Brayton Point offers resolution to criminal case; Somerset Board of Selectmen to consider
FALL RIVER — Brayton Point LLC is offering to reach a plea deal with the town of Somerset over a criminal complaint pending in Fall River District Court.
But while the town is seeking $3.5 million in fines for two misdemeanors charges brought by Somerset, the company is offering to now pay $70,200.
Lawyers for the town and for Brayton Point were in court Tuesday, but the case is still pending, and the offer will now go before the Somerset Board of Selectmen.
The next court date on the matter is June 18.
Fall River District Court Judge Paul Pino, who has presided over the case since the town filed criminal charges in November, again urged the two sides to come to a reasonable agreement on the amount of the fines.
"Both sides, at some point, need to become more realistic about what the value of the case is. Try to work it out," said Pino during a hearing to dismiss the criminal complaint, which he rejected.
Brayton Point attorney Patrick McBurney filed the proposed agreement that would have the company make a plea to the zoning violation and have the municipal violation dismissed.
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What brought on the criminal case?
Somerset Board of Selectmen brought criminal charges against the owners of Brayton Point for misdemeanor zoning violations and municipal bylaw violations that occurred in 2020 and fined the company $3.5 million.
The order was to stop the then tenants at Brayton Point, particularly a scrap metal business operating at the time, from trucking materials in and out of the property.
Brayton Point once housed a power plant, the largest coal-fired generating station in New England at the time, and Somerset’s biggest taxpayer.
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The Somerset Zoning Board had given Brayton Point LLC a permit to allow operation at the site for the scrap metal business and a salt wholesale and storage business through a Planned Development permit.
The town filed a cease-and-desist order to stop the activity.
The zoning board reversed the decision after pushback from residents living in Brayton Point and ordered the cease-and-desist.
Brayton Point appealed the decision, and in March 2022 a Land Court judge upheld the cease-and-desist, ordering the company to “to cease the operation of its scrap metal operation within fourteen (14) days from the date of judgment.”
In a new motion, Somerset attorneys Arthur Frank and Joseph Macy requested that the court consider the Land Court decision.
Brayton Point is arguing that the $3.5 million demand in fines is excessive, which Pino has indicated in court that he agrees with.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Brayton Point offers resolution to criminal case with Somerset
