A septic tank steadily contaminated a Baltimore County trout stream for nearly a year to the knowledge of a development company proposing new condominiums there, activists alleged at a hearing this week.
Baltimore County Zoning Commissioner William Wiseman Thursday granted his approval of the 100-unit project on Owings Mill?s Red Run after county environmentalists said the proposal met all regulations. The plans call for developer Wood Partners to remove two existing ponds and restore 185 feet of stream channel to improve the trout habitat.
But activist J. Michael Collins said the company missed that opportunity after it conducted pond samples in September and found high levels of E. coli and Coliform, bacteria indicating the presence of fecal matter. Collins said the company provided the data to him.
“They had all this time to do something about it and they ignored it,” Collins said. “They intentionally withheld this information from the county.”
Emphasizing the developer still needs to obtain state and federal environmental permits before construction begins, county natural resource manager David Lykens said he was not familiar with any contamination at the site, known as the Samuels property.
The county, which Lykens said conducted a “visual” survey of the pond in September 2005, does not require the assessment for development approval.
“It doesn?t surprise me there was some underground leakage and it probably was from the septic system,” Lykens said at the hearing before Wiseman. “If there was contamination, it will be remedied.”
The development company will assume responsibility of the clean-up, said Wood Partners director Dean Wilson, but state regulations restrict accessto the trout habitat. Wiseman said allowing further contamination “destroys your common sense feeling,” but said he was bound by law to approve the project.
Collins said the contamination may never be mitigated if the development does not come to fruition. He asked the county to cite the property owner for the leak.
