The Worcester County Commissioners are vehemently opposing Maryland Department of the Environment officials’ favorable recommendation to issue US Wind a wetlands permit for the construction of a pier and bulkhead on Harbor Road in West Ocean City.
The lot where Martin Fish Company currently sits in West Ocean City is the proposed site of a US Wind operations and maintenance facility.
File photo
By Bethany Hooper, Associate Editor
County officials say they will do everything they can to oppose US Wind’s wetlands permit application.
The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) recently announced it would forward a favorable recommendation to issue US Wind a wetlands permit for the construction of a pier and bulkhead on Harbor Road in West Ocean City. With the application now advancing to the Maryland Board of Public Works for final approval, commissioners this week agreed to make their opposition known.
“This is detrimental to our commercial fishing harbor,” Commissioner Joe Mitrecic said.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Environmental Programs Director Bob Mitchell provided the Worcester County Commissioners with an update on a wetlands permit application that US Wind had submitted to the state. The company plans to construct a pier and replacement bulkhead at 12929 and 12933 Harbor Road for the development of an operations and maintenance facility.
“Essentially, the granting of this license is going to initiate property transfers that are going to foreclose on the last two buy operations in the harbor,” Mitchell said. “The county commissioners established the Commercial Marine District to protect the industry.”
Mitchell told commissioners that while the Maryland Department of the Environment had responded to technical and environmental concerns raised during the public comment process, it had failed to consider the economic impact an operations and maintenance facility would have on commercial fishing. He added that MDE’s response to comments collected during its review of the application also referenced the development of a “fisheries compensation agreement,” for which there had been no outreach.
“There’s no compensation, there’s been no outreach, and there’s been no communications for anything related to the harbor,” he said.
Mitchell said he had drafted a letter of opposition to send to the Maryland Board of Public Works, a three-member body that includes the governor, treasurer and comptroller. Mitrecic, however, said he also wanted to speak in opposition before the state board.
“They’re comparing this to any other bulkhead project, which is like no other bulkhead project that this county has ever seen,” he said. “I would say that we need to send a letter, and I would like permission to go to the Board of Public Works meeting and testify against it when that happens.”
Mitrecic said proposed operations and maintenance would hurt Worcester County’s commercial fishing harbor. Commissioner Eric Fiori agreed.
“You know, for the state to come in and trump all our local codes, it’s just outlandish,” he said. “I mean, just unbelievable.”
Commissioner Chip Bertino suggested all commissioners attend the Board of Public Works meeting to oppose the application. The commissioners ultimately supported a motion “to throw everything at it we possibly can.”
“We need to turn this down,” Mitrecic said. “This is in our county. We ought to be able to fight this …”
As proposed, US Wind’s operations and maintenance facility will serve as the primary location for planning and coordinating wind turbine and offshore substation operations for US Wind’s offshore wind projects, to be located off the coast of Ocean City.
According to company officials, the facility will feature an onshore office, marine coordination center and warehouse space, as well as quayside and berthing areas for its crew transfer vessels. To moor its vessels at the proposed site, US Wind has planned upgrades to the existing pier structure.
In its report to the Board of Public Works, the Maryland Department of the Environment last week issued a favorable recommendation to approve US Wind’s wetlands permit application. The agency reports it had received oral testimony from 43 individuals at a March public hearing, with 40 in opposition to the project and three in favor. The agency also received 202 emails and seven letters, with 119 in opposition, 81 in support and three neutral. The department reports 37 of the 119 correspondences in opposition were specific to the wetlands application.
“After reviewing the proposed activities, the Department determined that the applicant, US Wind Inc., is within its riparian rights to construct a 353 foot long by 30 foot wide concrete pier with associated timber fenders, all with a maximum of 30 feet channelward of the mean high water line; and construct 383 linear feet of replacement steel bulkhead within a maximum of 18 inches channelward of the mean high water line,” MDE’s R. Miles Simmons said in a statement last week. “The Department has determined that the proposed pier and bulkhead are consistent with State law and regulations and are a reasonable exercise of riparian rights to allow for reasonable access to State waters and protect the shoreline from erosion.”