Howard County hearing examines DPZ closeout letter after W.R. Grace proposes pilot plastics recycling unit

Howard County’s zoning hearing examiner heard testimony April 29 in an administrative appeal by Aidan and Sarah Morrell challenging a Department of Planning and Zoning (DPZ) closeout letter dated Sept. 13, 2024, that concluded no zoning violation existed at W.R. Grace’s campus in relation to an applicant-submitted permit for a pilot-scale plastics conversion process. Appellants argued the pilot process is materially different from the site’s long-standing research-and-development (R&D) nonconforming use and should have prompted closer DPZ review; the county’s director of planning and zoning said the agency based its closeout on an inspection of existing on-site operations.

The appeal matters because DPZ’s closeout letter is the agency’s formal determination that no unlawful change or extension of use had occurred; appellants say DPZ’s review was limited to a broad label of “research and development” instead of a fact-specific evaluation of activities, emissions risk and whether the pilot process is an enlargement or change in the character of use that triggers zoning review. The hearing record includes technical testimony about facility operations, air-permit review, human-health risks and the county’s zoning rules for nonconforming uses.

Key facts from the hearing: - The appeal challenges DPZ’s Sept. 13, 2024 closeout letter (referenced in the record) regarding Building 30 at the W.R. Grace site and a permit application to the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE). Appellants cited an MDE permit referenced in the record (permit number shown in materials as 27013A). The appeal hearing was the second day of proceedings and the parties agreed to file written legal memoranda after the evidentiary record closed.

- DPZ Director Linda Eisenberg…