Residents gearing for fight against proposed surface mine

Princess Anne, Md. – A small striped cat scurries across tree farmer Carl Petty’s grassy lawn. A baby bird sticks its head out of the bird nests he’s put up in his backyard. On a hazy afternoon, Petty looks up at the sky to see if he’ll catch a glimpse of a Bald Eagle soaring towards Wicomico Creek, which flows right across his home.

Petty and his wife have lived in their home for 45 years. However, he says a proposed 34-acre surface mine a few hundred feet from his homestead threatens the bucolic peace they have cultivated.

“The idea of turning it in to an industrial facility is disturbing to me. I mean, it disturbs me. I’m emotionally disturbed by the idea that somebody would come here and do this,” Petty said. “I mean, I’m angry at the fact that my neighbors would propose this next door to me.”

On June 26, residents were able to submit public comment during a hearing for the proposed “borrow pit.” The owner of the property, Tull Farm Holdings LLC, is applying to the Somerset County Board of Zoning Appeals for a zoning exception to excavate and sell sand on the property. However, the exception is needed since the property sits within the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area.

“How are you going to restore that so that you can farm it again? The answer is it’s impossible. It’s a betrayal of our heritage and our stewardship of the land,” Petty said.

Petty said he has many concerns about the proposed project, including noise levels, impacts to respiratory health and the environment and so does local historian Mike Hitch.

“You got, you know, anywhere from a dozen to eight dozen dump trucks running in and out of there at day, digging a pit up to 50, 60 ft deep, right next to two eagles,” Hitch said. Hitch serves on as chair on the board of directors for the Nabb Research Center based out of Salisbury Uniervsity. “I mean, it just didn’t make sense.”

Both Petty and Hitch believe that two eagle nests are well within hundreds of feet of the proposed project, which they say would be against current regulations. Both also believe that a Native American burial ground may be in the middle of the proposed borrow pit.

“We should at least learn more before we just dig it all up,” Petty said.

In testimony given last month, the Wicomico Environmental Trust wrote in a letter to the board:

“Both County and State law have protected the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area, particularly its Resource Conservation Areas, for almost half a century by limiting most new development in Resource Conservation Areas. We urge the Board to continue this stewardship by declining to approve this deficient Application for a Special Exception tonight.”

Louise Hayman, an Annapolis resident, also submitted comment during last month’s hearing. In a letter she submitted to the board, she said Petty’s home once belonged to her grandparents, which she and Petty call “Happy Hollow Farm.” She said her grandparents were friends with Dr. Tull, who had owned the neighboring farm and current site of the proposed development.

“To transform the property, known to us as the Tull Farm into an intrusive, disruptive commercial mining operation is causing all of my forebears who lived and loved this rural area, to revolve in their graves,” Hayman wrote.

Petty said he’s prepared to challenge the mine should the proposal move forward.

“I think in my mind, this is just something that says fight all over it,” Petty said. “Because we plan on dying here.”

If approved by the board, Somerset County Director of Technical and Community Services Jesse Drewer said the project will also entail approval from the Somerset County Planning Commission.

“Beyond county approvals, Maryland Department of Environment and other state agencies will review the proposed project for all applicable standards and requirements,” Drewer said.

The Somerset County Board of Zoning Appeals will make a decision on whether or not to approve the exception during a meeting on Friday, July 17 at 7:30 p.m.

Tull Farm Holdings LLC did not respond to WMDT’s request for comment by time of publication.