Baltimore County details PCB testing, stormwater work and reforestation needs in CIP briefing

Horacio Tablada, director of the Baltimore County Department of Environmental Protection and Sustainability, told the Planning Board Subcommittee on the Capital Improvement Budget and Program that the departmentis prioritizing permit compliance, contaminated-sediment testing and traditional watershed work in its capital request.

Tablada said the countyis working under its MS4 permit with the Maryland Department of the Environment and that the permit"was last issued in November 2021. It will be renewed in 2026," making permit compliance a chief driver of capital spending. He described the federal Chesapeake Bay TMDL obligations as the umbrella goal that ties local restoration and stormwater projects together.

The department described four core capital categories: stream restoration, shoreline stabilization, stormwater best-management-practice (BMP) improvements and reforestation, plus a separate sustainability unit that reviews building energy performance and EV charging placement. Since the 1990s, Tablada said the county has completed dozens of projects: 106 stream-restoration projects through fiscal year 2025 at a stated county cost of about $177,000,000; 42 shoreline projects costing roughly…