A year ago, I and two other board members of the Magothy River Association met with Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh and others to discuss the serious decline in water quality of the Magothy River. The decline is exacerbated by the continued development of new single- and multi-family homes being built along the wetlands that provide the only filter for dangerous runoff into the river.
We also discussed the Habitat Protection Act, a Maryland state law that mandates protection of yellow perch spawning grounds, including the creeks of the Magothy. As a result of our discussions, Mr. Schuh proposed the creation of a Watershed Protection Work Group and invited MRA representatives to participate, which we have been doing.
Imagine our shock, then, when Paul Spadaro, president of the MRA, received a letter this week, informing us that we should take a "leave of absence" from the work group because the "MRA is litigating an appeal concerning the approval of the Cattail Commons subdivision."
The MRA, an all-volunteer organization, represents people living in the Magothy River watershed. Our mission is to restore the river to the condition it used to be or at the very least to stop the deterioration in the form of algae blooms, fish kills and the sulfur smells that permeate the creeks feeding into the river. We believe that Cattail Commons, as well as the 15 other proposed developments along Cattail Creek, will destroy the wetlands that are our last hope for cleaning up the river.
We wonder why the MRA was kicked off the Watershed Protection Work Group. What about the developers who are also part of the group? Their interest is to continue development regardless of the consequences on the watershed, and they certainly don't have the best interests of the community in mind.
The Anne Arundel County government should first and foremost represent the interests of its citizens, not the interests of the developers who seek monetary gain from developing the last remaining parcels of available land on our waterways.
The MRA represents the citizens of a significant part of the county. The Magothy River has 63 miles of shoreline. It is critical that the people, not the developers, have the majority voice in determining what happens to our community. It is outrageous that we have been asked to step aside. This is not the way the democratic process should work.
Andrea Germain
The writer is a member of the team representing the Magothy River Association on the Watershed Protection Work Group.