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 Proposed landfill
stirs more opposition The 13-year-old legal battle over a controversial proposed rubble landfill in Odenton will enter a new phase Monday as the developer once again attempts to obtain the proper permits. Odenton residents have mobilized to block the proposed 150-acre Chesapeake Terrace Landfill, which would be located near the Patuxent Research Center in Woodwardville. "We will be able to smell the stench of that landfill for miles," Woodwardville resident Stacy Murphy said. "Plus all of the traffic from the trucks and the contamination it could cause our well water would be awful." The Maryland Department of the Environment will hold an informational meeting on the landfill at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Odenton Volunteer Fire Company on Route 175 in Odenton. State officials and representatives from National Waste Managers, the developer of the site, will be on hand to explain the procedure of the permit process. The MDE requires such meetings before it will consider issuing a refuse disposal permit, which National needs to open the landfill. "MDE considered the permit for the landfill inactive by the department for several years because county officials had not given the landfill the proper zoning for it," MDE spokesman Richard McIntire said. That led National Waste Managers, headed by developer Warren E. "Cookie" Halle, to take the county to court. In the years following, Mr. Halle has faced stern opposition from the county and area residents fearing the environmental damage, increased traffic and decreased property values a landfill would bring. Residents have done everything from attending court hearings to going doorto-door gathering signatures for a petition against the landfill. The amount of legal paperwork filed on this case could fill a small landfill itself. The county's Board of Appeals originally granted a special exception required for the landfill in 1993, subject to several conditions. On appeal, the Circuit Court reversed the board's decision, but the Court of Special Appeals reversed that opinion. During these court proceedings, the County Council refused to include the landfill in its Solid Waste Management Plan, another move required before the landfill can be developed. In August 1997, Circuit Court Judge Clayton Greene Jr. found the county in contempt of court for refusing to add it to the plan. He ordered the county to pay a $250,000 fine or notify state officials that the landfill met its requirements. The county chose the latter. The Court of Special Appeals in September 1998 ruled that Judge Greene went too far in his demand and sent the case back to Circuit Court. In the meantime, the company's special exception expired, causing National to appeal successfully to the Court of Special Appeals that all of the county's legal maneuvering caused a unwarranted roadblock to their project. The county appealed that decision, which the Court of Appeals denied in April. The only issue still to be decided in the courts is whether the county owes National damages for not issuing the special exception sooner, Senior Assistant County Attorney Hamilton Tyner said. Residents argue a lot has changed since the landfill was first proposed, including the development of nearby Piney Orchard. "Many people I've talked to in Piney Orchard weren't even aware of this landfill," Woodwardville resident Lisa Cornwell said. "If that landfill were to leak, it would not only impact our well water and the nearby wetlands, but homes in Piney Orchard as well." Despite the legal victories, National is nowhere near ready to begin construction on the landfill as approval from the state could take years, Mr. McIntire said. Residents understand that and say they are in this fight for the long haul. "This landfill battle has become my life," Mrs. Cornwell said. "We know this is an uphill battle, but if we can find the tiniest loophole to defeat this, we will find it." --- PUBLIC MEETING used with permission www.stopodentonlandfill.com |
