Worcester Co. Commissioners table emergency legislation which could nix some US Wind plans
WORCESTER COUNTY, Md. – Worcester County Commissioners plan to revisit an emergency bill that could nix US Wind’s plans to build an operations and maintenance facility in the West Ocean City commercial maritime harbor.
While the legislation was tabled Tuesday, some commissioners said they already had their minds made up.
“If we do not protect and advocate for ourselves, who will? … I’m not going to change my point of view on this at all. This is Worcester County first, Worcester County always,” said District 5 Commissioner Chip Bertino.
Attorneys Warn Against Emergency Bill
At the Feb. 18 Commissioners meeting, legal counsel representing US Wind and Southern Connections Seafood advocated against the legislation.
“It will change the definition of the commercial marine district, and it will eliminate one of the nine principal limited uses. In our opinion, it will devalue their property, and prevent them from having future uses,” said Hugh Cropper, representing Pat and April Reese, owners of the seafood company.
Southern Connections Seafood is based in Crisfield and West Ocean City. The company employs up to 50 people, Cropper said. He added if their deal to sell US Wind two of their plots in the harbor is blocked by the emergency bill, it could tear down all that they have built up.
Attorneys representing US Wind told Commissioners they were prepared to litigate, calling the emergency legislation unconstitutional.
“US Wind was authorized to do the project by the United States Congress way back, and they’re still pursuing the job they were hired to do,” said Thomas Prevas, a lawyer from Saul Ewing LLP, legal counsel for US Wind.
“Take a step back,”
Prevas sent the Commissioners a 24-page letter, urging them to reconsider the legislation.
“I asked them to just take a step back. If the issue really is commercial fishing—which I’m not really sure, based on the testimony (in the Feb. 18 meeting), if that’s really the issue, but they say that’s the issue. If that really is the issue, there’s a process in place,” Prevas said.
Prevas added US Wind would be open to crafting a memorandum of understanding with the Commissioners, laying out agreed-upon steps. That process would be mediated by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
“I’m hopeful that maybe with this delay, the county might engage with us over that,” Prevas said.
Cropper said he is looking forward to a successful resolution for his clients.
“We hope that the County Commissioners will not devalue (their) property and will allow my clients to protect their property interests, protect their family, and protect their business,” Cropper said.
State Lawmaker Supports Bill
Meanwhile, state lawmakers are throwing their support behind the emergency legislation.
Pat Shrawder, district representative for State Senator Mary Beth Carozza (R – Md. District 38), delivered a statement on behalf of the lawmaker in the meeting, who was tied up in Annapolis. She stated the harbor’s current zoning district was created in 1998, under much different circumstances.
“The primary purpose of that district was to boost development on properties that would support and preserve our commercial fishing industry, or at least not threaten that industry. At the time, no one could have imagined offshore wind industrialization being developed off Maryland’s coast, nor ambitious plans for an oversized operations and maintenance facility … The original goal was to protect the commercial fishing industry, and that goal remains the same today,” Shrawder said on behalf of Sen. Carozza.
Talk Tabled
In the end, the Commissioners decided to revisit the legislation. District 7 Commissioner Joe Mitrecic motioned to table the bill, and District 3 Commissioner Eric Fiori seconded.
“We want to get this right. I’m not a fan of eminent domain, and I would much rather negotiate a purchase price with the property owners … I also have to protect the fishing community, the commercial harbor, and those that surround it,” said Mitrecic.
Mitrecic called the debate an emotional issue, painting a hazy picture for the future of Worcester County should the offshore wind project come online.
“Our sunsets will never look the same again … We don’t have any idea what it’s going to do to the fisheries in our area. We don’t know what it’s going to do to our tourism—our marlin fishing tourism and our tuna fishing tourism,” Mitrecic said.