Posted on October 30, 2024
A Pennsylvania-based concrete masonry company with a spotty environmental track record in Maryland’s Cecil County is facing fierce community resistance over its latest expansion plans there.
York Building Products is seeking to mine sand and gravel on a wooded 342-acre parcel perched on a peninsula between the mouths of the Susquehanna and North East rivers. Company officials say they plan to mine only 90 acres of the property.
Dozens of neighbors have joined a Facebook group against the project and decried the plans in person at local meetings. An online petition opposing the expansion has collected more than 1,000 signatures.
They fear the expansion will hurt property values, overload the rural road network with dump truck traffic and unleash muddy stormwater runoff into ditches and streams that lead to the nearby Chesapeake Bay.
York Building Products, a subsidiary of the construction and materials conglomerate the Stewart Companies, has operated mines in Cecil for decades. Although the company reclaims the properties afterward, some neighbors say they aren’t always happy with the results and that enough is enough.
“They constantly just take small bites out of the environment to the point you don’t even notice that you don’t have an environment anymore,” said Frank Reynolds, who lives in nearby Perryville. “They know how to play the game. They’ve been doing it for years. They’re very good at it.”
State records show York has been fined more than $180,000 at other Cecil sites related to environmental violations dating back to 2015.
Company representatives didn’t return phone or email messages seeking comments. But York officials have told the county that no mining will take place within 1,000 feet of any other property and that they will construct berms to deaden the noise. The county, they note, has already slated the property for mining activities.
The ongoing mining at the Perryville plant supports 500 direct and indirect employees, according to the company. Once the material there is extracted, York plans to transfer operations to the new site in three to five years. Excavation is expected to occur there for up to 20 years.
The company also will need to acquire a state mining permit before any work begins.
The Cecil County Planning Commission voted to approve the project in August, but the county’s Board of Appeals tabled its decision a week later, pointing to traffic concerns. Trucks would access the property using a road that narrows to a single lane in an underpass beneath railroad tracks. York estimates that 87 trucks a day would use the road.
The appeals board set a Jan. 16, 2025, deadline for York officials to return with a plan to ensure those trucks don’t pose a safety hazard.
Darlene McCall, another neighbor, said she has alerted state officials on at least two occasions to environmental violations committed by York at its existing mine nearby. In one instance nearly a decade ago, she recalled spotting silt-laden water flowing down a creek away from its existing mine in Perryville.
“It was like chocolate milk flowing into the creek, and it flowed that way for two weeks,” McCall said.
The Maryland Department of the Environment fined York $30,000 in 2017 for one violation. Four years later, the agency cited the company again for a similar problem, assessing another $30,000 penalty. Such actions suggest that York doesn’t prioritize environmental protection, McCall said.
“They’re based in Pennsylvania, and they don’t care what happens here,” she said.
The company has been fined four times this year alone for violations at its Port Deposit site.
“These guys continually get fined, but there’s no recourse,” said Charlie Boyle, who also lives near the proposed mine expansion. “They pay their fine, and then it’s business as usual.”
