Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

Owner buries debris from coffee shop rubble

By Scott Monroe smonroe@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

VASSALBORO -- An excavator scooped up piles of burnt rubble.

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PHOTO FINISH: Mike Parker, left, project manager for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, photographs the scene as workers remove the remains of the former Grandview Topless Coffee shop destroyed by fire in 2009 in Vassalboro as owner Don Crabtree observes on Tuesday.

Staff photo by David Leaming

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The debris was dumped into a truck and piled into big, deep holes in the ground, where it would later be buried.

Tuesday morning, state and local officials inspected the eyesore cleanup work at Donald Crabtree's Grand View Topless Coffee Shop property on Route 3. Crabtree's controversial topless coffee shop burned to the ground last June in what investigators labeled arson. He has since set up a trailer at the site to continue operating his business.

Crabtree said he recently learned that he could legally bury the debris underground -- instead of hauling it off -- so he hired Mike Cook Sr. Construction of Ellsworth to start work on Saturday.

It's costing about $2,700 to bury the debris, Crabtree said, compared with at least $14,000 to remove it.

"We're still just trying to clean up the mess somebody else did," Crabtree said.

Town officials said they had fielded several phone calls in recent days, mostly from abutting landowners concerned about the work. According to Crabtree, one nearby property owner screamed at him because she thought the machinery was too loud at 8:30 a.m., while another objected because he was concerned his water supply would be contaminated.

Most abutting landowners could not be reached Tuesday morning, while one local tenant declined to comment.

Apparently prompted in part by the complaints, both Code Enforcement Officer Paul Mitnik and Mike Parker, project manager for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, inspected the site Tuesday morning and said the work was being done legally and safely. The debris was being deposited into three big holes on different sides of the property, which is a triangular lot bordering Mudget Hill Road.

Crabtree said testing performed after the fire did not detect asbestos in the debris, entitling him to bury it.

"I'm happy it's happening now," Mitnik said after his inspection. "People have been complaining about the pile (since the building burned). Now he's doing it. That's what we want. From my point of view, he's following all the rules."

Parker said he, too, approved of what Crabtree was doing.

"Just get mulch on it and keep an eye on it; and when we get to growing season, get grass growing right away," Parker told Crabtree.

Crabtree opened the coffee shop, featuring topless waitresses serving coffee and doughnuts, in February 2009 inside a former motel. The opening brought worldwide media attention to this rural community with a population of 4,200 and prompted the town to adopt new rules regulating sex-oriented businesses.

The building, which was not insured, was destroyed by a late-night fire June 4 -- just hours after Crabtree had presented a proposal to the Planning Board to make the topless coffee shop more like a strip club.

The State Fire Marshal's Office has completed its investigation of the arson. The District Attorney's Office has declined to comment on the case.

Crabtree later obtained permission from the Vassalboro Planning Board to operate the business temporarily out of a trailer until he could build a replacement building on the property, with the stipulation that the debris must be completely gone by November 2010.

By late afternoon Tuesday, Crabtree said all the debris had been buried and he was busy placing hay over the dirt. He hopes to save enough money to put up a new building this year.

"As soon as I recover from this, I'm going to do a pre-fabricated building," he said. "I'm living day-by-day, but we are making it."

Scott Monroe -- 861-9253

smonroe@centralmaine.com