Incinerator project hits snag

Plans for building an incinerator to be shared by Carroll and Frederick counties are being held up by a local review board that denied its approval.

According to The Associated Press, the Frederick County Planning Commission has found the waste-to-energy incinerator project inconsistent with the county’s comprehensive plan. The commission’s objections focused on the visual impact of an incinerator and smokestack near the Monocacy National Battlefield and the scenic Monocacy River.

Both counties’ boards of commissioners have voted to approve the project, which is expected to cost a total of $500 million and would be capable of burning 1,500 tons of trash per day. The project is now in the design and permitting phase.

Mike Evans, Carroll County’s public works director, said he was surprised about the Frederick County Planning Commission’s decision. Evans said the Frederick Board of County Commissioners had already determined at one of its meetings that that the height of the incinerator’s smokestack would be no higher than the existing Essroc smokestack that is already in the viewscape of Monocacy National Battlefield.

“I think it’s a bump in the road, [but] I don’t think it stops anything,” Evans said of the Frederick County Planning Commission decision.

Evans said the incinerator project won’t have any problems with any Carroll comprehensive plan, which can only regulate land use in Carroll, since the incinerator would be built in Frederick County.

The Frederick Board of County Commissioners are considering several possibilities for reversing the decision, including an appeal to the Frederick County Circuit Court, according to AP.

Don West, of Westminster, a leader of an incinerator opposition group in Carroll, said he hopes the Frederick County Planning Commission decision will be upheld and attract more attention to the issue.

“I view it as cooler heads are prevailing, hopefully,” West said.