Winding streets that lead to the water, occasional boat races, lovely parks and delicious crab cakes...who doesn't love Oxford?

This Talbot County town is like the quieter cousin of Easton and St. Michaels, which bustle with antiques and clothing shops as well as marinas, restaurants and well-heeled people.

Oxford is well-heeled in its own right, with landmarks like the Robert Morris Inn for crabcakes (and a serving of James Michener lore) and a yacht club. But it's dignified in its quest to be something other than a Shore tourist town: a quiet place for residents, whether come-heres, from-heres, or come-backs, to enjoy life.

Things don't really kick off in town for a few weeks, so you still have time to reserve your room at the Robert Morris Inn, if you want. It opens the first week in April and they are not fillled for the season. Also, the inn is for sale, but hasn't been sold yet.

If anyone has recommendations of other inns, (maybe cheaper inns?) please send a comment so travelers can find them.

 Later, on April 26, the town will celebrate Oxford Day. You might want to plan your visit around that, as it's a great way to take in all of the attractions. Then there are the log canoe races. The town offers plenty for sailors, too -- most notably, marinas that are not choc-a-block with large powerboats.

What are the attractions? Those include the fact that the town has no traffic lights, that every waterfront street ends in a public place with a bench, that there is a beach where people still actually swim, that working watermen still keep their boats in the town's marina at a discounted rate and that there are stunning views of the Tred Avon and Town Creek from multiple vantage points. 

Oh, and there's a ferry. It's not free, like the Whitehaven Ferry, but it will take you from Oxford to Bellevue, which is near St. Michaels. A lot of people like it as a bit of a shortcut for a biking destination-you avoid the main raods a bit.

As is typical of a reporter on the run, my Oxford meals lately have consisted of a sandwich at the market. So I asked two Sun colleagues who live near there, at least part of the year, and they both recommend a place called Latitude 38.

One colleague reccomends eating at the bar: same great food, just less of it and cheaper.

Posted by Rona Kobell at 2:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Posted by Rona Kobell at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

 Gov. Martin O'Malley (far left), State Sen. Paul Pinsky (middle) and Environment Maryland director Brad Heavner (right), all supporters of the Global Warming Solutions Act, at an event last April promoting efforts to reduce greenhouse gas pollution.

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Climate change activists have drawn a thin blue line across Main Street in Annapolis.

The point of their chalky protest this morning: to show how high waters might rise if global warming melted the Greenland ice sheet, driving up sea levels by 20 feet. Dozens of shops and restaurants would be flooded in the state capital.

The members of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Environment Maryland and Sierra Club are trying to convince the General Assembly to change an amendment that they said will "gut" legislation designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions from businesses in the state by 25 percent by 2020. The amendment, successfully introduced by Sen. Nathaniel Exum of Prince George's County on Thursday, would require legislative approval each time state environmental agency acts to issue regulations.  This extra requirement could now be modified as the bill heads to the House, to allow the Maryland Department of the Environment more leeway to issue pollution control rules.

“We were demonstrating to passersby how high the water would come if we don’t get our act together on global warming," said Brad Heavner, director of Environment Maryland. "The House has the opportunty to make Maryland a leader, or they could drop the ball like the Senate did."

The Maryland League of Conservation voters last week identified the Exum amendment as one of three "poison pills" sought by business lobbyists that would "completely undermine the bill's intent." Gov. O'Malley's administration said the amendment would roll back the existing authority of the Maryland Department of the Environment.

Supporters of the amendment describe it as sensible legislative oversight over the MDE, to make sure it doesn't impose overly aggressive regulations that hurt businesses and cost the state jobs.

Posted by Tom Pelton at 5:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
                    

(Photo by Glenn Fawcett, Baltimore Sun)

The Oyster Advisory Commission will be taking a tour of Marinetics, the Choptank Oyster Company, on Saturday, March 29. This will be followed by a tour of Choptank oyster bars.

Marinetics has an interesting story to tell, I think. I wrote a story about them a few months ago, around Christmas. The company founders, Bob Maze and Lori Landeau, are both scientists who wanted to research oyster diseases. In order to fund that, they figured they'd start a hatchery and grow some oysters.

That has become their business, and they're already sold 365,000 of them. Locally, you can get them at Gertrude's at the BMA, and at Bobby's in Cambridge. I'm sure there are other places too. they are marketed as "Choptank Sweets."

Scientists have long been talking about how aquaculture is the future of our industry. Or, as VIMS oyster biologist Mark Luckenbach likes to say, the present of the oyster industry worldwide, if you look at Virginia and France and Ireland. The commission, in its first report, talked about how aquaculture would have to play a large role in the survival of the industryin the Chesapeake Bay.

Over the past couple of years, the state has relaxed the rules for aquaculture in the state, streamlining permits and helping entrepreneurs get a start in the business. But even so, Maryland still has only a handful of oyster aquaculture businesses.

And there are struggles. Marinetics tangled with its neighbors, who didn't want to see the oyster "floats" obstructing million-dollar views. Clam entrepreneur Steve Gordon is still fighting with two of his neighbors in court over whether he can lease bottom near their property to grow clams.

One advantage of aquaculture is that oysters grow year-round, so throw that whole "R" month thing out the window. Also, the oysters are tended to, making them more of a uniform quality. Some restaurants like that for presentation purposes.

But how do they taste?

Loyal readers of this blog know that, while eating oysters is an occasional job perk, I am not the best judge of bivalves, having grown up kosher and having never tasted one until I started covering the Chesapeake Bay four years ago. I'm not partial to the salty Chincoteague variety, but I do enjoy an oyster every now and then.

At Bobby's, we were presented with a beautiful plate that defintiely wouldn't have passed muster with the rabbis: A raw Choptank Sweet, topped with Crab Imperial, then a bit of bacon. I have to say it was delicious. (Sorry, dad.)

Posted by Rona Kobell at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

The EPA announced it would be adding 12 new Superfund sites to its list of the nation's most hazardous sites.

They are, according to UPI:

Plating Inc. in Great Bend, Kan.

 Sherwin-Williams/Hilliards Creek in Gibbsboro, N.J.

 Chem-Fab in Doylestown, Pa.

 Hidden Lane Landfill in Sterling, Va.

San German Ground Water Contamination in San German, Puerto Rico.

Donna Reservoir and Canal System in Donna, Texas

 Midessa Ground Water Plume in Odessa, Texas

San Jacinto River Waste Pits in Harris County, Texas

Washington County Lead District in Old Mines, Mo.

 Washington County Lead District in Potosi, Mo.

 Washington County Lead District in Richwoods, Mo..

According to UPI, 1,581 sites have placed on the National Priorities List to date. Just 324 sites have been taken off the list, leaving 1,257 sites on the Superfund list. In all, there are 1,317 final and proposed sites on the NPL.

Locally, we have no shortage of Superfund sites: Anne Arundel county is home to at least two: the U.S. Coast Guard base in Curtis Bay and Fort Meade, soon to be home to several thousand people, courtesy of the Base re-Alignment and Closure Act.

UPDATE: here's a list of all the sites in the state. Thanks to a reder for sending it in...

Posted by Rona Kobell at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, has decided to go organic.

Wal-Mart announced that its store-brand milk will come from cows not treated with organic growth hormones.

"It's reached the tipping point," said Ronnie Cummins, director of the Organic Consumers Association, who was quoted in this story in Toronto's Globe and Mail. "Even Wal-Mart's customers are demanding milk free from genetically engineered hormones."

EVEN Wal-Mart's customers? It's a slightly judgemental statement, though I don't happen to shop at Wal-Mart so I am not personally offended. But I know what he means -- even bargain-conscious shoppers who are not likely to be bringing their own bags to Whole Foods are concerned enough about hormones in milk to demand organic products.

When it comes to milk, I'm personally agnostic. I buy organic sometimes, and sometimes not. My daughter goes through it so quickly that, if I have to stop at a CVs or a 7-11 on my way home to get a gallon, all I'm checking is to make sure it hasn't expired yet.

I'm just bummed that Horizon Organic closed the farm they had in Gambrills. When I covered that area, it was one of my favorite places to go. So gorgeous, and you can imagine what the land looked like in the 1800s. But it's good to see that organic products are still doing well -- Maryland has several organic farms, and perhaps Wal-Mart's shift will help keep them in business.

Posted by Rona Kobell at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

 Sen. Nathaniel Exum, Democrat of Prince George's County, introduced an amendment to weaken the Global Warming Solutions Act.

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The Maryland Senate today severely weakened a bill designed to reduce global warming pollution in the state. 

An amendment approved by a vote of 27-20 would require the Maryland Department of the Environment to jump through several more hoops before it imposes any rules to cut greenhouse gases.  Every time the MDE wanted to limit the pollution through regulations, the agency would have to win another vote by the General Assembly. That's a difficult, multi-step process that could easily be derailed by industry lobbyists who oppose the limits, supporters of the bill argue.

On the other hand, skeptics contend the state's environmental bureaucracy shouldn't be trusted in such an uncharted territory as regulating carbon dioxide. They say industries could be bankrupted if the MDE acted too aggressively -- and so more legislative oversight of the environmental agency is necessary. Jobs and businesses are at stake in a time of economic turmoil, the supporters of more restraint in dealing with global warming suggest.

Actually, this was the second time the Global Warming Solutions Act was watered down. The first time, the O'Malley administration endorsed a change. The original bill, sponsored by Sen. Paul Pinsky of Prince George's County, mandated that greenhouse gases be cut by 90 percent from all businesses in the state by 2050; but this was amended to make this a purely advisory goal.  The bill kept a mandated 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020. But today's amendment  hampers the state environmental agency's ability to create rules to actually cut the pollution by even that 25 percent.

A final vote in the Senate could come today or Monday, with a vote in the House following.  On the House side, sponsor Del. Kumar Barve said he hopes to save the bill by adding another amendment that would make it easier for the state's environmental agency to create regulations to cut greenhouse gas pollution.

Today's amendment was one of several measures sought by industry groups that opposed the bill, fearing it could mean higher prices for high-pollution fuels like coal and oil. The amendment was introduced by state Sen. Nathaniel Exum, a Prince George's County Democrat. And it was backed by all 14 Republicans in the senate, as well as 13 Democrats.

Among those supporting the weakening of the bill were Baltimore city Democrats, including Senators Nathaniel McFadden, Catherine Pugh, George Della and Verna Jones.

Sen. Della said he's been hearing from voters worried losing their jobs at brick manufacturing businesses, the Domino's sugar plant and the state's only steel and paper factories. He said the MDE hadn't done enough to communicate with businesses and explain to them what regulations they might face -- and that just talking to industry lobbyist Michael Powell wasn't enough.

"If Maryland is going to step forward and be in the forefront, we have to partner with these
businesses and we can't be heavy handed," said Della.

 Sen. George Della

Sen. Nathaniel McFadden said he wants legislative oversight of the MDE to prevent any mistakes in imposing new greenhouse gas regulations. McFadden said he didn't want global warming regulations to go as badly as electric utility deregulation passed by the legislature in the late 1990's
 "That whole deregulation thing blew up in our face, and people came back and pointed
the finger at us legislators," said McFadden. "We need to have some oversight, in terms of what we do moving forward."

 Sen. McFadden

Sen. Pugh said earlier this week that she had "some concerns" about the bill because of its potential to hurt industries and jobs.  "Some amendments have been offered by industry, which are concerned" they couldn't reach the goals in law, she said.

 Sen. Catherine Pugh

Sen. Pinsky, the Prince George's Democrat who sponsored the bill, objected that requiring the legislature to approve MDE's plans at every stage would "emasculate" the state regulators. For other air pollution control programs already run by the MDE, it's normal for the agency to issue regulations -- for example, on ground level ozone or mercury -- that do not require General Assembly approval. 

 Sen. Paul Pinsky

Pinsky said that, even before the amendment, his bill already allowed for delaying action if it might cost jobs or drive businesses out of state. A prior amendment required the MDE to delay action until lawmakers had a chance to review its plans.

Sen. Charles M. Middleton, a Charles County Democrat, agreed that the amendment represented "micromanaging" MDE.  "We are the legislature. If we don't like what they do, we can change it," he said.

Liz Nelson of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters said today's amendment "certainly weakens the bill...It sets the targets without allowing the agency to be able to do what they need to do to get to the targets."

Sen. Norman R. Stone Jr., a Baltimore County Democrat with the Sparrows Point steel mill in his district, said he worried that if the bill passes, it could complicate efforts to sell the struggling plant. That could put its remaining 2,500 employees out of work, he argued.

Sen. Nancy Jacobs, a Harford County Republican, joined Stone in seeking the amendment.  She argued that "many, many scientists" do not agree that human activities are contributing to global warming.  "With the economy the way it is, we need to be protecting the economy just as much as we are the environment," she said.

But Pinsky pointed out that the overwhelming majority of climate scientists agreed that action was needed to reduce greenhouse gases.  He said he and others preferred a nationwide response to the threat, but the Bush administration has dragged its feet, so state action is needed until the federal government acts.

 Kim Coble, Maryland director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, called the Exum amendment "harmful" to the effort to curb greenhouse gases. "What the legislature voted on today was to strip MDE of its responsibilities, in many ways, by giving the legislature the responsibility of approving actions and programs that would normally be digested and approved by MDE.  It makes you wonder what's next."

Here's a list of the state senators who supported the weakening of the Global Warming Solutions Act:

Brinkley - R

Colburn - R

Currie - D

DeGrange - D 

Della - D

Dyson - D

Edwards - R

Exum - D

Forehand - D

Glassman - R

Greenip - R

Haines - R

Harris - R

Jacobs - R

Jones - D

Kelley - D

Kittleman - R

Klausmeier - D

Kramer - D

McFadden - D

Mooney - R

Munson - R

Pipkin - R

Pugh - D

Simonaire - R

Stofltzus - R

Stone - D

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Here's a list of the state senators who opposed the weakening of the bill:

Miller - D

Astle - D

Brochin - D

Conway - D

Frosh - D

Garagiola - D

Gladden - D

Harrington - D

Kasemeyer - D

King - D

Lenett - D

Madaleno - D

Middleton - D

Muse - D

Peters - D

Pinsky - D

Raskin - D

Robey - D

Rosapepe - D

Zirkin - D

Posted by Tom Pelton at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
                    

It may be unfair, but after you've been a newspaper reporter for a certain number of years, and you've written or read umpteen stories about a place (and been there a bunch of times, too), there are certain word associations you can't shake.

Mention a place, and a certain thing, or detail, or icon comes to mind.

You say Chesapeake City, I think canal.

You say Havre De Grace, I think ducks.

You say St. Michaels, and I think Dick Cheney (OK, that's recent - I used to think lighthouse)

You say Crisfield, and I can practically taste the Old Bay on my fingers.

So you say "Port Deposit," and I think "floods."

As I said, it may be unfair, but I associate the town on the banks of the Susquehanna with high water. Geographically, it's on these rocky bluffs overlooking the river. And every so often, there is a flood warning that the river water will rush through the dam and flood the town.

A deposit indeed, and an unwelcome one.

But maybe it's time to give this 19th century town another look. a bed and breakfast, Granite And Lace, opened recently, and if the pictures are anything to judge by, it looks indulgent. Every room has a jacuzzi bath. And the rates are a lot more affordable than some of the inns around here.

Mary Zajac of Chesapeake Life had a good weekend there, from the sounds of her piece in the mag recently:

All rooms have Jacuzzi baths, but since I have my choice, I pick the Hytheham Suite, a huge three-room space in the same vibrant green as the parlor. Birds are the botanical theme here. I find them on several lamps, in the fabric of the black upholstered couch that sits opposite the gas fireplace in the sitting area, and in the paneled screen that I wish I could take home with me. The bathroom is nearly as large as the sleeping area and contains not only the Jacuzzi, but a two-person shower. After dinner, we spend a few minutes on our covered porch before retiring to watch one of the suite’s two flat-screen plasma televisions.

One note of warning, however: While train enthusiasts might delight in sleeping approximately fifty feet from functioning railroad tracks, all but the heaviest sleepers should remember ear plugs, especially on Sunday nights when more than a half dozen freight trains pass through town.

Special Touches Aside from sweet touches like pillows wrapped in fabric bows like Christmas packages, each bedroom offers modern bathrooms with Jacuzzi baths, plasma screen televisions, and free Internet access.

What’s for Breakfast Just like the cheese plate that greets guests upon arrival, breakfasts at Granite and Lace are ample and very fine. We enjoyed a variety of fresh fruit, bacon, sausage patties, deliciously not-to-sweet orange pancakes, and a slice of frittata with spinach, feta, and sliced tomato—all on one plate. Judy also presented us with homemade apple strudel accented with almond. If you leave the table hungry, well, it might be time to reconsider your food intake.

Her sightseeing recommendations include the Paw Paw Museum for Civil War-era history and a hike to the top of the Naval Training Center to see the river.

Who knows? Maybe after your next trip, you'll hear Port Deposit and think "Darn trains-I can't stop that ringing in my ears!"

Posted by Rona Kobell at 5:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Scott Harper of the Virginian Pilot writes this morning about the largest yet known pervious parking lot.

The parking lot, which will serve an expansion of the Prime Outlets shopping mall in Williamsburg, is advertised as "the largest pervious concrete project in the United States," one that covers 7 acres of Earth with this environment-friendly building material.

The lot is larger and more complex than others in Pennsylvania, Arizona and California, as well as an eco-friendly commuter parking lot at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, officials said.

Harper describes the pavement as like rice krispie treats -- porous enough to let water pass through. An interesting idea.

Posted by Rona Kobell at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Check out these maps in the Washington Post of the arctic ice cover.

They remind me of the maps in Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth book.

They were taken by NASA satellites, and they show the "steepest decline yet" in the melting ice.

The BLDG BLOG has a nice post on it, too. By the way, the blogger and author, Geoff Manaugh, will be speaking tonight at MICA. You can get there wheres and whens of it on his blog.

Posted by Rona Kobell at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Maryland Weather blogger, science writer extraordinaire and all-around good guy Frank Roylance has a really interesting story in today's Sun about disposing of those environmentally friendly hazardous bulbs that have become al lthe rage lately.

The environmental regulators have a whole list of precautions to take should one of these bulbs break; they have a small amount of mercury in them.

I had no idea. Who would have thought it would be a good idea to wear a survival suit just to change a lightbulb?

Perhaps Allegheny Power should have taken that into consideration when they mailed out all those bulbs, then charged people for them, a few months back. they were, in fact, the same sort of bulbs, and reporter Liz Kay tells me that they did casue problems when they broke at post offices in Western Maryland. And, I'm sure, sent people panicking.

Posted by Rona Kobell at 2:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

 TUGBOAT WRECK IN CURTIS BAY

I had an essay about Baltimore's secret ship graveyard on the radio today as part of my regular "Environment in Focus" program on WYPR.  I've also written in The Sun about the wrecks in Curtis Bay and the Patapsco River, and how many have become thriving habitats for birds and fish.  Some of this weird landscape is now being cleaned up as the state builds a new marine terminal and public park.

A few listeners to today's radio program wanted to see photos of what I described.  So for those interested, here are some pictures taken by The Sun's Jerry Jackson. 

Posted by Tom Pelton at 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Posted by Rona Kobell at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Apologies to loyal (and even occasional) readers for the blogging slowdown. I have been out for a couple of days, and was totally swamped today.

I did want to share with you a cool link I just discovered to a fairly lively discussion on crabs. This site, Blue Crab Info, also has nice photos and graphics of the life cycle and other things. I think we reprinted (with permission) one of their drawings a couple of years ago.

As we know, Maryland and Virginia are mulliing crab restrictions. How bold will they be? We don't know yet. We'll have to wait a few more weeks to see what the states propose.

With luck, the blogging will continue tomorrow....Chesapeake bay news never seems to stop.

Posted by Rona Kobell at 5:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

The South River Federation and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation are standing together to challenge a Board of Public Works decision that allowed a channel to be dredged off the South River.

The channel would give the property owners deep-water access. It would be 470 feet long, 15 foot wide, and three feet deep.

“No channel has ever existed here,” said South Riverkeeper Drew Koslow. “The applicants should not receive a permit to damage a natural site that has not been dredged before just because they desire deep water access that has not existed previously.”

This week's destination, Havre de Grace, is not something you have to spend a long time planning. For Baltimore residents, the drive is about 45 minutes; and likely some of you are even closer. It's just off I-95 as you're heading north and is known for the Maryland House rest stops nearby.

For that reason, a lot of people might not consider the Harford County city a day-trip, or even a destination. More like a suburb being rapidly absorbed by neighboring golf courses and condos that, a la Kent Island, seem to extend into the bay in defiance of tides and gravity.

But I would urge another look. This small town's harbor is still a great place to watch ducks, have a nice meal and tour a few doable attractions. True, Havre de Grace doesn't get the canvasbacks that it used to, but even run-of-the-mill waterfowl are beautiful to watch as they sun themselves on the beaches of the Susquehanna. This is, after all, where the Susquehanna meets the Chesapeake Bay, and it has a rich history of duck-hunting and fishing.

If it's ducks that float your boat, try the Decoy Museum, which boast a small but excellent collection of carved decoy ducks. Check their web site for carving demonstrations. The town's maritime museum tells the hsitory of the proud town. The Concord Point Lighthouse is the oldest continuously operated light in Maryland, and offers spectacular water views. Check here for its hours.

And Havre De grace has one of the state's last remaining skipjacks, the Martha Lewis.

Ask an old-timer in town about Tropical Storm Agnes, and you will probably get an earful on what happened to the Susquehanna Flat's lush grassbeds, which were food for the legendary ducks and also key habitat for the blue crab. The grasses have made a comeback in recent years, though they are not what the old-timers remember.

I regret I never made it to the Crazy Swede restaurant, which now appears to be out of business. But even without it, the town seems to have no shortage of dining options. Here's a list of them.

Havre de Grace is one of those places I always mean to go back to, because my trips there have been brief. Now that it's warm out, I imagine we'll be going there soon.

(Baltimore Sun photo)

Posted by Rona Kobell at 1:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

I wish I could say I was astute enough to figure this out myself, but alas, it was bayblog's readers (and some of my regular sources) who alerted me to this interesting development:

Judge Dale R. Cathell wrote the Appeals Court decision yesterday that master plans for growth in counties are not binding, thus paving the way for the 4,300-home Terrapin Run Project in Western Maryland. Here is what he said, according to the Sun's Tim Wheeler:

Cathell, writing for the majority, said that "the use of the words 'conform' and 'visions' were never intended by the legislature to impose absolute requirements on local governments in their practices involving their local land use programs."

Cathell, a native of Berlin who has been on the highest court since 1997, has not been environmentalists' favorite judge. Here's an abbreviated timeline of the land-use decisions he has written during his time on the bench:

(Unless otherwise noted, all of this information came from Sun stories, past and present) 

1998:  The Maryland Court of Appeals upheld a Harford County judge's decision to strike an anti-growth initiative from the Nov. 3 ballot.The seven-judge panel issued an order affirming a lower court decision to dismiss a proposed charter amendment that would have frozen development for a year in the fast-growing county.

Judge Cathell joined some of the other judges in questioning whether the voters shouldn't simply elect representatives who would tighten controls on growth rather than amend the county's charter.

   "Whatever happened to the traditional way these battles were fought between environmentalists and developers?" the judge asked. "You kick their bums out [of elected office], and after four or six years they kick your bums out."

1998:  Maryland's highest court cleared the way for the development of 103 acres on the southwestern edge of Annapolis as an upscale subdivision of 200 homes.The Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that the city did not violate state law when it annexed the property owned by Chrisland Corp., even if it isolated a section of county land south of the parcel on the Annapolis Neck Peninsula.

Anne Arundel County had contended that state law barred the annexation because it would create an island of county land off Bywater Road near Forest Drive.

   Cathell wrote for the unanimous court that the isolated peninsula "remains contiguous the remainder of Anne Arundel County" because it is bordered on three sides by county waterways.   "Anne Arundel County includes all of the waterways that surround the remainder of the Bywater Peninsula," he wrote.

 2002- Maryland's highest court ruled that restrictions and benefits of property ownership are conveyed to the new owner with the deed, including the past owner's right to ask for and possibly receive relief from environmental protections that limit construction.

   The Court of Appeals said a local land-use panel was wrong to say that Anne Arundel County builder Richaer Roeser created his own hardship by buying land that he knew fell under numerous restrictions enacted while the previous owner held the property.

"When title is transferred, it takes with it all the encumbrances and burdens that attach to title; but it also takes with it all the benefits and rights inherent in ownership," Cathell wrote for the unanimous court.

(Bayblog note: This case was noted in Environment Maryland's report as one of the worst Critical Area Law violations.)

2003: Maryland's highest court ruled on the side of a wealthy sportsman's bid to keep a hunting lodge and cabins that he built without permission on a remote Nanticoke River island.

 In a 4-3 vote, the Court of Appeals told Wicomico County officials to reconsider their refusal to grant a variance that would allow the cedar-shingled buildings - put up without local, state or federal permits - to remain within the 100-foot "critical area" buffer of the bay and its tributaries."The landowner, Edwin H. Lewis, an avid hunter, art collector and pilot who made his fortune as an executive with the Tommy Hilfiger apparel company and other manufacturers, failed three years ago to persuade the county's zoning appeals board to allow two of the buildings to remain in the environmentally sensitive zone.

    The state's Chesapeake Bay Critical Areas Commission, which has monitored local rules on waterfront development since 1984, opposed Lewis in a three-year battle that began before Wicomico's planning and zoning appeals boards, then moved to the courts.

    The Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that county officials had failed to muster enough evidence to show that Lewis' request for a variance should be denied. 

    In a 52-page decision written by Cathell, the Wicomico zoning appeals board was chastised for misinterpreting two recent court decisions.

    "Although we normally defer to an administrative agency's decision regarding the facts of a hearing, we do not defer to the agency when it has committed an error of law," Cathell wrote.

(Bayblog note; the Lewis case has been mentioned by both environmentalists and regulators as one of the most flagrant violations of the law; it resulted in the General Assembly's tightening up of the law in past session, and remains in lawmakers' minds as they continue to push for a stronger law. It was also on Environment Maryland's list of violations.)

Posted by Rona Kobell at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)