More News

The Frederick County Planning Commission on Wednesday reversed its earlier decision regarding plans to build an incinerator in Frederick, which puts an end to a legal showdown among county leaders.

The commission, in a 4-1 vote, found the county's Solid Waste Management Plan, which includes construction of the incinerator, is actually consistent with the county's comprehensive growth plan.

Michael G. Marschner, director of the county's Division of Utilities and Solid Waste Management, said this week the process of building the incinerator would continue regardless of the legal challenge.

"The [Board of County Commissioners] have already signed agreements with the Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority and they have been working on the design and permitting process," Marschner said.

The Planning Commission had voted in opposititon of the incinerator on Oct. 14, leading Frederick County Attorney John Mathias to file an appeal Friday in Frederick County Circuit Court, asking for a judicial review of the planning commission's action.

The comprehensive plan, which commissioners are updating, serves as a blueprint for growth and provides information on development, land use, transportation patterns and water resources.

The Planning Commission ruled on Oct. 14 that the incinerator's proximity to the Monocacy National Battlefield and prominent view of its smokestack would not be consistent with the comprehensive plan, which calls for the preservation of historic sites, such as the battlefield, and the protection of the Monocacy River.

The incinerator, sometimes called a "waste-to-energy facility" because it burns trash to produce electricity, is set to be built at the McKinney Industrial Center off Md. Route 85, near the county's wastewater treatment plant.

Planning Commission member Robert L. White Jr. said Wednesday that county attorneys told him the Solid Waste Management Plan does not contain specific details about the smokestack, and therefore the commission did not have the legal authority to issue the ruling.

"The details of the construction of the incinerator project, other than its general siting at McKinney, were not included," White said, in an e-mail Thursday. "... After our original vote, the county attorney clearly and specifically said that our decision was not based within the confines of our charge, that we exceeded our bounds of what we could consider and that our vote was based on improper considerations. It would not stand up in a court challenge."

Meanwhile, because the issue was not scheduled on Wednesday's agenda and not all members were present, the final decision came with its own controversy.

Both Commissioner Kai J. Hagen (D), liaison to the planning commission, and member Joseph F. Brown were absent.

Planning Commission Chairwoman Catherine Forrence told the four members in attendance – Audrey L. Wolfe, Richard Floyd, John B. McClurkin and White – they should not take up the issue in Hagen's and Brown's absence.

Forrence reminded members that Commission President Jan H. Gardner (D) asked them to reconsider their Oct. 14 vote, but only with all members in attendance. (The vote on Oct. 14 was 3-2, with two members abstaining).

"Is that productive, given that we don't have a full board and given that Jan Gardner and the Board of County Commissioners' intention was to have the entire board here and we don't have two members?" Forrence asked during the meeting. "It seems counterproductive to me at this juncture."

Floyd made the motion to rescind the Oct. 14 vote.

Both Hagen and Brown, who oppose the incinerator, are unhappy with the outcome.

"I was disgusted with the whole process," Brown wrote in an e-mail Thursday. "We now have proved we can vote and revote on anything with ... no advertising, no applicants, no agenda, for months on end."

Hagen said in a phone interview Thursday he went home early Wednesday because he was sick and as a result had no idea the commission would take up the issue.

"I had no reason to think somebody was going to bring up another vote," he said.

Hagen, the lone county commissioner against building the incinerator, said it really does not matter what happened Wednesday because his commissioner colleagues would have found some way to overturn the Oct. 14 vote.

"I just think it is unfortunate that a majority of the county commissioners were going to find some way to get around this, no matter what," he said.

E-mail Sherry Greenfield at sgreenfield@gazette.net.