What’s Going on with MDE Violation Notices at the End of Cross Road in Oyster Harbor
On October 5, 2023, the Maryland Department of the Environment and the State Attorney General signed a settlement agreement and consent order with OHCA which gives our community one year to remove unauthorized landfill that OHCA’s previous President (2013-2022) had placed on OHCA and Fishing Creek Farm property at the west end of Cross Road. The agreement requires immediate payment of a $5,000 fine but suspends $34,000 of a total $39,000 fine pending satisfactory restoration of the wetlands by OHCA’s contractor, Underwood & Associates, before October 4, 2024. Under the agreement, OHCA is no longer responsible for removing the fill placed on property belonging to a private, non-resident owner who refused OHCA access to his land and appealed the MDE’s violation notices, thus delaying OHCA’s remediation efforts for a year and greatly increasing our costs (including legal fees, fines, and regulatory costs).
