Written by Jeff Montgomery
Delaware's top environmental officer has rejected plans for a private sewage-treatment plant that would serve a long-disputed, 132-home development just west of Leipsic in an unprecedented ruling that has triggered both an appeal and a civil rights challenge.
Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Collin P. O'Mara said in his opinion that a proposed 39,600 gallon-per-day wastewater plant for The Landings was "contrary to sound environmental policies" and "will enable intensive development to occur in an environmentally sensitive area" outside Delaware's targeted growth zones.
Developer Tony Ashburn & Son Inc. and the 342-acre parcel's owners appealed the decision to the state's Environmental Appeals Board last week, then went one step further by filing a due-process lawsuit against O'Mara and Deputy Secretary David Small in Superior Court.
Both were accused of "corrupt and contemptuous conduct" in handling the permit application, leaving the project "doomed."
The appeal, filed by attorney John W. Paradee, said O'Mara had rejected the on-site wastewater permit application without justification or precedent, in an apparent attempt to overrule Kent County's approval of The Landings despite its location in a low-growth area near riverside marshland.
"It is notable that this basis for denial is not based on any particular state law or DNREC regulation," the appeal said.
Kent County reversed its stand and approved the project after Superior Court overturned an initial county rejection in 2006. That first decision was prompted by the same sprawl issues cited by O'Mara, and opposition from residents in nearby Leipsic.
O'Mara, Ashburn's appeal claims, based his denial of a wastewater plant permit partly on assertions that sea levels could rise by 5 feet over the next century, permanently flooding fringe areas of the plant and exposing more of the plant and community to temporary flooding from storm surges and high tides.
DNREC issued a policy last year requiring all programs and permit reviews to consider "the potential effect of coastal inundation" and sea-level rise.
Delaware's top environmental officer has rejected plans for a private sewage-treatment plant that would serve a long-disputed, 132-home development just west of Leipsic in an unprecedented ruling that has triggered both an appeal and a civil rights challenge.
Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Collin P. O'Mara said in his opinion that a proposed 39,600 gallon-per-day wastewater plant for The Landings was "contrary to sound environmental policies" and "will enable intensive development to occur in an environmentally sensitive area" outside Delaware's targeted growth zones.
Developer Tony Ashburn & Son Inc. and the 342-acre parcel's owners appealed the decision to the state's Environmental Appeals Board last week, then went one step further by filing a due-process lawsuit against O'Mara and Deputy Secretary David Small in Superior Court.
Both were accused of "corrupt and contemptuous conduct" in handling the permit application, leaving the project "doomed."
The appeal, filed by attorney John W. Paradee, said O'Mara had rejected the on-site wastewater permit application without justification or precedent, in an apparent attempt to overrule Kent County's approval of The Landings despite its location in a low-growth area near riverside marshland.
"It is notable that this basis for denial is not based on any particular state law or DNREC regulation," the appeal said.
Kent County reversed its stand and approved the project after Superior Court overturned an initial county rejection in 2006. That first decision was prompted by the same sprawl issues cited by O'Mara, and opposition from residents in nearby Leipsic.
O'Mara, Ashburn's appeal claims, based his denial of a wastewater plant permit partly on assertions that sea levels could rise by 5 feet over the next century, permanently flooding fringe areas of the plant and exposing more of the plant and community to temporary flooding from storm surges and high tides.
DNREC issued a policy last year requiring all programs and permit reviews to consider "the potential effect of coastal inundation" and sea-level rise.
http://www.DelawareOnline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201102130345/NEWS02/102130341
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