WEST OCEAN CITY— Assateague Coastal Trust has filed a Petition For Judicial Review in the Worcester County Circuit Court to appeal the Oct. 10 Worcester County Board of Zoning Appeals Atlantic Coastal Bays Critical Area variance granted for the construction of a 190-foot elevated walkway across private and state owned wetlands adjacent to Old Bridge Road in West Ocean City.
“The BZA in its written opinion has failed to meet the criteria mandated by law in the granting of a Critical Area variance,” said Kathy Phillips, Executive Director of Assateague Coastal Trust and Assateague COASTKEEPER. “This variance sets a dangerous precedent not only for further impacts to this… vibrant marsh… but the language in the BZA Findings of Fact on this particular case could threaten the remaining wetlands and marshes within the Critical Area throughout Worcester County with greater development,” she said.
“This case just doesn’t meet the standards for a variance,” said Robin R. Cockey, of Cockey, Brennan and Maloney of Salisbury, the firm retained by ACT to represent them in this appeal.
“If the rationale in this case were applied generally, everybody’d get a variance, everybody’d build a long pier, and the law would become meaningless.”
Assateague Coastal Trust does not argue against a property owner’s riparian rights, however, all agencies involved have stretched the limits in order to grant approval of permits that should not be granted under the law. Further, it requires Maryland Deparment of Environment (MDE) and the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) to conduct periodic inspections for three years to assure the conditions of the permit are followed, adding to the burden on MDE and local authorities.
Concerns raised at the hearing that MDE and ACE lack the resources to monitor this project were deflected by the Commission, which commented that Coastkeepers could monitor the site.
“The commission has a mandate to protect the environmental and navigational interests of our local waterways. While Assateague Coastal Trust works hard to supplement those efforts, citizen groups like ours are not intended to bear that whole burden,” Phillips said. “This is reflective of why we have these legal standards, how this variance violates Worcester County zoning law, and why BZA or the courts need to step in to make this right.”
“The BZA in its written opinion has failed to meet the criteria mandated by law in the granting of a Critical Area variance,” said Kathy Phillips, Executive Director of Assateague Coastal Trust and Assateague COASTKEEPER. “This variance sets a dangerous precedent not only for further impacts to this… vibrant marsh… but the language in the BZA Findings of Fact on this particular case could threaten the remaining wetlands and marshes within the Critical Area throughout Worcester County with greater development,” she said.
“This case just doesn’t meet the standards for a variance,” said Robin R. Cockey, of Cockey, Brennan and Maloney of Salisbury, the firm retained by ACT to represent them in this appeal.
“If the rationale in this case were applied generally, everybody’d get a variance, everybody’d build a long pier, and the law would become meaningless.”
Assateague Coastal Trust does not argue against a property owner’s riparian rights, however, all agencies involved have stretched the limits in order to grant approval of permits that should not be granted under the law. Further, it requires Maryland Deparment of Environment (MDE) and the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) to conduct periodic inspections for three years to assure the conditions of the permit are followed, adding to the burden on MDE and local authorities.
Concerns raised at the hearing that MDE and ACE lack the resources to monitor this project were deflected by the Commission, which commented that Coastkeepers could monitor the site.
“The commission has a mandate to protect the environmental and navigational interests of our local waterways. While Assateague Coastal Trust works hard to supplement those efforts, citizen groups like ours are not intended to bear that whole burden,” Phillips said. “This is reflective of why we have these legal standards, how this variance violates Worcester County zoning law, and why BZA or the courts need to step in to make this right.”