Dunkirk neighborhood prepares to fight sewage treatment plant

Friday, June 13, 2008

The plant is planned as part of the Shoppes at Apple Greene, a shopping center proposed by Dunkirk-based developer Marrick Properties Inc.

But activists in the Apple Greene Civic Association say their primary concern is with the treatment plant, not the stores themselves. Subdivision residents worry that the plant would be ugly or have potential environmental or human health consequences, activists say. Residents are also upset because they feel Marrick and the owner of the land parcel slated to become the shopping center, Ed Howlin, have not been forthcoming with information .

‘‘I definitely would say that part of the upset about it is the feeling there was a lack of notification,” said Katie McVicker, co-president of the recently-revived Civic Association. ‘‘They stated the county had sent letters to adjacent property owners, but I think there’s a feeling, if you’re going to build something large like that, you should maybe notify everyone in the neighborhood to let them know what’s going on.”

The state has approved a permit for a ‘‘drip irrigation” sewage system at the site, according to Ching Tien, chief of the Groundwater Permits Division of the Maryland Department of the Environment, who reviewed the application.

The system contains a wastewater treatment plant to clean the water and remove most nutrients, Tien said. The treated water is then released into the drip irrigation field via tubes buried underground, then absorbed by the roots of vegetation in the field.

Nutrients like nitrogen do not pose a human health risk but damage the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

Tien said the installation would be rather attractive from outside.

‘‘On the surface, it will be like a park or an open space, green open space,” Tien said. ‘‘It will look green and the pipe underneath is not visible,” he said.

The installation will also include a wastewater treatment plant, a pumping station and manholes, he said. Tien said the plant would be similar to the Marley Run Wastewater Treatment Plant, which serves a Huntingtown subdivision. Now owned by the county, the plant was also constructed by Marrick Properties; it has been likened to a giant septic tank by Utilities Bureau Chief Barry King. Marley Run has been plagued by performance issues, principally problems with nutrient removal, but Tien said he doubts this problem will recur at Apple Greene.

‘‘I hope not, because they [Marrick Properties] probably learned their lesson from the Marley Run system. This system should perform a benefit,” Tien said.

These assurances don’t satisfy many Apple Greene subdivision residents. Leonard Neal, a vocal opponent of the plant, said residents had been told that the space would remain a permanent buffer between the community and Route 4.

‘‘The bottom line is they’re putting a sewer system in the front yard,” Neal said. ‘‘Now, all of this nobody knew about. Every time we budged a little bit, they’ve just taken more. It has to stop.”

Neal helped provide the impetus for the revival of the Civic Association as a tool to fight the sewage plan. His motivation was dissatisfaction with Dunkirk’s main civic organization, the Dunkirk Area Concerned Citizens’ Association, because of the DACCA leader’s apparent support at a public hearing for a sewer category change that made the sewage plant possible.

DACCA President Evan Slaughenhoupt said he spoke in support of the sewer category change from S5 to S3, which allowed sewer construction within three years instead of between six and 10 years from now, because of the success of a similar private sewer system serving the shopping complex including the Giant and Wal-Mart in Dunkirk. DACCA is strenuously opposed to public sewer systems in Dunkirk.

Slaughenhoupt said that his and DACCA’s support hinges on being shown plans for the strip mall, something that hasn’t happened yet.

Opposition to the plant has galvanized the subdivision. The most recent civic association meeting signed in 60 people, with some unable to fit into the home where the meeting was held, according to Lisa Yankanich, the association’s other president. She estimates the group has about 125 households on its rolls.

Yankanich said she has met with a lawyer about a possible lawsuit but doesn’t yet know if the group will go that route.

The association plans to hire its own engineer to conduct an assessment, Yankanich said.

The wastewater treatment plan has already been approved twice by the Calvert County Board of Appeals, once in 2002 and once this February, said Greg Bowen, county planning and zoning director.

Rick Bailey, vice president of Marrick, did not return calls seeking comment.

Howlin declined to comment through his receptionist.