Residents voice frustrations at meeting over Lafarge Quarry development

The proposed project will repurpose the Lafarge Quarry property as an industrial park that will include roughly three million square feet of logistics space on the land. The property has remained an active mine for more than 75 years before plans for redevelopment were submitted in 2019.

Even though 200 acres will be donated to Baltimore County for public use, both individual residents and representatives from community groups asked for more clarity and transparency from developers.

Venable, LLP attorney Chris Mudd moderated the meeting between residents and the developers, as people complained about the small size of where the event was held and the need for having a bigger space for future meetings.

“From the number of people that are here and the number of people that had to get turned away, this shouldn’t happen,” said local resident Brian Shea. “This is a small community—it’s getting big—but it’s small community.”

The environmental concerns from residents were centered around the soil that developers are using to fill the mining site. At the meeting, community members accused developers of using contaminated soil.

“If it is true, I’m certainly concerned because the runoff goes across from Eastern Avenue to the Saltpeter Creek,” said Oliver Beach resident Rob Reiner.

According to Jim Carroll, a representative of the property owners, the soil that is being brought to the Lafarge site is “considered to be Class 1, residential, quality material.”

In other words, Carroll said the substances that are sampled in the soil that is brought on the site would “meet residential criteria.”

However, community members erupted in frustration when informed how the soil brought to Lafarge has not been tested.

One attendee who works at the site mentioned how contractors bring material based off a sample they send in, further accusing developers of bringing in untested soil to the Lafarge Quarry.

“The types of tests that are being mentioned are very expensive,” Mudd said in response to concerns about tests.

“Things that this developer—when they’re in this process—they spend certain amount of money on engineering, certain amount of money on legal fees, they are at a point where they are still receiving comments from agencies and they’re still receiving comments from the community.”

District 7 state representatives Delegates Ryan Nawrocki and Kathy Szeliga, both Republicans, called for the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to investigate environmental and health concerns regarding the Lafarge site while at the meeting.

In a press release, both Nawrocki and Szeliga said it is imperative that community input is considered along with a study that would ensure the safety of this site before any further decision-making.

“As a father of five young children I would never want to send my children to a school on a site with a history of hazardous materials without determining the safety of the property first,” Nawrocki said.

Another top concern with development on the Lafarge Quarry was the impact it would have on local traffic pertaining to Earls Road, Eastern Boulevard and especially Ebenezer Road.

According to John Motsco, Senior Project Manager at engineering firm D.S. Thaler & Associates, traffic will “predominantly be going in the direction of Earls Road toward Eastern,” along the front of the property by improving corresponding roads such as widening turns on Earls Road and Eastern Boulevard.

Additionally, Mudd said putting weight limit signs will help prevent traffic from occurring on Ebenezer Road.

Though developers guaranteed their plan would not widen Ebenezer Road, residents originally thought the proposed project would widen the street from two lanes to four and would affect the property of community members living along the road.

“We do not support the proposed taking of land along the Ebenezer Road or Earls Road corridors for this development and we will fight to stop this,” Nawrocki and Szeliga said in a statement.

According to a report cited by the two delegates, this project could bring as many as 11,000 more vehicles per day to the local roads, including large trucks.