Wakefield Valley

The Arundel Corp. will submit plans to the county in three to six months to dig a limestone quarry in Wakefield Valley, a company official said."We are busy at work now preparing that information," saidGeorge B. Brewer, president of the company's Maryland Aggregates Group, based in Sparks, Baltimore County.After plans are submitted to the county and state, it will be at least two years before Arundel can begin work at the site if its plans are approved, he said.County Planning Director Edmund R. Cuemansaid, "It will be a long, involved and extended review at the countylevel, as well as the state level."

Wakefield Valley residents stood up last week and told the county commissioners they're proud to be NIMBYs.A NIMBY in their neighborhood means somebody who doesn't want to live near a limestone quarry. "Not in My Back Yard," they said, loud and clear as they waved signs at a public hearing on a proposed mining plan.One of the residents' biggest concerns is that their property values are dropping because, they say, they are near a quarry. The residents overwhelmingly oppose the mining plan because they say it robs them of their property rights.

Today, the county commissioners are sifting through the drafts, mapsand notes they've made on the proposed mining plan.Tomorrow, they vote."It's time to try to do something," Commissioner President DonaldI. Dell said yesterday after a 2 1/2-hour work session on the controversial plan. "We've listened, and we have to make a decision."It's not going to be easy for us," he added.The commissioners are scheduled to vote on the plan -- which has been in the works for more than a year -- at 11 a.m. tomorrow.

A New Windsor activist came here Monday to find out why a House committee rejected a bill intended to protect nearby residents from potential mining damages.Linda S. Cunfer, a spokeswoman for the Statewide Coalition on Non-Coal Surface Mining, talked briefly with Environmental Matters Committee chairman Ronald A. Guns, D-Cecil, about the bill, which was defeated, 12-9."Some of those who voted against it certainly should have voted for it because they have constituents in the statewide coalition," said Cunfer, a leader of the New Windsor Community Action Project, whichmonitors mining issues in the Wakefield Valley.

The manifest distrust, ill will and lack of cooperation between a Carroll delegate and mining industry officials has irked a General Assembly leader.At a hearing Thursday on three bills aimed at balancing mining with surrounding land uses, Del. Richard N. Dixon, D-Carroll, said some mining officials "lack credibility." A lawyer representing a mining company responded that Dixon's efforts to change laws regulating the industry are "a personal matter, almost a vendetta."House Environmental Matters Committee Chairman Ronald A. Guns, D-Cecil, interrupted the hearing to express his displeasure.

It was the year of the mine in Wakefield Valley. Quarrying caused a big commotion in the county in 1991 when a citizens committee workingto develop a mining plan sponsored a series of public hearings.The committee heard loud and clear from citizens who live near quarries or areas where mining is proposed. Resident after resident spoke upabout worries over reduced property values, lost water supplies, andincreased truck traffic and noise.The three mining companies that own land in Carroll generally supported the plan, saying mineral resources must be preserved as a vital part of the economy.

The Wakefield Valley Pony Club is looking for a few good kids."We have 12 members now who all participate in the club's activities, and I think the optimum for us would be about 20 kids at various levels of the Pony Club ratings," says Karen Baker of Westminster, district commissioner of Wakefield Valley. "If you have too many more than that, then the kids have to qualify to go to the regional rallies. This way, everyone gets to go."Former District Commissioner Sarah Levin has made recruiting posters and distributed them to tack shops in an effort to inform young riders about this special organization.

New Windsor resident John B. Farrell asked the question often heard from people who live in Wakefield Valley, where marble is plentiful and mining companies want to dig:"What will be done to reimburse us for loss of equity?" he asked county planning officials yesterday at a public meeting about a proposed comprehensive mining plan.Residents are concerned that expanding quarrying operations in the area will devalue their land.About 50 people attended the afternoon meeting at the County Office Building to ask questions about theplan, which will be voted on by the Board of County Commissioners inlate January or early February.

After hearing opposition from only one person, the county commissioners voted unanimously Monday to extend a building moratorium in the Wakefield Valley area.The ban will be extended from December untilFeb. 27 to give the county time to finish the approval process on a mineral mining plan.Eleven people attended a 20-minute hearing at the County Office Building at which County Attorney Charles W. "Chuck" Thompson Jr. explained the ban.The moratorium will not affect mining companies that own land in the area, he said.