Carroll County chooses to move dirt by train, not dump truck, from Westminster to fill in New Windsor lagoon

In place of dump trucks, the Maryland Midland Railroad will haul about 75,000 cubic yards of dirt from Westminster to New Windsor to make way for a new stormwater management pond.

The Carroll County commissioners Thursday approved a $562,400 contract with the railroad to transport the dirt from the Langdon property, off of Westminster Avenue, to one of the former wastewater treatment lagoons and to a private farm in New Windsor that are located near the railroad.

County staff said there are multiple benefits to this decision. They say using the railroad will mitigate wear and tear on city roads, prevent any nuisance that dump trucks might have caused residents, allow New Windsor to repurpose the lagoon, and allow a farmer to use the dirt for agriculture.

Once the dirt is gone, a pond will be built to serve as a stormwater management facility, according to watershed restoration engineer Chris Heyn. The pond will provide water quality treatment for more than 200 acres in Westminster, according to a document attached to the meeting agenda. Much of the city’s water already drains to this area, and by building a pond, dirt in the water will settle to the bottom of the pond and then clean water will drain into Little Pipe Creek, Heyn said after the meeting.

The pond is being built because the county Bureau of Resource Management holds a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit with the Maryland Department of the Environment, which requires the county to build a stormwater management facility where there is no stormwater treatment, Heyn said.

The project has been in the works since 2011. State and federal grants have been secured to help fund the project, Heyn said, but he declined to say how much the total project will cost because it has not yet been put out to bid.

The train will take about 150 round trips to transport the dirt, compared to 7,000 dump truck trips, according to Heyn.

“Our staff is extremely innovative. I give them a lot of credit for this," said Tom Devilbiss, county director of the Department of Land and Resource Management.

The cost for transporting the dirt by train versus by dump truck is “comparable,” according to Devilbiss, but there was a major concern of the impact dump trucks would have on Westminster roads, traffic, and people.

Heyn estimated 20 trucks per day making five round trips each would be necessary to get the job done.

“It adds up very quickly,” Heyn said.

The county is waiting for the OK from the Maryland State Highway Administration to put the project out to bid, which will hopefully be within the next week, according to Heyn. He hopes the project will begin in early fall.

The railroad will need to order “gondolas” or dump trailers to carry the dirt, according to Devilbiss, so it was important for the commissioners to approve the contract at this time. A specialized excavator that rides on top of the gondolas will unload the dirt in New Windsor onto off-road dump trucks, which will travel a short distance — not on public roads — to deposit dirt at the two locations, according to Heyn.

Devilbiss said during the meeting that New Windsor wants to fill the lagoon so it can be repurposed into something like a baseball field. Gary Dye Jr., New Windsor’s town manager, wrote in an email Tuesday evening that the plan is “very conceptual and only a possibility” at this point.

“The plan for the old wastewater lagoons is some type of recreation and natural area,” Dye wrote.

There are two former wastewater treatment lagoons.

University of Maryland landscape architecture graduate students designed two options for New Windsor for no charge, according to Dye.

“The partnership with the County was very simple and opportunistic for both Carroll County Resource Management and the town of New Windsor. The county needed to move and get rid of a lot of dirt and New Windsor needed a lot of dirt to fill our lagoons,” Dye wrote.

Dye said he learned of the Langdon stormwater project at a meeting of the Water Resource Coordination Council, a monthly meeting of county and municipal staff.

Other business

In other business, the commissioners Thursday approved a request to apply for additional housing vouchers for veterans. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) last month approved additional funding for HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing, which will support about 5,500 new vouchers across the nation, according to a document on the agenda. Carroll County will apply for 10 additional vouchers to help 59 of the self-identified veterans on the waitlist, the documents reads.

The board awarded a $421,280 contract to Baldwin-based P D Valle Electric Co. Inc. to replace outdated light fixtures at the Carroll County Sports Complex. The light fixtures have been around since 1990, plus the new LED bulbs will use less electricity and reduce light shining onto neighboring properties, said Jeff Degitz, director of the Department of Recreation and Parks. The cost is provided for within the budget.

Additionally, the board awarded a $201,020 contract to Marathon Technology Solutions to upgrade the Access Control System in the 911 Center, County Office Building, Citizen Services building, Roadway Building and Westminster branch library, according to a document on the agenda. The money is provided for in the budget.

The board also approved applying for the Senior Medicare Patrol grant for $3,619, which would provide for outreach, education, prevention and detection of health care fraud, according to a document on the agenda. No county match is required.