Lothian Residents Celebrate County Ordering Shutdown of Westport Reclamation Site
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, December 9, 2022
Contacts
Fred Tutman
Patuxent Riverkeeper
fred@paxriverkeeper.org
(240) 393-1547
Rosie Stone
Senior Legal Officer, Namati
rosiestone@namati.org
(843) 609-2166
On Tuesday, the Anne Arundel County Office of Administrative Hearings issued an order agreeing with local residents and environmental justice advocates that the Westport Reclamation site (also known as the Belle Grove site) on Sands Road in Lothian should not be allowed to continue operating on a 55-year old special zoning exception. The Administrative Hearing Officer revoked Westport Reclamation’s special exception permit and ordered that operations on the site cease immediately.
Local residents challenged the special exception permit, which was issued in 1967 allowing for the operation of a “sand and gravel excavation” mine. The special exception had never been renewed or reviewed. Recent inspections from Maryland Department of the Environment and Anne Arundel County found that the site is exceeding the scope of allowed uses outlined in the special exception permit. The company is operating numerous businesses on the property..
In the order issued Tuesday, the County noted the special exception does not comply with current county regulations and that the changes in the operations at the site over the decades could require the operation to have five other permits for commercial and industrial operations that they currently do not have. The County’s order criticized the property owners, who insist they are not required to seek renewal or review of their special exception permit. The County compared this argument to “an automobile owner saying they are not subject to the emissions laws because they got the plates for their car in 1967.”
Unregulated truck trips at the Westport Reclamation site result in at least 75-100 trucks entering the community per day on narrow, rural roads. For decades, residents of Lothian and Harwood have been forced to breathe in diesel fumes and face nonstop industrial truck traffic that has resulted in truck accidents and put local pedestrians and children at risk.
Dr. Tracy O. Garrett, one of the complainants, said, “I have lived here all my life, and the trucks and commercial operators have made things almost unbearable. Forcing these businesses to comply with the zoning laws is not a lot to ask and it is the least that can be done to protect our safety and quality of life. Good grief, 1967 was a long time ago. Neglect allowed this problem to simply grow in magnitude over the years. We hope the other operators will take heed!”
Lothian resident Celestine Brown said, “It has been completely environmentally unjust to allow this facility to continue to violate its 50 years-out-of date special exception which has allowed it to grow and inflict fresh harms on its neighbors with almost no review or accountability for the way our quality of life has diminished. I’m happy with this result and hope the order is enforced quickly.”
Namati, a non-profit grassroots justice organization, has been supporting Lothian and Harwood residents seeking to address these health and safety concerns. Namati’s US Environmental Justice Program Director Jay Monteverde said, "We applaud the County’s order. This facility was threatening the health and safety of the local residents of a historically Black community for far too long. By ordering an immediate stop to activities at the site, the County is finally starting to listen to its residents. It’s about time."
Fred Tutman, the Patuxent Riverkeeper and resident of nearby Upper Marlboro, added, “This is an important victory for citizens in Lothian who have been fighting for years to get attention paid to the problems caused by excessive industrial facilities operating in a rural residential neighborhood and on a scenic/historic road! Several of these facilities have made clear their belief that special exception laws were designed to protect their businesses but not so much the surrounding residential community. We hope this is a signal to all, that organized citizens can change their fate and prove to the regulators that more is possible.”
A copy of the order is available at this link.
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