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Board allows Caroline Materials expansion with reduced setback, monitored discharge and limits on screening and truckloads
Summary
Caroline County’s Board of Zoning Appeals approved Caroline Materials LLC’s special-use request to expand an existing sand-and-gravel mine at 8650 Harmony Road, granting a reduction from a 200-foot property-line setback to a 75-foot buffer, allowing limited dry-screening days, monitored water discharge, and an average of 16 truckloads per day.
The Caroline County Board of Zoning Appeals on Oct. 15 approved an application by Caroline Materials LLC to expand the Breeding tract mining operation at 8650 Harmony Road, granting setback relief and several operational conditions.
Staff told the board that the mine has a long permitting history at the state level — MDE records go back to the 1970s — and that the planning commission had reviewed and recommended positive action on certain modifications, including reduction of the 200-foot setback to 75 feet in the areas identified by staff. The application asked the board to modify condition 10 (which previously prohibited screening/conveyors/screens), condition 17 (which prohibited discharge), and to allow a reduced setback for parts of the proposed expansion.
Rick Breeding, who testified as a principal of Caroline Materials LLC, described the operation’s history and said the company had maintained a planted 75-foot screen buffer since 2005. “We have a sediment pond and an outfall pipe,” Breeding said; company testing records from Envirocore presented to the board showed total suspended solids (TSS) sampling from 2019 through 2024 below the permit’s monthly limit. Lane Engineering’s Sean Callahan, representing the applicant, described the proposed layout and said the expanded area is closer to Route 16 and further from Watts Creek than existing active faces.
Opponents raised environmental and neighborhood concerns, citing Watts Creek and the local watershed, the potential for extreme storms and pond overflow, water use for dust control and long-term effects on property values. “This is adjacent to a sensitive environmental area; it’s right by Watts Creek,” resident Jesse Moschner said during public comment, urging the board to require an environmental impact review.
Staff and the applicant pointed to MDE oversight: Kaczynski and Callahan said MDE issues and enforces the surface-mining permit and conducts inspections and that Caroline Materials has monitoring records and a recent clean compliance inspection on file. William Turner, a certified general appraiser offered by the applicant, testified that he found no measurable adverse effect on comparable property values from nearby mining operations based on his analysis of recent sales.
After deliberation the board approved the requested modifications with explicit conditions: reduce the 200-foot property-line setback to 75 feet where planning staff and the planning commission recommended; allow up to three days per week of dry screening; continue the monitoring and reporting of any discharge to ensure compliance with MDE limits (modification to condition 17); cap average truck traffic at 16 loads per day (with procedures for project-specific temporary increases); and keep hours of operation as currently permitted. The board additionally asked for a gate at the new Route 16 entrance and that the applicant follow the full set of staff and planning commission recommendations.
The decision requires the applicant to return to the planning commission for final site-plan approvals and to provide any required state permits to the county before a zoning certificate or building permit issues.
