Black sand will nolonger coat a Carroll County neighborhood.
Carroll County Circuit Court ruled Monday that IMRM Inc., one of numerous businesses that has operated on property on the 1200 block of Bruceville Road in Keymar, must stop straining metals out of foundry sand, which is often used for moldings in vehicles.
Neighbors said the black sand had blown onto houses and into Big Pipe Creek, which runs behind the property.
“It covers everything,” said Jeff Duling. “It pollutes fish, kills the river. …”
Duling spent more than $2,000 on a water-filtration system, a precautionary measure to keep the sand from contaminating his well, and urged the state Attorney General?s office to investigate.
Duling also complained to the county that construction equipment from the site ? zoned for agricultural, not industrial use -? had been strewn in the forest in his backyard.
The fight is the latest in a line of problems neighbors had in the past five years with owner Charles U. Mehring?s property.
Mehring previously fixed other violations, seeding his sloping backyard, which leads to the river, to reduce erosion.
But another business, J.P. Donmoyer Inc., used the site to transfer materials, spreading another black substance through the area, said Kimberly Millender, the county attorney. She couldn?t identify the substance but said that business has ceased operating there.
The Maryland Department of the Environment had air-quality inspectors at the property last week, but county officials weren?t sure if any violations were issued.
The MDE is due in court with Mehring on Thursday for the separate issue of a broken pipe on his property.
Mehring tried to change the property?s zoning to allow the businesses without conditional approval, but the county refused. Mehring appealed and the state?s second-highest court also ruled against him.
