Two generated some discussion.
Frederick, Md. (KM) – The Frederick County Council on Tuesday adopted ten amendments to the County Water and Sewerage Plan, including two which generated some discussion.
One plan would change the classifications of the Mill Creek property located on the south side of South Street and southwest of Jones Road in Libertytown. Ten acres of that site would be reclassified form S-5 to S-3; 50 acres would go from S-4 to S3; and 11 acres would go from W-5 to W-3; and 49 acres would go form W-4 to W-3.
The developers plans to build 141 single family housing units on the site. The Division of Planning and Permitting says significant improvements have been made at the site to handle the additional growth, including water supplied by three additional wells which will augment the County’s current Libertytown water system. The developer also plans to construct a new water treatment plant and finish a water storage tank. The sewage generated by the project will flow to a new sewage pump station being constructed by the developer.
The second amendment reclassifies 62 acres of the Mayne Property from W-4 and S-4 to W-3 and S -3. Plans are to build 148 single family homes and 45 town houses on the parcel located on the north side of Daysville Road southwest of Woodsboro Pike in Libertytown.
The County’s Division of Planning and Permitting says there have also been significant infrastructure improvements to the site, including water supplied by new groundwater wells to augment the County’s Libertytown water system. A 450,000 gallon water tank is being constructed, along with a water treatment plant in conjunction with the Mill Creek Subdivision. And the sewage pump station being constructed for Mill Creek will also be used by the Mayne Property.
During a hearing on these two amendments, Helen Diane Johnson of Libertytown, said there’s not enough water and sewage capacity to handle this much development. “The infrastructure in Libertytown is not adequate for some of the things that they’re trying to develop in my community,”; she said.
Mike Wiley, with Wormald Company, which is helping to develop those properties, said a lot of work has been done to get the infrastructure in place, and the developers have been working under county and Maryland Department of the Environment regulations. “Getting to this stage in the development was not just a wave of some magic wand, and someone said ‘it looks like it might be adequate,’” he said. “We had to test and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that this water system is going to be fully capable of supporting this development and be impactful to adjoining properties.”
The impact on adjoining properties was a concern brought up by Councilman Steve McKay. “That area just can’t sustain that level of development. And saying that if they’re negatively impacted somewhere down the line, they’ll help to mitigate that in some fashion. I don’t think that’s enough for those residents,” he said.
McKay, and Councilmen Kai Hagen and Jerry Donald voted against these two amendments.
These amendments are part of the Fall 2021 Cycle of Water and Sewerage Plan Amendments.
By Kevin McManus
