Anne Arundel County has seen a 20 percent drop in recent years in the number of violations of laws protecting sensitive coastal areas, but critics say the county could do more to enforce the law.
“I just don’t believe the county is doing their job,” said Paul Spadaro, president of the Magothy River Association. “This whole build-and-ask-forgiveness-later attitude is becoming a trend.”
The Magothy River Association has been at loggerheads with the county in the last few months over Little Island. Developer Daryl Wagner built a house on the island without the proper permits and without the county’s knowledge until the project was finished. The details of the case and any disciplinary action are now being hashed out in lengthy Board of Appeals hearings.
“It’s too easy to say we need more inspectors,” Spadaro said. “It’s about enforcement.”
In the last week, the county won two District Court cases against a developer and a property owner in Pasadena, both of whom were cited in early 2005 for grading within the 1,000-foot critical area without a permit. The violators were fined $1,000 and required to replace the trees and vegetation that were removed.
County spokeswoman Pam Jordan said the county received 445 requests for investigation in 2005, and 69 of those turned out to be bona fide violations. Jordan said the majority of those violations ? about 85 percent ? were taken to court because defendants either don’t pay fines or don’t show up for their court date.
Building, grading or violating zoning laws within a critical area ? defined as 1,000 feet from tidal waters ? carries a fine of up to $10,000. The county employs 16 full-time grading inspectors and one full-time critical area inspector. While grading inspectors can issue stop work orders when they find critical area violations, the critical area inspector has the authority to pursue a case.
Jordan said County Executive Janet Owens included money in her fiscal 2007 budget for two additional grading inspectors to cover the more than 500 miles of shoreline in Anne Arundel.
