Stop The Cheapeake Terrace (Odenton) Rubble Landfill in AA Co.

Landfill contested once again - Meeting set to review plans for Odenton site
By SCOTT BURKE Staff Writer
November 27, 2001

After a decade-long court battle over a proposed rubble landfill west of Crofton, the developer is once again moving forward in obtaining a permit.

Community leaders, who voiced their disapproval of Halle Enterprises' Chesapeake Terrace Landfill when it first surfaced in 1988, are once again denouncing it.

"The amount of traffic it will add and the amount of population it will add all indicate that it is a detrimental addition to the community," said Rich Trunnell president of the Crofton Civic Association.

Although Bob Scott, president of the Greater Crofton Council, said his group has not taken a position on the landfill since it has resurfaced, it fought the proposal in the past.

"From our perspective, we're primarily concerned about the traffic impact," he said.

The Maryland Department of the Environment will hold an informal meeting about the proposal at the Odenton Fire Hall on Monday at 6:30 p.m. State officials will explain the procedure of the permit process, and someone from the waste management company will be on hand to explain the project, MDE spokesman Rich McIntire said.

Mr. Scott said the Greater Crofton Council will probably take some position after the meeting, when members have all of the facts.

The permit for the landfill near the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center had been considered inactive by the department for several years because county officials had not given the landfill the proper zoning for it, Mr. McIntire said.

That prompted developer Warren E. "Cookie" Halle to take the county to court for the proper zoning.

The case went as high as the Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, earlier this year, but has since been sent back to Circuit Court, said Stephen P. Resnick of Annapolis, Mr. Halle's lawyer. No trial date has been sent.

The county is arguing that the waste management company had allowed its special exemption to expire over three years ago.

However, Mr. McIntire said the department received a letter from the county June 22 saying the company had finally received the proper zoning, allowing it to move forward in proposing its plans to the state.

Approval from the state, said Mr. McIntire, could take years.

"We're still at the very beginning. There are certain phases the applicant
has to meet to get approval from us," he said.

Torrey Jacobsen, vice president of the Greater Crofton Council, is collecting signatures for those against the landfill at his Allstate Insurance office at the Village at Waugh Chapel.

The proposed landfill would greatly impact the intersection of Route 3 and Davidsonville Road as hundreds of dump trucks would make its daily route to the landfill.

Mr. Scott said those roads are not capable of handling the increase.