correction
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the developer of a planned housing development in Trappe requested a wastewater discharge permit of 540,000 million gallons per day but that officials scaled it back to 100,000 million gallons per day. The developer had requested 540,000 gallons and it was scaled back to 100,000 gallons. The article has been corrected.
The Maryland Department of the Environment has issued a final permit allowing developers of a planned 2,500-home project in Trappe, Md., to proceed — but with significant new limits that slow the massive Eastern Shore project and raise questions as to when, or whether, complete build-out will occur.
MDE’s permit, which was issued Thursday, reduced by more than 80 percent the amount of wastewater the development can discharge and tightened permissible pollutant levels on the effluents. The permit also imposed stricter monitoring on and control of the developer’s use of a spray irrigation system to get rid of the treated wastewater. It also deleted references to future growth, thereby requiring developers to go through the entire environmental approval review again at each stage of the development before any expansion, a process that could take decades.
Ryan D. Showalter, an attorney representing the project, praised the MDE’s decision, saying its terms will protect the bay without affecting the project’s timing and phase-by-phase development. He also welcomed further public comment.
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“Adjustment of the final permit to provide additional opportunity for public comment as flows increase will demonstrate the soundness of the state’s preference for use of reclaimed water to irrigate farmland as an alternative to direct discharge to surface waters,” Showalter wrote in an email.
MDE’s decision follows intense public outcry over Lakeside at Trappe because of its possible impact on the Chesapeake Bay and rural Talbot County, and it left neither side happy.
Environmentalists, who say the huge new development poses a threat to the Chesapeake watershed, expressed disappointment that Maryland’s environmental watchdog signed off on another spray irrigation system. They argue that Lakeside at Trappe suggests a statewide pattern of blind spots in the agency’s oversight duty.
“We’re definitely disappointed that the department issued a permit in general, but we’re not surprised,” said Matthew Pluta, the Choptank riverkeeper. “We told MDE in our initial comments that spray irrigation is not an adequate means of disposing of wastewater without polluting the river.”
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Pluta and other critics also expressed concern that MDE’s decision leaves open the possibility that the huge project could be built out and called for additional efforts to halt it.
“This radically reduced capacity imposed by MDE on the size of the new Lakeside plant is yet another reason … why Talbot County should rescind its approval of Lakeside,” said Dan Watson, who has led the opposition through the nonprofit Talbot Integrity Project and articles published in the Talbot Spy, an online news site.
Yet those in favor of Lakeside, as initially envisioned by a Northern Virginia developer and the town of Trappe’s governing body, also got less than they wanted, Talbot County Council member Laura E. Price (R) said. She called MDE’s decision a “reasonable compromise.”
“I’m sure the developers wish there were no restrictions — no tighter restrictions — and I’m sure there were a fair amount of people who wish there were no permit at all,” Price said. “I don’t think the MDE had the ability to just say no. That’s not MDE’s job to just say no.”
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MDE officials said they scaled back the developer’s initial request for a wastewater discharge permit — from 540,000 gallons per day to 100,000 gallons per day — after reviewing data and public comment.
The agency’s final permit also requires Lakeside — whose first phase of construction on 95 homes began in July 2021 — to redirect wastewater from those homes into a new state-of-the-art wastewater system rather than Trappe’s aging facility.
“The Maryland Department of the Environment has always been clear that public participation is a crucial component of our permit application review process,” MDE spokesman Jay Apperson said in an email detailing the agency’s revisions to a draft permit.
Showalter, the attorney for Lakeside, has argued that fears of damaging the bay are exaggerated and accused opponents of spreading misinformation about the project’s decades-long effort to obtain governmental approval.
Lakeside at Trappe has generated controversy from the start almost 20 years ago, when the tiny town found itself staring at financial disaster over the rising cost of its aging wastewater treatment plant.
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So the town partnered with a Northern Virginia developer to upgrade the system and spur new growth on 924 acres of land annexed from the county. Rocks Engineering, along with its engineering firm, Rauch, then embarked on building a new community with parkland, bicycle paths and other amenities.
Pluta, expressing satisfaction that MDE had “gutted” developers’ initial plans, said there’s a good chance environmentalists might still go to court to contest the agency’s decision. He acknowledged that Lakeside’s backers might do the same.
This story has been updated with comments from the developer’s attorney.
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