Showing posts with label MD co Frederick Co Issues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MD co Frederick Co Issues. Show all posts

Monday, February 6, 2012

Final Frederick County comprehensive plan hearing draws large crowd – Frederick News-Post



Frederick County saved the biggest group for last Tuesday night, with more than 40 lawyers and residents speaking at a public hearing about the county's proposed comprehensive plan and zoning review.

The public hearing regarding the New Market region was the last scheduled meeting before the Board of County Commissioners begins its review of individual requests for planning and zoning changes. Written comments will continue to be accepted throughout the process.

There are 42 applications up for consideration in the region that includes Mount Airy, New Market and Lake Linganore. If approved, it could lead to the construction of hundreds of homes on 3,600 acres.

"We are concerned with any properties within a mile of our borders," Mount Airy Mayor Patrick Rockinberg said. "Rezoning these properties would be inconsistent with the will of the people."

Building on properties near the town would lead to housing growth that negatively affects roads, schools and the general standard of living, he said.

"(Our residents) came to escape growth," Rockinberg said. "The citizens did not move to Mount Airy for more growth, they moved away from it."

More than a dozen residents stood when resident Sarah Dorrance spoke against the Wimmer property -- an 86-acre property along Sidney Road.

She questioned the motive of the commissioners to revisit the last comprehensive plan a year after it was approved. The plan adopted in 2010 was designed to set planning and zoning guidelines for the county. In most cases, properties went from being zoned for residential or commercial growth to agricultural.

"I'm not happy with the procedure," Dorrance said. "I think it's a waste of taxpayers' money." … http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display_comments.htm?StoryID=131242#postComments

20120201 FNP Final co land use hearing draws large turnout

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Frederick Co Commissioners suspend incinerator bids


Meg Tully, Frederick News-Post: Frederick Co Commissioners suspend incinerator bids…

April 29, 2009

Frederick Co Commissioners suspend incinerator bids; will explore other options. Carroll Commissioners to discuss options Thursday morning.

From: Commissioners suspend incinerator plans Originally published April 29, 2009 By Meg Tully News-Post Staff:

The
Frederick County Commissioners are suspending deliberations on a proposed trash incinerator, and will focus instead on alternative disposal options.

The commissioners accepted bids on the project earlier this year, and appeared to have narrowed those down to a preferred site and contractor to build and run the incinerator.

But they voted 4-1 on Tuesday to suspend that process. Commissioner John L. Thompson Jr. voted against the motion.

Also known as waste-to-energy, the trash incinerator was intended to be a cheaper, long-term answer to the county's shrinking landfill space.

[…]

Commissioner Kai Hagen, an outspoken opponent of the incinerator, said he was willing to explore using a waste-to-energy plant outside the county, if it meant the commissioners would suspend the bid process for a
Frederick plant.

But he said that he believes other options, including increased recycling, composting and waste reduction efforts, are the best solutions.

[…]


More: http://tinyurl.com/dand5r

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=89586

****

Ay caramba.

Excerpted from: April 16, 2008 How to Make Trash Go Away Kevin E. Dayhoff
Tomorrow the Carroll County Board of Commissioners will deliberate in open session and – hopefully – make a decision regarding the offer from Frederick County to join forces to make 1,100 tons of trash a day go away.

Bear in mind, a further review of my files indicates that this is my fourth go-round regarding what to do with trash in Carroll County in 41 years – going back to 1967.

It was a few short years after the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970 that trash really hit the fan in Carroll County.

It has not been a pretty picture ever since. It was back in those days that the county began to take over or close a number of unpermitted de-facto landfills – and then proceed to open more.

Waste-to-energy was rejected once in 1984 and twice in the mid-1990s. Co-composting failed to get the nod in the late 1990s.

Since 1965, every landfill, except one, in which Carroll County has had some degree of participation remains to this day under consent decrees with the Maryland Department of the Environment for the necessary mitigation of environmental hazards. Currently there is no apparent relief on the horizon for the costs to the environment or the financial costs to landfilling.

Back in the first go-round in the 1972 time frame, many of us have felt that the best management approach to solid waste was source reduction and recycling.

It would take 18 long years to get the Maryland Recycling Act passed in 1988. That legislation required a recycling rate of 20 percent.

[…]


Related:

March 6, 2008
Making Trash Go Away – Part 2
Kevin E. Dayhoff
The February 26th joint meeting between Frederick and Carroll County over how to make trash go away came after two years of discussions and deliberations resulting from the Frederick County commissioners’ adoption of Resolution 06-05, on February 16, 2006.

March 5, 2008
Making Trash Go Away – Part One
Kevin E. Dayhoff
On February 26, the Frederick and Carroll County commissioners met to discuss how to make a combined 1,100 tons of trash-a-day go away.


20090429 SDOSM Frederick Co Commissioners suspend incinerator bids

Friday, April 17, 2009

MD Delegate Paul Stull’s wife has passed away


MD Delegate Paul Stull’s wife has passed away.

April 17, 2009

Our thoughts and prayers go out to MD Delegate Paul Stull in Frederick County.
I just heard earlier today that his wife has passed away.

20090417 SDOSM MD Delegate Paul Stulls wife has passed away.

Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/


Kevin Dayhoff: www.westgov.net Westminster Maryland Online www.westminstermarylandonline.net http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Carroll County Commissioners to get briefing on incinerator, cost


Commissioners to get briefing on incinerator, cost by Bob Allen

News Briefs

Posted on http://www.explorecarroll.com/ 2/06/09

Carroll County Public Works Director Mike Evans said this week that the deal for a proposed waste-to-energy incinerator to be used by Carroll and Frederick counties is still "attractive" to the county, even though the cost of the project has risen from $332 million to $527 million.

That's because Carroll County's share, he said, will be 40 percent of that -- and hasn't really risen since the initial projection.

Evans said Carroll's County's share of the costs do not work out to a straight 40 percent of the projected $527 million. He added that under this latest proposal, Carroll's projected costs have not risen, but appear to actually come in slightly lower.

"The numbers get skewed pretty quickly," he said. "When you look at it from our perspective, the numbers are still very attractive."

Evans will brief the Board of County Commissioners on the project update at the board's regular meeting Thursday, Feb. 12, in Westminster.

The briefing follows a presentation last week in Frederick County by Wheelabrator Technologies, a company slated to build and operate the waste-to-energy incinerator in Frederick County.

The facility, if built, would be used by both counties.

Evans said no action will be required from the Carroll Commissioners on Feb. 12 in terms of moving ahead with the project. For one thing, the Frederick County Commissioners have not yet decided whether to accept Wheelabrator's proposal and move forward with the project.

If Frederick County does approve the project, it must then formally "invite" Carroll to join it in going forward with the planning and permitting phase "and find out if we can get a permit," said Evans.

He estimated that part of the process alone will take about two years. The site for the incinerator is slated to be in Frederick County, although no location has been formally announced.


-- Bob Allen

http://explorecarroll.com/news/2258/news-briefs/

20090206 SDOSM Commissioners to get briefing on incinerator, cost
Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/
Kevin Dayhoff: www.westgov.net Westminster Maryland Online www.westminstermarylandonline.net http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/

Thursday, February 5, 2009

The Tentacle: WTE Derangement by Norman M. Covert February 5, 2009



Here’s a shout-out to Commissioner Kai J. Hagen, who needs a kind word from someone, anyone. His “noogies” have been few since objecting to the $323 million Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plant proposed for Frederick County. Mr. Hagen should declare victory and admit he was “for it” before he was against it.

The Honorable Mr. Hagen took a roundhouse blow from The Gazette two editions ago in a story, yet to be reported by the local Daily Blather. The affable Mr. Hagen was guilty, reporter Sherry Greenfield recounted, of using his MacIntosh™ computer to scold his colleagues by email regarding the WTE.

Mr. Hagen wrote to colleagues and bantered with private citizens saying that county staff and a professional consultant had given them information regarding the WTE that amounted to “scientific fraud.”

Huge words for a rookie politician, who may not understand that words have meaning. When you write them down and hand them out, as in an email, they last forever. They are the ultimate example of recycling gone bad. Before you hit, “Send,” stew over it a bit.

It was a miscalculation by Mr. Hagen, whose winning electoral base may have disappeared, leaving him a minority constituency of “Groans.” His opposition campaign, including a cyber chat room, has yielded little information of substance other than a falling sky, like the fabled Chicken Little claimed.

Commissioner President Jan H. Gardner has gone the extra mile with her colleague, even to the point of accompanying him and Commissioner David Gray on a “fact-finding” trip to Boulder, CO, in June 2008. President Jan even dragged along Michael G. Marschner, director of the county Division of Utilities and Solid Waste Management.


Read the entire column here: WTE Derangement by Norman M. Covert February 5, 2009

http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=2999

20090205 TT
WTE Derangement by Norman M. Covert Feb 5 2009
Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/
Kevin Dayhoff: www.westgov.net Westminster Maryland Online www.westminstermarylandonline.net http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Frederick Maryland Online: An Hour from Baltimore

Frederick Maryland Online calls to our attention “a nice write up about Frederick” in the New York Times.

An Hour From Baltimore

November 23, 2008

From the New York Times Travel section (NYT requires a free registration to read the original article) a nice write up about Frederick (courtesy The Frederick Chamber of Commerce Twitter feed):

An Hour From Baltimore

Echoes of Yesteryear Not Far From Baltimore

By JOSHUA KURLANTZICK

Published: November 23, 2008

DRIVING out of
Baltimore, my home, I felt like the urban sprawl of shopping centers and rows of blighted homes would never end. But less than an hour west of the city, outside Frederick, Md., strip malls gave way to strips of giant trees turning autumn crimson, and the vista opened into broad plains, rolling hills and the occasional barn. By the time I crossed Frederick’s outskirts, where I saw brick colonial-looking homes and signs for local farms, I felt I’d arrived in a place far from the megacities of the Eastern Seaboard — like the frontier, but just off Interstate 70.

For many years, in fact, Frederick was the frontier. The town grew up as a trading post along America’s first trade arteries, and in the early days of the roads Frederick was as far west as you could go without worrying about highwaymen and battles between colonials and Native Americans.

Read Frederick Maryland Online’s entire post here: An Hour From Baltimore

· 8 Comments

20081123
Frederick Maryland Online: An Hour from Baltimore

http://frederickmarylandonline.com/2008/11/23/an-hour-from-baltimore/

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

20080318 Frederick News Post Tourism Council opposes incinerator by Karen Gardner


Frederick County Tourism Council opposes incinerator by Karen Gardner


Originally published March 18, 2008


http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display_comments.htm?StoryID=72590#postComments


By Karen Gardner News-Post Staff

The Tourism Council of Frederick County echoed Monocacy National Battlefield's concerns that the county's proposed waste-to-energy plant, also known as an incinerator, will detract from the historic nature of the battlefield.

The proposed plant would be across the Monocacy River from the park boundary. Last week, the Civil War Preservation Trust said the plant's smokestack would loom over the battlefield.

[…]

Read the entire article here: Frederick County Tourism Council opposes incinerator by Karen Gardner

For more information on Waste Management and Waste to Energy issues please click on: Environmentalism Solid Waste Management; Environmentalism Solid Waste Management Waste to Energy; or… Energy Independence or Environmentalism Solid Waste Management Recycling or the label, Environmentalism.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

20071204 Citizens crusade against incinerator By Meg Bernhardt Frederick News Post

Citizens crusade against incinerator

Originally published in Frederick News-Post on December 04, 2007

By Meg Bernhardt , News-Post Staff

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Public hearing on the siting and construction of a publicly owned Waste To Energy plant, or incinerator that generates electricity, in Frederick County

WHEN: 7 p.m., Dec. 11

WHERE: Winchester Hall, 12 E. Church Street, Frederick

WHO: Open to the public

For more information: www.wastestudygroup.org

and www.co.frederick.md.us, Utilities and Solid Waste Division.

To sign the petition or see what it says, e-mail Sally Sorbello at sallysbeadworks@msn.com.

[…]

Members of the nonprofit citizen organizations Friends of Frederick County and the Waste Study Group went door-to-door last weekend. They will continue their efforts this week, encouraging residents to take action against the incinerator.

The Frederick County Commissioners will hold a hearing on the incinerator, also called a waste to energy plant, next week.

The citizen advocacy groups encourage residents to testify at the hearing, sign a petition, send in post cards and e-mail the commissioners, said Friends of Frederick County Executive Director Janice Wiles.

The groups favor aiming for recycling rates as high as 65 percent to 75 percent instead of building an expensive incinerator that they say will produce toxic air pollution.

A regional waste-to-energy plant, shared with Carroll County, could cost $323 million. Frederick County would pay $194 million of that, and with bond interest, the total shared cost of the plant would be close to $600 million, they said.

Read the rest of the article here: Citizens crusade against incinerator

And please report dead links…

Thursday, November 15, 2007

20071112 Frederick County seeks Carroll participation in trash incinerator

Frederick County seeks Carroll participation in trash incinerator

Hat Tip: Mrs. Owl

See also the Carroll County Times editorial from November 14, 2007:

“Talk some trash with the county” [And please report dead links…]

Related: Environmentalism Solid Waste Management or Environmentalism Solid Waste Management Recycling or Environmentalism Solid Waste Management Waste to Energy

And:

20070721 Frederick News-Post Letter to the Editor: “Trash talk no longer funny” by Gregor Becker

19880900 To Burn or Not to Burn an interview with Neil Seldman

19960900 The Five Most Dangerous Myths About Recycling

20070912 Carroll County EAC votes to promote recycling by Carrie Ann Knauer

Nov 12, 2007 AP

WESTMINSTER, Md. (Map, News) - The Frederick County commissioners are awaiting a response from Carroll County about the latter's possible participation in a waste-to-energy incinerator to serve both counties.

The incinerator could be discussed at a Nov. 19 workshop on Carroll County solid waste alternatives, said Cindy Parr, Carroll County's director of administrative services.

Carroll County public works director Mike Evans said the workshop will explore options for handling trash, including recycling, composting, burning and landfills.

The Frederick County Commissioners are considering a 1,500-ton-per-day incinerator.

---

http://www.examiner.com/a-1043996~Frederick_County_seeks_Carroll_participation_in_trash_incinerator.html

Information from: Carroll County (Md.) Times, http://www.carrollcounty.com/

Monday, July 23, 2007

20070721 Frederick News-Post Letter to the Editor: “Trash talk no longer funny” by Gregor Becker

Frederick News-Post Letter to the Editor: “Trash talk no longer funny” by Gregor Becker

'Trash talk' no longer funny

Originally published July 21, 2007

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/opinion/display_lte.htm?storyid=62768

The July 11 editorial oversimplifies the trash issue.

[See: 20070711 “Trash talk” - Frederick News-Post editorial]

And also see: 20070714 Solid Waste Management Forum at Frederick Community College

The county has only pursued a $100 million waste-to-energy facility without even trying to reduce its waste stream. Comprehensive recycling programs are lacking countywide, while the landfill has been filled with recyclable materials for the last 15 years.

Disposal -- landfill, incineration, etc. -- is going to be expensive. Why not get the county to commit to maximizing recycling over the next three years and then look at the disposal needs after that. Why not generate income from some waste before we burn or bury it?

Officials have taken industry-funded WTE tours in Europe, but have not investigated recycling programs or composting and materials recovery facilities in Delaware, New Jersey and elsewhere. These options aren't being researched because they aren't a part of the county's chosen "integrated approach."

Residents might ask how viable is a technology that even a Fortune 500 company won't put up the capital for? According to budget reports, the Montgomery County facility processed 640,101 tons of waste in 2004, generating 387,141 megawatt hours of electricity valued at $15M, or $23.43 per ton. But, per ton, the net operating cost was $21.78 and the net debt service cost was $42.36.

That year, Montgomery County spent $41M to operate and upgrade the facility. Not included in this figure: non-financed capital of $2.09M; non-contract operating costs of $772,000 for risk management; county work worth $275,134; residue disposal of $10.80 per ton; and charge backs to the Department of Environmental Protection worth $43,603.

Do Frederick residents want this annual bill and to pay increased tipping fees or higher taxes? Or would they prefer working together to reduce their waste stream before deciding if a capital-intensive disposal method is necessary?

GREGOR BECKER

conservation chair

Sierra Club Catoctin Group

Monday, July 16, 2007

20070714 Solid Waste Management Forum at Frederick Community College

The panelists from left to right: David Dunn, Chair, Frederick County Solid Waste Advisory Committee - Moderator; Robert Ernst, Recycling Manager, Harford County, Maryland – “Recycling in Harford County, Maryland”; Lori Scozzafava, Deputy Executive Director, Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) – National Waste Management Perspective”; Pamela Gratton, Recycling Director, Fairfax County, Virginia – “Integrated Waste Management”; Richard Brandes, Chief, Waste Minimization Branch US EPA Office of Solid Waste – “USEPA Waste Management Perspective”

Solid Waste Management Forum at Frederick Community College

July 14th, 2007

Solid Waste Management Forum at Frederick Community College: A quick overview of those in attendance Saturday, July 14, 2007, when Frederick and Carroll County Government in Maryland sponsored a forum on solid waste issues such as recycling, resource recovery, and integrated waste management.

The event took place in the Jack B. Kussmaul Theater at Frederick Community College from 9 AM to 12 PM

The event was not as well attended as many would have liked but nevertheless, hopefully there were enough folks there to continue a discussion of alternative ways of managing municipal solid waste instead of collecting it and burying it in the ground.

For more information on Waste Management and Waste to Energy issues please click on: Environmentalism Solid Waste Management; Environmentalism Solid Waste Management Waste to Energy; or… Energy Independence or the label, Environmentalism.


####

Sunday, July 15, 2007

20070711 “Trash talk” - Frederick News-Post editorial

“Trash talk” - Frederick News-Post editorial

Trash talk

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/opinion/display_editorial.htm?StoryID=62346

Originally published July 11, 2007

When it comes to trash, no one could claim that local government is ignoring the subject. Elected officials and county managers are acutely aware that solutions are required, and they are diligently at work exploring a range of them.

That doesn't mean that any solution(s) they ultimately decide on are going to sit well with all residents. So far, every attempt to address Frederick County's mounting (pun intended) trash problems have been met with resistance from other-minded people, including environmentalists, recycling enthusiasts and, in particular, those whose lives and property would be most impacted.

Solutions that have been proposed include a permanent new transfer station from which to send the country's trash elsewhere, raising the height of the Reichs Ford Road landfill, and constructing a waste-to-energy incinerator that would generate electricity from the heat produced by burning trash.

Opposition to any and all of these proposals is understandable. No one wants increased truck traffic, a higher, more visible landfill with potential safety issues, or a huge, expensive incinerating/generating facility in his or her backyard.

Still, all these potential solutions have been extensively researched and decisions to consider them were not arrived at frivolously or without considering their negative as well as their positive qualities.

The bottom line, however, is that this county generates a huge quantity of trash -- one that will only increase in coming years -- and effective method(s) of addressing its disposal or destruction are imperative. And while recycling is a positive, worthwhile and attractive endeavor that should be encouraged and can be part of the solutions mix, it alone is not the be-all and end-all to Frederick County's trash problem.

There is no solution to Frederick County's trash question that does not involve some negatives, whether they be financial, environmental or aesthetic. It's trash, folks.

It appears as though local officials are pursuing a multi-pronged approach to this issue, with some of the options -- such as the landfill height extension and transfer station -- being stop-gap measures. In the end, a more comprehensive, permanent solution, perhaps in the form of a waste-to-energy incinerator, will likely have to be embraced.

Local officials are acutely tuned in to this issue, as well they should be, and are thoroughly investigating a number of options. But again, when it comes to trash, there is no such thing as a perfect, negative-free solution.

If there were, trash wouldn't be such a dirty word.