Planning commission backs Caroline Materials expansion, recommends reduced setback and screening limits

The Caroline County Planning & Zoning Commission voted to recommend preliminary approval of a major site plan for Caroline Materials LLC, asking the county Board of Zoning Appeals to permit a reduction of the county’s 200-foot setback to 75 feet for the applicant’s planned 14.99-acre expansion of an existing gravel pit on Harmony Road.

The recommendation, made after a staff presentation and a description of the operation by the applicant’s engineer, directs the BZA to consider the setback modification along with conditions that include limits on screening operations and continued monitoring of an existing discharge. Chair Jeff Jackson led the meeting and announced the motion; the commission carried it by voice vote.

Staff told the commission the expansion would bring the pit to about 93.26 acres and noted the county’s 200-foot setback for mineral-extraction facilities was adopted in 2018. County staff advised the commission that setback modifications are reviewed by the planning commission and then decided by the BZA for special-use or major site-plan expansions. The staff report also noted several plan corrections that must be supplied for the record, including showing residential structures within 1,000 feet on the plan set.

The applicant’s team described the existing tree buffer along Route 16 and argued the site is already well screened. “The site is well buffered,” said Sean Callahan of Flint Engineering while showing photographs of 20–25-year-old vegetation along the property lines. The applicant’s owner, Rick Breeding, said the operation uses dry screening (not a wash plant) and that the facility has had a state permit for discharge; he added the operation provides monthly testing results to the state. “It’s all dry screen,” Breeding said.

Commissioners pressed staff and the applicant about historical conditions and the 2005 approvals that established prior buffering. Commissioners referenced two conditions from the earlier approval that restrict wash plants and require stormwater management and sediment controls; the applicant said they would address monitoring reports and any plan edits when they return to the BZA.

A motion recommending preliminary site-plan approval and asking the BZA to allow a setback reduction to 75 feet, to permit screening operations up to three days per week, and to require continued monitoring of water discharge passed by voice vote. The transcript indicates one commissioner recused from the item; the remaining commissioners voted in favor and the commission concluded the motion "carries." The commission noted the BZA meeting is scheduled for September 30 at 6 p.m., and the applicant and staff said they would supply the BZA application and updated monitoring documentation ahead of that hearing.

The planning commission’s recommendation does not itself change the county’s setback rules; it is a referral and recommendation to the Board of Zoning Appeals, which must decide whether to grant the variance/modification and impose any conditions.

What happens next: the applicant will submit materials to the BZA and the county will forward the recommendation and any staff conditions to the appeals board for a formal determination.