Gravel Mine

The state Department of the Environment has scheduled an informational meeting at 6: 30 p.m. today on a request for a permit for a sand and gravel mine on 46 acres between Patuxent and Conway roads in Odenton.The meeting will be in the lobby conference room of Tawes State Office Building, 580 Taylor Ave., Annapolis.Representatives of National Waste Managers Inc., the company applying for the permit, will explain their proposal. Public comment will be invited.Information: 974-3874.Pub Date: 6/03/96

Archaeologists in Southern Maryland say they have solved a mystery that has baffled historians since at least the 1930s. They say they have found Zekiah Fort. The fort was established in 1680 by Gov. Charles Calvert, the third Lord Baltimore, for the protection of the Piscataway people and other Maryland Indian groups that were the targets of raids by "foreign" Susquehannock and Seneca warriors from the north. Five weeks of digging this spring and summer, led by St. Mary's College of Maryland anthropologist Julia King, have turned up Indian pottery mixed with glass trade beads, arrowheads fashioned from English brass, gun parts and a silver belt hanger for an English sword.

Mother Nature has struggled to reclaim the Owens gravel mine since it closed more than 20 years ago.Now, the state wants to lend her a hand.To offset environmental damage caused elsewhere by road construction, the State Highway Administration plans to transform 74 acres of sandy wasteland into fertile wetland and forest along the banks of the Patuxent River, near Bayard.The derelict mine's sandy terrain, rutted with the tracks of off-road vehicles, will give way to marsh grasses, red and black oak, shellbark hickory, dogwood and spice bush by next spring, said SHA spokeswoman Diane Levero.

An Eastern Shore country club accused of polluting the Choptank River and a Laurel gravel pit targeted for development are among 25 businesses and individuals fined a total of $1.6 million recently for alleged pollution violations, the Maryland Department of the Environment announced Monday. The state filed suit in June against BSJ Partners LLC charging that Clearview at Horn's Point, formerly the Cambridge Country Club, has been illegally discharging sewage from its on-site septic system into the Choptank, a Chesapeake Bay tributary.

A Davidsonville gravel mine will remain open, even though county officials say the owner violated Anne Arundel zoning laws.An administrative hearing officer earlier this month granted James E. Cunningham a special exception to continue operating a 44-acre sand and gravel mine on Patuxent River Road, about a quarter mile southwest of Queen Anne Bridge Road.BTC The county Board of Appeals first approved mining on the agriculturally zoned property four years ago. But the board restricted the operation, requiring a fence and other buffers between the mine and four nearby homes.

From the ruins of civilization, the State Highway Administration is planting the seeds of a new wilderness.To compensate for natural areas destroyed during the expansion of roads in Anne Arundel, Howard and Prince George's counties, the SHA is attempting to convert the derelict remains of an old gravel mine near Wayson's Corner into a thriving wildlife habitat and wetlands.Workers under the direction of James D. Hade, a landscape architect with the SHA, have pulled rusty, discarded appliances, used tires, tattered rugs and other refuse from the 138-acre site between Sands Road and the Patuxent River.

The Navy has received a half-dozen expressions of interest in the Naval Academy's dairy farm property, including proposals for a sand and gravel mine and an organic farming operation, in addition to the horse park plan put forth by the Maryland Stadium Authority. Navy officials sought outside interest after the stadium authority designated the 857-acre Gambrills tract last fall as its preferred site for a proposed horse park. A Navy spokesman declined to identify the six parties that have expressed interest, but four of them confirmed their responses to The Sun. Warren E. "Cookie" Halle, head of Silver Spring-based Halle Enterprises, confirmed that he responded to the Navy's request.

Archaeologists in Southern Maryland say they have solved a mystery that has baffled historians since at least the 1930s. They say they have found Zekiah Fort. The fort was established in 1680 by Gov. Charles Calvert, the third Lord Baltimore, for the protection of the Piscataway people and other Maryland Indian groups that were the targets of raids by "foreign" Susquehannock and Seneca warriors from the north. Five weeks of digging this spring and summer, led by St. Mary's College of Maryland anthropologist Julia King, have turned up Indian pottery mixed with glass trade beads, arrowheads fashioned from English brass, gun parts and a silver belt hanger for an English sword.

The Anne Arundel County Board of Appeals revoked a Davidsonville company's permit to mine sand and gravel yesterday after an attorney for the firm said his client no longer wanted it."Sand and gravel is not a commodity people are buying right now," said Mike Roblyer, who represents Queen Anne Sand & Gravel Inc., which is owned by James E. Cunningham.If the market improves, Mr. Roblyer said the company could apply for another permit in 18 months. County law requires that applicants denied a zoning permit, or "special exception," wait at least that long before reapplying.

A group of Anne Arundel County residents whose drinking water was contaminated with coal ash reached a multimillion-dollar settlement yesterday of its class action lawsuit against Constellation Energy Group. The deal, estimated at $45 million, gives about 600 residents living near a former Gambrills sand and gravel mine financial compensation and environmental remediation. For 12 years until last fall, Constellation worked with a contractor to dump billions of tons of waste ash from its Brandon Shores coal-fired power plant into an unlined former gravel mine pit. County tests found that 23 wells in the area tested positive for metals such as arsenic, cadmium and thallium, all components of waste ash from smokestacks, also called "fly ash."

A group of Anne Arundel County residents whose drinking water was contaminated with coal ash reached a multimillion-dollar settlement yesterday of its class action lawsuit against Constellation Energy Group. The deal, estimated at $45 million, gives about 600 residents living near a former Gambrills sand and gravel mine financial compensation and environmental remediation. For 12 years until last fall, Constellation worked with a contractor to dump billions of tons of waste ash from its Brandon Shores coal-fired power plant into an unlined former gravel mine pit. County tests found that 23 wells in the area tested positive for metals such as arsenic, cadmium and thallium, all components of waste ash from smokestacks, also called "fly ash."

The Navy has received a half-dozen expressions of interest in the Naval Academy's dairy farm property, including proposals for a sand and gravel mine and an organic farming operation, in addition to the horse park plan put forth by the Maryland Stadium Authority. Navy officials sought outside interest after the stadium authority designated the 857-acre Gambrills tract last fall as its preferred site for a proposed horse park. A Navy spokesman declined to identify the six parties that have expressed interest, but four of them confirmed their responses to The Sun. Warren E. "Cookie" Halle, head of Silver Spring-based Halle Enterprises, confirmed that he responded to the Navy's request.

The state Department of the Environment has scheduled an informational meeting at 6: 30 p.m. today on a request for a permit for a sand and gravel mine on 46 acres between Patuxent and Conway roads in Odenton.The meeting will be in the lobby conference room of Tawes State Office Building, 580 Taylor Ave., Annapolis.Representatives of National Waste Managers Inc., the company applying for the permit, will explain their proposal. Public comment will be invited.Information: 974-3874.Pub Date: 6/03/96

Set on 7 scrubby acres at the end of Conway Road, just beyond a "Road Closed" sign, St. John A.M.E. Zion Church doesn't look like much.But behind the burglar bars on the doors and windows, the white frame building is home to a congregation that has blossomed in the past four years from a sleepy 25 or so to a bustling 107 members."

From the ruins of civilization, the State Highway Administration is planting the seeds of a new wilderness.To compensate for natural areas destroyed during the expansion of roads in Anne Arundel, Howard and Prince George's counties, the SHA is attempting to convert the derelict remains of an old gravel mine near Wayson's Corner into a thriving wildlife habitat and wetlands.Workers under the direction of James D. Hade, a landscape architect with the SHA, have pulled rusty, discarded appliances, used tires, tattered rugs and other refuse from the 138-acre site between Sands Road and the Patuxent River.

From the ruins of civilization, the State Highway Administration is planting the seeds of a new wilderness.To compensate for natural areas destroyed during the expansion of roads in Anne Arundel, Howard and Prince George's counties, SHA is attempting to convert the derelict remains of an old gravel mine near Wayson's Corner into a thriving wildlife habitat and wetlands.Workers under the direction of James D. Hade, a landscape architect with the SHA, have pulled rusty, discarded appliances, used tires, tattered rugs and other refuse from the 138-acre site between Sands Road and the Patuxent River.

County renews Pumphrey mining company's permitA 10-year-old sand and gravel business can continue mining a site in densely populated Pumphrey, Robert C. Wilcox, county administrative hearing officer has ruled.Mr. Wilcox renewed a special exception for Joseph J. Hock Inc., to mine aggregates on 23 acres of land zoned for light-industrial use south of East Thomas Avenue and east of Pebble Drive.Mr. Wilcox also granted a variance to permit mining as close as 15 feet to Terrace View Mobile Estates -- 270 feet closer to a dwelling and 85 feet closer to a property line than normally allowed.

Set on 7 scrubby acres at the end of Conway Road, just beyond a "Road Closed" sign, St. John A.M.E. Zion Church doesn't look like much.But behind the burglar bars on the doors and windows, the white frame building is home to a congregation that has blossomed in the past four years from a sleepy 25 or so to a bustling 107 members."

The Anne Arundel County Board of Appeals revoked a Davidsonville company's permit to mine sand and gravel yesterday after an attorney for the firm said his client no longer wanted it."Sand and gravel is not a commodity people are buying right now," said Mike Roblyer, who represents Queen Anne Sand & Gravel Inc., which is owned by James E. Cunningham.If the market improves, Mr. Roblyer said the company could apply for another permit in 18 months. County law requires that applicants denied a zoning permit, or "special exception," wait at least that long before reapplying.

County renews Pumphrey mining company's permitA 10-year-old sand and gravel business can continue mining a site in densely populated Pumphrey, Robert C. Wilcox, county administrative hearing officer has ruled.Mr. Wilcox renewed a special exception for Joseph J. Hock Inc., to mine aggregates on 23 acres of land zoned for light-industrial use south of East Thomas Avenue and east of Pebble Drive.Mr. Wilcox also granted a variance to permit mining as close as 15 feet to Terrace View Mobile Estates -- 270 feet closer to a dwelling and 85 feet closer to a property line than normally allowed.