The PTA Council of Howard County wants land tested for contaminants before it?s developed, but county officials said they don?t have the authority to require developers to test land.
“Before a site can be deemed viable or safe for any community use, there should be some assurance that it is a safe site,” said Veronika Carella, officer of the PTA Council.
The PTA Council wants the county to test the land before sewer and water are extended, an issue
Carella raised as the County Council was considering updating its water and sewage master plan, which outlines the land available for the extension.
However, Council Member Ken Ulman, D-District 4, said only the state can legislate environmental testing, and the county?s Office of Law told him the county council didn?t have the authority to require soil testing.
He said he wanted to set environmental testing requirements when the council was considering a bill to extend public water and sewer to the hotly contested Turf Valley development in Ellicott City. Residents had called for more testing of the former golf course to ensure there were no contaminants.
Unless the land has a record of contamination or has been deemed an environmental cleanup area, the land does not need to be tested before building occurs, said Robert Ballinger, spokesman for the Maryland Department of the Environment, which sets testing standards.
But Carella said at Monday?s county council meeting that when county officials look at the master plan, they should consider federal environmental data on testing sites and begin monitoring county land.
The bill on the master plan is a semi-annual report from the county?s Department of Public Works, which director Jim Irvin said is updated every six months to reflect recent changes from developments.
