke with on Friday say they want to see improvements in terms of what the mall offers.
“We wanted to get some food but there’s only a pizza spot so I think that a food court would be very beneficial,” said mall patron Jose Morales. “I think if there was something to eat, people would come here.”
Others said they want the mall to be a social hotspot.
“There’s a lot of young people around, people need things to do,” said mall patron Kareem Scott.
Lawyers for the mall wrote in their written closing arguments that they have already made many repairs to issues identified by the city, saying that the mall has put over $740,000 into parking maintenance and repairs, among other repairs.
An excerpt from their closing argument reads “this is not a case of a property owner evading responsibility, but instead a case that requires understanding the context surrounding the issues presented at trial, the scale of the repairs, and the unavoidable and uncontrollable constraints that have prevented immediate solutions.”
A significant portion of the city of Bangor’s written brief referenced a sewer line break in August of last year, wherein the city says they repaired a broken pipe and sewer line on mall property that caused raw sewage to flow into the Penjajawoc Stream after the mall neglected to fix it.
In their written brief, lawyers for the city of Bangor stated that “Namdar made an intentional business decision to illegally cause an ongoing deposit of raw sewage from the Bangor Mall parcel directly into the ground.”
The city’s brief also reads “this intentional, egregious act of pollution was a calculated business decision of Namdar to save money on the sewer and stormwater line repairs.”
The city’s brief alleges a contractor for the mall set up a bypass for the sewer line to fix the issue, but Namdar later instructed the contractor to remove it.
The mall owners wrote that the sewer discharge was limited to a period of three days and is not an ongoing issue.
A representative for the city says the city declined to discuss the suits while court proceedings are active, but said the city’s concluding argument was submitted Friday, February 14.
Some of the fines against the mall requested by the city include: $17,460 for failure to maintain the Bangor Mall sign, $287,000 for failing to maintain the roof and $2,500 per day from June 15 until repairs are completed on the mall’s stormwater system.
Lawyers for Namdar have asked the court to set realistic timeframes for the remaining repairs.
Spectrum News has reached out to Namdar for comment.
The final decision will now be determined by the judge.
