Construction of an "upland impoundment," or storage reservoir, on the county-owned Mt. Soma property near Bel Air is being investigated as the preferred long-term solution to the town's water supply issues.
Officials with Maryland American Water, which supplies water to the Town of Bel Air and the Harford County communities around the town, confirmed they are considering using a portion of the land near the intersection of Route 1 and Old Joppa Road for such a reservoir.
"The Soma property is being considered, among other options," Samantha Villegas, an external affairs consultant for Maryland American, said Tuesday in an email.
She said "we are just too early in the process" to answer questions about the details of how the impoundment will be operated and whether any special permits will be needed.
A spokeswoman for Harford County Executive Barry Glassman also recently said the east side of Mt. Soma is a preferred site for a reservoir.
About 20.5 acres on the west side of the tract is being developed for an apartment complex.
Villegas said in a prior email that "Maryland American Water has not acquired a property yet, but we have been actively working towards securing a site."
"There are stilla lot of studies to conduct that would be required to determine the suitability of a site such as: availability of the site, what (if any) archaeological significance of the site, environmental impact, soil and or bedrock composition and cost of construction, etc.," she continued.
An amendment to a previous water supply agreement signed in late October by Harford County, Bel Air officials and representatives of Maryland American, gives the company the go-ahead to begin planning for the reservoir, according to a copy The Aegis obtained from the county last week.
In the amended agreement, the county agreed to sell Maryland American up to an additional 40,000 gallons of water daily to end a year-long moratorium on most new construction within the company's service area, which includes the Town of Bel Air some surrounding areas to the south and west. Previously, the agreement, originally signed in 1996, permitted the company to buy up to 500,000 gallons a day from the county.
The moratorium was imposed by state environmental and health agencies amid concerns that Winters Run, Maryland American's principal water source, might not be adequate in times of prolonged drought conditions, particularly if construction of new homes or commercial buildings brings additional water customers.
When they announced the amendment agreement two weeks ago, Bel Air and Maryland American representatives emphasized it was temporary and that more long-term solutions to the supply adequacy issue were being pursued.
The agreement states that Maryland American is committed to "identifying, evaluating, funding and constructing project(s) to improve its water supply to satisfy its existing deficit as well as any additional needs for built out of its service area," and then goes on to state that "...with the assistance of Harford County, Maryland-American has identified a primary alternative for an upland impoundment on the Soma property that is owned by Harford County."
In November, surveyors and engineers working for Maryland American were working both on the Soma site and the county-owned Edgeley Grove Park property which is just across the Bel Air Bypass from Mt. Soma.
The preferred location for the reservoir/impoundment is on the east side of the Mt. Soma property, Cindy Mumby, spokesperson for Glassman said Friday. She said the survey work is being paid for by the water company.
Although the amended agreement with the water company was signed before Glassman took office and replaced David Craig on Dec. 1, Mumby said Glassman is aware of it and concurs with the discussions and investigations by Maryland-American, which she emphasized involves "no out-of-pocket expenses" for the county.
"The county executive recognizes [Bel Air's] water supply is a long-standing issue, one that affects economic development in the Town of Bel Air," she said. "He supports in general the concept of removing restrictions on economic development."
If the reservoir is built, Mumby said, preliminary indications are it would be across Winters Run from Maryland-American's water treatment plant and raw water intake, which is along Route 1 at the base of what is known locally as Lake Fanny Hill.
She also said that Winters Run would not be dammed, that the reservoir would be built by digging out a portion of the Soma property, which rises from the stream bank, and then filling the reservoir by pumping water up from the stream in the vicinity of the existing water treatment plant intake. The reservoir would be filled with raw, not treated, water, she said.
Mumby added, however, that engineering and hydraulic studies are ongoing and the final plan could change, since "it depends on many variables." She said any deal to sell or enter into a long-term lease with Maryland-American, another detail that would have to be "ironed out," would require approvals of the county's board of estimates and, most likely, the Harford County Council.
The proposal for the reservoir was first broached by county public works engineers during the months of talks that led up to the amended water sale agreement, Mumby said.
Withdrawing water from Winters Run must be approved by the Maryland Department of the Environment, which she said has approved the reservoir project concept. Final approvals wouldn't be issued until all the preliminary work has been done.
Villegas also said the stream would not be dammed, and Maryland American officials plan "to have the solution in place or well on its way within about four years."
"We are currently working with county and state officials to select an appropriate site," she wrote in her email.
Mumby said the county acquired 68.6 acres of the Mt. Soma property for $432,000 in January 1996. According to Maryland tax records, the property was purchased from what was then known as Atlantic Federal Bank. A few years prior to the county's purchase, the bank acquired the property in a foreclosure proceeding involving a developer, according to newspaper accounts from the period.
The county bought the land with the intention of using it for parkland, a move that was widely hailed at the time because it removed one of the largest undeveloped properties immediately west of Bel Air from the likelihood of development. A few years later, the county was able to acquire the 260-acre plus Edgeley Grove property, a working farm.
Unlike the Edgeley Grove property, which was bought using state Program Open Space Funds, the Mt. Soma property was acquired solely with county funds, which Mumby said means there would be no restriction on using that site for something other than a strictly residential use.
The property has agricultural zoning and has actively been farmed by tenants in the past; however, also unlike Edgeley Grove, which is home to Annie's Playground, athletic fields and the western leg of the Ma & Pa Trail, Mt. Soma hasn't been made available to the general public.
Mumby pointed out that using the Mt. Soma property for a reservoir would not necessarily preclude other adapted public uses, such as for trails and other passive open space uses. The county's master parks plan at one time envisioned a system of trails to link Mount Soma and Edgeley Grove and the Heavenly Waters Park complex east of Winters Run and off Tollgate Road that is home to the county equestrian center and recreation fields.
Historic site
The Mount Soma property has a historic barn, but the manor house was all but destroyed by a fire in the mid-1990s.
The property, originally 200 acres, was settled by William Amos in 1715, according to the definitive "An Architectural History of Harford County, Maryland," written by the late Christopher Weeks. Soma is Amos spelled backward, the book notes – some descendants locally would later add second "s" to make Amoss – and the "Mount" essentially referred to the hillock or high ground on the property.
Mr. Soma was sold out of the Amos family in 1918, but much of the property was operated as a farm through much of the first three-quarters of the 20th century, before portions of it were sold to developers, including commercial sites along Route 1 that today include Bob Bell Chevrolet and Fallston Commercial Park.
Around the time the county bought its acreage, which is zoned commercial, a limited liability corporation acquired two commercial tracts on the west side of the property, encompassing 17.7 acres, from the same bank. The same Soma LLC more recently acquired 2.5 acres from the owner of Fallston Commercial Park and the former Greystone Lodge site of half an acre that sits along Route 1 near Old Joppa Road, according to state tax records.
Soma LLC, based in Pikesville, is in the process of developing portions of its property for up to 288 garden apartments, a plan that has provoked opposition from people living in the surrounding area. Although the county council appeared on the verge of trying to exclude the property from a water and sewer plan update last spring, a county planning official said last month the development was on track to begin receiving building permits, though none had been issued as of Nov. 30.