ANNAPOLIS — Enviro-Gro Technologies Inc. has appealed a Maryland Court of Special Appeals decision in another effort to get permission to maintain a sludge pit in Taneytown.
The company appealed to the Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, last week after the Maryland Court ofSpecial Appeals ruled in favor of a Carroll citizens coalition Sept.5.
The Court of Special Appeals upheld a county zoning decision thatdenied Enviro-Gro the use of a sludge storage facility on the RobertC. Neal farm off Bear Run Road.
The court also ruled that the facility would not qualify for a zoning exception, or conditional use, because of a county ordinance limiting sludge storage to sewage treatment plant sites.
The 13,500-ton-capacity pit was built in 1988 without a building permit or zoning approval and before the ordinance limiting storage to sewage treatment plant sites was passed.
Once neighbors discovered the pit, they formed a group called Concerned Citizens for the Protection of Land, Water and Wildlife to fight to closethe pit.
Enviro-Gro argued that the pit should have been permitted under a zoning law that allows fertilizer storage in agriculture areas.
Sludge, which is a solid byproduct of sewage treatment plants, commonly is spread on land in Carroll as a substitute for chemical fertilizers.
