Hearing set for Thursday on state permits for proposed Bel Air reservoir

The Bel Air community will have what is likely to be its last opportunity later this week to speak up about a planned 90 million gallon reservoir planned for Mt. Soma area off Route 1 west of town.The Maryland Department of the Environment will hold a public hearing at Bel Air Town Hall, 39 N. Hickory Ave., from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 27, for part of its review of the Maryland American Water Company's application for a state permits to build the reservoir.The privately owned water company, which supplies the Town of Bel Air and surrounding areas north and west of the town, has applied for three permits issued through MDE: waterways construction; water appropriation and use; and non-tidal wetlands and waterways, according to a notice published in the Aug. 31 edition of The Aegis.The notice offered opportunities to submit written comments and to request a hearing, and one was filed by Bel Air resident Joe Evans, MDE spokesperson Jay Apperson said.Evans, who lives in the Bel Air Acres community along Winters Run across from the reservoir site, said he and his neighbors have a number of concerns about the project, some which were discussed during a meeting on Monday at his home attended by Maryland American representatives and several of his neighbors.&quot;On behalf of the community I requested the hearing in order to address a few major issues we had,&quot; Evans, an Army veteran who has lived in the community since 2011, explained Tuesday.Among those concerns are security around the reservoir; impact the construction will have on the community – such as noise, dust and sediment getting into the stream where local children play; and potential adverse impacts on property values, such as screening.Some of them were addressed in this week's meeting, he said, including that the reservoir will be surrounded by a high fence and have 24-hour security patrols, will have vegetative screening and that all county construction regulations will be followed.Bel Air Acres homes are outside the town limits and have individual wells, and Evans said there is also concern construction of the reservoir could lower the water table, affecting the aquifer supplying the wells.&quot;We want to find out what is going on as much as possible,&quot; he said. &quot;We also want to ensure that Harford County's commitment to creating a public park once the project is completed is followed.&quot;Evans also criticized the MDE's decision to hold the hearing in the late afternoon, rather than the evening, so working people like him can attend. He won't be present on Thursday, because he has to work outside the area. He expects others from the community will be there.Evans requested a change in the time, but John Roche, of the MDE's Dam Safety Division, replied via an email, which Evans supplied to The Aegis, that it wouldn't be possible, &quot;after consideration of staff schedules, to avoid confusion with a late change, and to comply with state law, which requires that the hearing be held within 45 days of the close of the public comment period.&quot;Town, company interestedMaryland American will have representatives at the hearing, spokesperson Alison Bibb-Carson said, but she added &quot;it's not our hearing,&quot; so they will primarily be present as observers.Stephen Kline, Bel Air's director of public works, said the town is anxious to see the project move forward. In June, Maryland American officials said it would be at last three years, or mid-2019, before the project is completed, as estimate based on the state permitting process moving smoothly.Kline said Thursday's hearing will give people an opportunity to voice any concerns about the project, although he hopes they are minimal.&quot;More opposition will slow things down,&quot; he said.The state permits cover construction of the 62-foot-high, lined earthen dam which will hold water pumped from nearby Winters Run in the reservoir, or upland impoundment as it is more technically known.Maryland American is also seeking an increase in its water withdrawals limit from Winters Run from the current 1.4 million gallons per day on a yearly basis and 1.7 million gallons maximum daily, to 1.4 million and 8.4 million gallons, respectively, according to the permit applications.&quot;Impacts of the proposed withdrawal to the resource [Winters Run] and nearby users were evaluated using long-term stream flow records and information on other permitted users of Winters Run,&quot; the MDE notice states in part. &quot;The analysis showed that a protected flow-by will prevent unreasonable impacts on aquatic life and protect downstream users.&quot;The non-tidal wetlands disturbance permit notice states: &quot;The project will result in permanent impacts to 6,690 square feet of 100 year nontidal floodplain and 59 linear feet (568 square feet) of stream, and temporary impacts to 85,760 square feet of 100 year nontidal floodplain and 97 linear feet (2,800 square feet) of stream.&quot;Following Thursday's hearing, the record will remain open for MDE to receive additional written comments through the close of business on Nov. 3.100-day water supplyThe reservoir, which will be designed to hold a 100-day supply, is viewed as a long-term solution to concerns about Maryland American being able to supply enough water to its service area during prolonged dry periods.Those concerns led to MDE to impose a new construction moratorium in the Maryland-American service area in mid-2013. The moratorium was lifted in December 2014, after the water company, the town and Harford County agreed to short term measures that included the county supplying some additional water from its system to Maryland American and the imposition of a connection surcharge – which was also approved by the Maryland Public Service Commission – to defray the cost of such purchases.The parties involved also agreed to the reservoir plan, which resulted in Harford County selling the water company 68 acres in 2015 for $549,000. The site, which is between Route 1 and the Bel Air Bypass and across from Maryland American's treatment plant, was land the county acquired in the mid-1990s for a future park and is part of the historic Mt. Soma estate established in the 1700s.The purchase agreement between the county and Maryland American calls for any land not used in the reservoir project to be sold back to the county, which retained about 20 acres prior to the sale.Maryland American has previously estimated the reservoir will cost $20 million to build.The company received approval for a 13 percent general rate increase from the Public Service Commission in June 2015, but a company spokesperson said the reservoir project wasn't factored into the new rates and the company will seek to recover them in future rate adjustments.This is an updated version containing a correction about the volume of water that will be impounded.

Hearing set for Thursday on state permits for proposed Bel Air reservoir

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