Several Baltimore County residents and lawmakers said they?ve missed the deadline to comment on the state?s proposal to open the highly populated Soldiers Delight park to deer hunting ? because the state never bothered to tell them.
Friday marked the last day the state?s Department of Natural Resources accepted public comment on its proposal to open a section of the park near Reisterstown and Owings Mills to archery white-tail hunting next season.
Though DNR officials said they mailed about 120 letters to homeowners in the area earlier this month and personally called others in the last three days, several residents said they were shocked to hear the news secondhand from neighbors Thursday night.
“It?s insane,” said Jessica Dibb, who said she never received a letter although she lives inside the park. “There are a lot of children that run around in the woods.”
DNR is proposing two potential scenarios with different boundaries, but both would open more than 300 acres to at least 15 hunters per day with safety zones 150 feet from occupied homes. One scenario would allow hunting from Sept. 15 to Jan. 31, another from Nov. 11 to Jan. 31.
Comments on DNR?s Web site, which were first received April 11, according to DNR director of wildlife and heritage service Paul Peditto, are mostly supportive. Peditto said the proposal aims to control an overwhelming deer population that is damaging endangered plant species within the park.
He said DNR staff personally drove around the park to collect residents? addresses and have been taking comments on their cell phones.
“This is a very straightforward, ecological proposal,” Peditto said.
But county legislators said they also feel they were left out of the democratic process. State Del. Dan Morhaim, D-District 11, said state agencies usually brief him and other elected officials on major policy changes.
This time, he said that didn?t happen. He noted residents across the state visit Soldiers Delight ? not just its neighbors.
“It?s like they tried to sneak it by,” Morhaim said. “It?s a real violation of process whether you?re pro or con.”
Peditto said Friday that his staff will still take comments from homeowners around the park, as long as they go beyond support or opposition of deer hunting.
