Regarding the letter to the editor Jan 4 2022 by Calvin Yowell. I have to say needs clarification, and Boy do I disagree with the good faith comments Mr Yowell made in his letter.

In my 18 years experience of wrestling this Rocks, Rauch developer on this very project in Trappe, there isn’t a glimpse of good faith this developer has come forward with. In my experience, it’s always a constant and slick barrage of revisions with the developers rights and responsibility agreements, always his lawyers weaseling out of prior agreements and responsibilities, Always pushing the edge of what they can get away with. Always looking to take advantage of action with no defenses. Very disingenuous indeed.

If you attended or sat in on the last Dan Watson presentation to Talbot County council you will have witnessed Dan’s summary of the misrepresentations this developer and Maryland department of Environment have brought to this ill fated project. You will not be struck by sincerity and straightforward goodness from the developer but rather untruths and misrepresentations. Mr Yowell must not be following closely. It was a shocking litany of horrors and missteps.

If you go back to look at the 2006 “ Fodor report” which was created by a forensic accounting firm hired to look into how the developer structured the annexation of property to the town of Trappe and it’s proposed  “special tax district”, the developer went as far as to create a special exemption tax zone for the new village area where taxes are not charged or linked to the same rate as in town taxes , ( in effect creating a new town within an old town but not sharing the fiscal responsibilities within) you will see what amounts to complete disingenuous and very questionable developer behavior. This much is fully known by forensic experts who do Know what they are talking about. Do we question the credentials of an accounting company and trust them less than we trust the developer. That’s a hardy no from me. I’d suggest that accountants know as much about tax evasion as does any developer and can spot a rotten egg when they see one. They sure saw a rotten one in 2006.

So I fully reject this developer has acted in good faith and if you believe that , you haven’t been following this project very long. In fact the letter Calvin Yowell wrote looks a lot like a plea for developers rights and I’m surprised more readers of the Talbot Spy haven’t been thoroughly outraged.

Not to make to big a complaint here about the article / letter, I think there are a few good points and quite as many bad points to be made. I’m well aware that growth must be accommodated. Good design will bring prosperity to a region. Yes, the entire project should be re-evaluated. Yes, the developer should not be allowed to hook up to a failed wastewater system. Yes, MDE should be held in contempt of its own environmental laws. And Yes, developers deserve the right to create good local communities , but if you look at the plan for Lakeside, it’s not a community, It’s suburban sprawl and it’s exactly the kind of thing the 2016 county comprehensive plan tries desperately to prohibit. In the discussions with Talbot County, it was obvious the development was way out of character. Four story Mid rise apartment buildings clustered around a lake with paddle boats and a yacht club does not define a idyllic waterfront Chesapeake community to me. It speaks more of a Florida coastal resort or Reston Virginia. I think the developer should just simply retire having done enough damage to our area. Easton club east isn’t a model community in any stretch of the imagination.

But Mr Yowell does not mention the things the developer has neglected to provide namely because these items that make a development a community that developer has omitted , are not profitable, they diminish profit, yet that part is essential to creating community. That would be a failure of the developer to provide anything that resembles an adequate public facility Plan.

Once delivered the 2500 development houses, a full sized town, where’s the no public facilities: no post office, no churches, no parks , no schools, no town hall, no firehouse, etc etc not just water and sewer , only the most basic of utilities are provided and nothing else.

If these essential public services are not provided for, local taxes will have to go up to pay for their Construction. You simply can’t build a full sized town with no functional center. The developers sleight of hand here pretends that this really isn’t a town, it’s a bedroom community, and shouldn’t need these community facilities.

But actually, the proposed physical fully built out PUD is actually eight times the size of the existing town 300 house town. Amazingly the existing town has more essential public facilities in place now than the developer provides with his 8 times expansion plan. You can only imagine how overtaxed the school system will be, the roads will be, how thoroughly unlivable this project will be. And once realized the developer will have vanished.

So the community facility aspect of this is dreadfully lacking. And it’s intentionally omitted and it’s also because the town of Trappe has not demanded it as they should. One wonders why they haven’t.

Anyway, Talbot county is the last emergency brake for this pending horrific sprawl development. We shouldn’t feel a tinge of sorry or regrets for a developer with very deep pockets from northern Virginia coming spreading suburban legacy in a place where it’s not wanted and least of all needed. That’s really the least of our worries. His greed has literally boxed himself into this current county versus developer predicament.

Yes, Mr Yowell, We need to start over completely, and drive some sense into this horrible plAnned unit development. I’ll go that far. But feel sorry for an exploited developer , nope, not a chance.

Jay Corvan
Trappe

Based on a Star-Democrat article on December 15th, Resolution 313 is not the right answer to the myriad of problems associated with the Lakeside development project. 

One paragraph in the article reads: Price’s amendment would require that any new connections from Lakeside to the existing Trappe waste-water system are subject to the town’s system not having any existing enforcement actions, consent orders or violations from the Maryland Department of the Environment. 

The above is the essence of option #2 in the resolution. Option #1 is seemly overlooked in the article. The identified options are: 

1) a modular ENR MBR WWTP, capable of operating the initial development flow rates; or 

2) by a direct connection to the existing Town of Trappe wastewater system. Any new connections to the existing WWTP are subject to the existing WWTP not having any outstanding MDE enforcement actions, consent orders, or violations.  …  

Note the wording in the first sentence of Option #2: the existing WWTP not having any outstanding MDE enforcement actions, consent orders, or violations.  So, if MDE is not effectively monitoring the operations of the Trappe WWTP and enforcing the terms of the existing MDE plan, Trappe is free to add the initial Lakeside homes to a failing system!  —   If the Trappe WWTP reporting is accurate and timely and if MDE is doing its job, it will be highly unlikely that any Lakeside connections to the Trappe waste-water system will ever be made.  

 Any connections to the Trappe system will only further degrade the outflow from the system.  It is readily known and accepted fact that the existing Trappe system is technically “back-level”, having operational problems, experiencing significant intrusion/infiltration issues, age compromised, and severely in debt to the tune of roughly $3 million dollars.  Even with the high user rates charged, the income received from the Town residents, meeting operation and maintenance expenses, and servicing the debt is reportedly challenging. 

It is time for a DO-OVER! – A DO-OVER addressing the issues with the existing Trappe system as well as facilitating the continued development of Lakeside should be considered. See Option #1 above.  A new level of constructive cooperation between those concerned with environmental issues, adjacent landowners, County government, and the developers is essential to reaching a solution that may satisfy (or mollify) the interests of all parties. — All parties need to step back and accept the facts that the current path is fraught with problems for which there are no satisfactory solutions if continuing down the current path for Option #2. – Resolution on top of resolution further clouds the issues and the direction of meaningful, specific solutions.  The MDE draft permit should be rewritten to incorporate recent evaluation of monitoring and reporting details, eliminate sewage flows between the Trappe WWTP and Lakeside, and facilitate the extension of the allocated spray area as may be necessary.

Here are some thoughts about addressing and resolving the shortcomings of Resolutions 281, 308, and 313 and the MDE permit.  Further analysis and consideration of Option #1 is recommended.

• Lakeside terminates its plan to send sewage to the Trappe system and Trappe should rescind its agreement to accept any wastewater load from Lakeside. 
• Lakeside is required to concurrently construct the Phase 1 sewage system (to the latest ENR/MBR technologies) and it shall achieve operational status before any Lakeside homes are occupied. 
• Lakeside contracts with the Town of Trappe to accept and process all sewage on the east side of route 50.  This will provide sufficient flow for plant operations when new homes are occupied. And, it will provide an upgrade of effluent for a significant portion of the current load on the Trappe system.  (Trappe Heights will provide a load equivalent to about 100 homes and businesses located along route 50, roughly another 20.)  The Lakeside Phase One WWTP must accommodate the first 400 Lakeside homes plus Trappe Heights and the other establishments on the east side of route 50 at a users’ expense not to exceed the current rates. – This negates the need for construction of sewage lines across route 50 to the existing Trappe WWTP. 
• The MDE permit is to be re-written to reflect the approach outlined herein and the new/revised permit shall provide more detailed sampling, record keeping, and reporting requirements.  Also, the permit must identify and describe requirements for assessing the effectiveness and viability of the effluent spraying on adjacent, dedicated acreage.  The latter shall track absorption rates, lateral flows that may reach Miles Creek, and intrusion into both public and private wells on adjacent properties. – Allocation of acreage for Phase One spraying of effluent shall be expanded as necessary to meet (yet to be defined) absorption rates. 
• Lakeside system(s) operation will be the direct responsibility of Talbot County, not the Town of Trappe. The Lakeside WWTP modules are to be staffed 24/7 by system qualified personnel. 
• Talbot County manager shall take immediate action to implement solutions to correct problems with the Trappe infrastructure for water and sewer systems and sewage plant operations.  Funding should be obtained from Federal and State sources.  Trappe’s current financial obligations need to be settled. (Trappe cannot independently dig out of its current problems, nor can the existing fee structure be escalated and passed onto the current residents). 
• Lakeside project overall size is to be re-assessed by the county planning commission, etc. and evaluated relative to County’s the long-term growth goals.  Concurrently, the commission must recognize the recent introduction of 2 new applications for residential housing developments with the greater Easton area.  One is slated for 200 units and the other for 400 units.  How much growth is the county prepared to support?

The Lakeside project is within Maryland Planning Department (MPD) guidelines for growth being within existing population centers and/or adjacent to existing towns. Additionally, Lakeside is approved as a Planned Unit Development (PUD – definitions and descriptions on the web). As PUD the developer is exempted from some future zoning requirements and has latitude in the overall usage allocations of acreage. The annexing of approximately 850 on the other side of the highway by the Town of Trappe (and without agreement of those landowners being annexed or potentially impacted by the rezoning seems a bit heavy-handed. The size of the Lakeside project is seemingly beyond the stated intentions of the guidelines from MPD. — Lakeside is potentially the next “Columbia”. Practically, it will be a new “town” unto itself. It is separated from the Town of Trappe by route 50.  It will potentially require a significant increase in municipal services such as police, fire, and EMS, schools and libraries, road construction and traffic controls, etc.  

We all have to accept the fact that there will be population increases over time and that people will need places to live and work.  It is not evident to the majority of those having concerns about the project as to whether or not adequate job has been done to address the above questions and to access the potential impacts of a development project as large as Lakeside may ultimately become.  It is not simply the development itself: it includes the impacts upon the environment, municipal services and infrastructure, resources for common services including electricity, natural gas, internet, and water, as well as aesthetics for housing designs and density, parking, open and common spaces, street-scapes, and climate changes.  It is not well known or clear as to what extent many of these items have been addressed by the Talbot County Council or the Town of Trappe.

We must recognize that developers have every right to pursue their goals. Hopefully their accomplishments will contribute to the betterment of our communities and society. If a developer wishes to build a new housing subdivision, he/she should be able to do so, so long as it conforms to standards, norms, policies, and laws established by Federal, State, and Local government agencies.

Calvin Yowell
Talbot County 

The mask of political moderation is now officially off George Will.  His shameless column’s recitation this week of extreme far right Republican fringe drivel exposed his truly devious agenda. Joining the conspiracy theory fanatics, Will, without any evidence, claimed that the 1619 Project “may already be embedded in school curricula near you,” is a bald-faced effort to shake up the rabble deeper into their abject fear of “progressives” in the public education system. “Near you” is the personalization of the fear mongering.

Will says that the 1619 Project’s claim of systemic racism in America is a “racial obsession”. Somehow, his eagle eye for protecting America’s institutions glazes over and he misses the Proud Boys web sites, the Charlottesville neo-nazi marches openly shouting anti-semitic slogans and the authoritarian urgings of former President Trump.  Somehow this paragon of conservative patriotic propriety has totally whiffed (in his ersatz baseball parlance) on these overt efforts to overthrow our government. 

He whiffed on failing to condemn not only Trump, but all of Trump’s cowering, beholden Republican congressmen and senators who remain too fearful to uphold their oaths to uphold the US Constitution as they voted not to vote to accept the electoral results of the election. Crickets from Mr. Will, too cowardly to criticize his party’s ugly racist, white supremacist agenda.  This cowardice allows the intellectual Will blissfully to ignore the systemic racism that has plagued this country since it’s totally white male-controlled beginnings proceeded to clear native americans of their land and murder any whose organized resistance was offered.  

It is apparent that Will is part and parcel of the radical “1776” project, founded by Trump through an executive order during his presidency. This self-proclaimed “patriot” group, whose website is called “Flag and Cross” with renditions of the US flag and Jesus Christ’s Cross, sells T-shirts, flags, pins, mugs and glassware, much of which includes the “Let’s Go Brandon” theme, which refers specifically to an obscene chant, “F*** Joe Biden”. 

Of course, our Founding Fathers made no room at the table for native americans, non-whites or women, including white women, either.  Somehow, Mr. Will seems completely unwilling to acknowledge systemic racism exists today and that the Republican Party’s survival relies upon preventing massive numbers of non-whites from voting – making minimal pretense for hiding that monstrous truth.  He needs to write a column announcing for self-identified constitutional “originalists” like Amy Coney Barrett to snap out of her ultraconservative coma. Under the original US Constitution, not only would she not have a place on SCOTUS (or any other court), she wouldn’t even have been able to vote. 

As an alleged constitutionalist and historian, Will ought to be howling in the streets, not only over the Republican effort to overthrow the 2020 election, but the Republican-controlled governors’ and state legislatures’ efforts to overturn the results of 2020 and upcoming elections via arbitrary election fraud claims. He should be howling every day about his Republican cronies’ deep involvement in the brownshirt-style plot to steal the election.  He should be adamantly demanding to see any evidence that conservative Republican officials have to claim the election was stolen.  If they can’t produce it, Will should be demanding they resign in deference to our sacred American rule of law.

And speaking of resignations, Will’s second article this week called for SCOTUS to reign in police lawlessness citing two cases where federal police officers obviously abused  their authority yet remain protected from prosecution under federal law.  Yet Will completely whiffed again by utterly ignoring the often heinous abuse of power by state and local police, especially in abusing minorities. In fact, Will missed the clear responsibility of state and local police authorities to dismiss officers and administrators who are members of white supremacist radical organizations and/or openly espouse such ideology to their peers. Racism and white supremacist ideas are not illegal in our country, but when imposed on minorities by people in authority, they cannot be allowed to enforce the law on behalf of all citizens. 

We won’t see that kind of candid commentary from men like George Will. Will is the nearly complete personification of what his former fellow Republican Spiro T. Agnew once called an “effete intellectual snob”.  

Mickey Terrone
Oxford

I watched the entire presentation to the Talbot County Council yesterday. I was struck by three things as I watched and listened to the questions or comments by Council members at the end of Mr. Watson’s two hours.

– Mr Divilio, in body language and specific comments, seemed to present an animosity or attitude almost adversarial in nature to what he was hearing from Mr. Watson. Mr. Divilio seems to have developed a notable skepticism as to the veracity of Mr. Watson’s information and was clearly implying a need for Mr. Watson to perform more “checking and verifying before making public” such information. This reaction is particularly astounding when you consider that for every ten minutes any of the council members has looked into this matter over the past year or so, Mr. Watson has spent ten hours. Checking and verifying. Digging. Filing Public Information requests. Putting together the many complicated pieces spanning fifteen years. I don’t know Mr. Watson from Adam, but I feel certain that very little of the material he presented, most of which is in the form of written documents or supported by written records, is subject to question. There has probably never been a topic put before the County Council which has received this level of citizen input and evaluation (the Council’s job), for which the Council should be uncompromisingly appreciative of those efforts.

– Ms. Price had a number of interesting comments/queries. But it’s clear that she still wants to rely on the lightly researched and quickly presented position of the Chestertown law firm’s input that “nothing can be done” about R281 now that it has already been passed. This position continues to be grasped like a life preserver by a drowning man, in spite of more in-depth legal analysis showing the shortcomings and fallacies of this conclusion.

– Mr. Pack also seems to put great stock in the idea that the horse is out of the barn and “nothing can be done”, and seemed more interested in the concept of amending the sewer plan or original Resolution rather than rescinding R281 in spite of the very tainted history of how the County ever got to the point of approving 281 and how MDE got where it is today.

If anything, the County should be embarrassed that it has gone as far down the road as it has without stopping the Rocks/Showalter team from continuing on with this project without it receiving the scrutiny and citizen input it deserves. And should be appalled at the degree of deception or (possibly giving the developers more credit than they deserve) the degree of confusing presentations of erroneous information that has come from the Rocks/Showalter/Rauch team. To reward their behavior by refusing to Rescind 281 is not what the citizens of this County elected you five representatives to do. Please stop looking for justifications to do nothing, and instead do something.

Bob Wenneson
Easton

For those following the saga of Lakeside and the rescission effort that dates back to May, you might want to know that the discussion may be coming to conclusion this evening and tomorrow.

Live-streamed tonight a 5:00 PM is what some might call the main event On Petition 21-01 filed last May and calling for the County to reverse its okay for Lakeside to proceed.  I will be “stating the case,” presenting my main argument to the County Council regarding falsehoods and misrepresentations unknown to anyone at that time that shaped the review and adoption of Resolution 281 that launched that 2501 home subdivision.  This session, at the Bradley Room, is open to viewing, but not participation, by the public.

The event can be viewed at 5:00 PM at this site by anyone interested.

Tonight’s event will also be taped for viewing later, but the video may not be available for a day or two, which relates to the other important and related event—the Public Hearing tomorrow night.   (Certain revelations tonight may be a subject that others will want to speak to.) 

Tomorrow night, at 6:30 PM is the continuation of the Council’s Public Hearing on Pete Lesher’s Resolution 308, which is the legislation that would actually rescind the authorization for Lakeside.  Any member of the community can speak at that session, but comments are limited to three minutes.   It can be viewed on the same link as above.

We’ll see if the County Council recognizes their responsibility and takes action.

Dan Watson
Easton

La Trappe Creek, and the unnamed tributary of same (UTLTC) into which Trappe’s WWTP discharges, is a disgrace. I would not let a stray dog go anywhere near that body of water. It is polluted, eutrophic, infected (what else does one call something full of harmful E. coli, and likely other, bacteria ?) and “impaired” per the Clean Water Act of 1972. It is a public health hazard.

What are the state and county doing about it? Nothing. In fact, they intend to permit more pollution to enter this impaired body of water by increasing the discharge of Trappe’s faulty wastewater plant.

This shameful situation is the result of decades of failure by both the county and state to follow the laws regarding the protection of our rivers.

At present, a majority of the county council voted to allow an increase in pollutants to this impaired body of water. This contravenes the policies set forth in the county’s water and sewer plan, just one of which states that the county is to, “continue to provide qualified management of water resources in order to control and diminish water pollution and to preserve the necessary quality standard of streams, estuaries, wetlands, and groundwater for residential, industrial, commercial, recreational, and conservational use”(emphasis added). Adding an additional load of polluting nutrients to an impaired water body is not consistent with the policies of the water and sewer plan. Of course, one would actually have to read the water and sewer plan to know this.

Some in county government choose to pass the buck to the MDE assuming that they are doing the job of protecting our rivers, and if the MDE says it’s OK then they’re off the hook. This is a demonstrably false assumption.

The MDE has known since at least 1998 that La Trappe Creek is grossly eutrophic. In Dec. 2002 they stated that the primary cause of the impairment of UTLTC is “likely the Trappe WWTP”. In 2003 a TMDL was adopted to clean up the creek. A TMDL is a prescription to fix an impaired water body by diminishing the amount of nutrients (nitrogen & phosphorus) entering the water. The terms of that EPA approved TMDL state that the MDE was to monitor progress of TMDL’s around the state on a rolling five year schedule. The TMDL states, “This continuing cycle ensures that within five years of establishing a TMDL, intensive follow up monitoring will be performed. Thus, the watershed cycling strategy establishes a TMDL evaluation process that assures accountability (emphases added)”

After nine weeks of bureaucratic ping pong with the recalcitrant MDE, I have now confirmed that the MDE has no data for UTLTC over at least the past five years. They have no idea what the present condition of UTLTC is regarding chlorophyll-a (a measure of algae) and dissolved oxygen, which are the two parameters they are supposed to be monitoring to see if the TMDL is working. By 2017, 60% of the TMDL’s goal was to have been achieved. The MDE didn’t even bother to check. Total success of the TMDL is supposed to be achieved in 2025. “Success” would mean that dissolved oxygen levels would always be above 5 mg./L. (per C.O.M.A.R.), and
chlorophyll-a less than 25 ug/L.

On the present course, this won’t happen. Of course, in order to know any of this someone would actually have to read the TMDL. Under Maryland law, the county council is the board of health for our county. They have
responsibility for the health of Talbot’s citizens. They are failing in this duty.

Under Maryland law, the MDE is tasked with the administration of environmental laws- including the Clean Water Act. The MDE was created in 1987 to, “protect and preserve the state’s air, water, and land resources and safeguard the environmental health of Maryland citizens.” It’s annual budget is about $170 million.

At present, both the county and the MDE intend to allow an increase in nutrients entering an impaired water body with a TMDL in place. This is counter to the Clean Water Act. If a developer wants to build 2,500 homes, make them build a state of the art wastewater plant up front. There is no such thing as a right to pollute.

Resolution 281 must be rescinded.

Thomas Hughes
Easton

Louis Timmerman passed away last month. Not many people knew Louis but they often saw him as he biked every day from Royal Oak to Graul’s grocery or Easton, with plastic grocery bags hanging from his handle bars. We were fortunate to live near Louis and became good friends. A quiet, unassuming man on a bike, his wisdom and kindness was not evident to those who passed by as he rode down St. Michaels Road.

Louis was the best neighbor one could have. For years he always lent a helping hand to his grateful Royal Oak neighbors, even showing up to shovel you out after a sudden snow storm.

Louis was highly intelligent, very well read and very thoughtful. We often exchanged books. The last books we exchanged were The American Story, by David Rubenstein and Sapiens, a Brief History of Humankind, by Harari.

Hailing from North Carolina and a Vietnam veteran who saw action, Louis was skeptical of war, against the 2003 US invasion of Iraq and agreed with President Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. Most impressively, Louis was vehemently anti-racist. Whenever discussing national and local political issues Louis was unbending in his view that the time for real racial equality was overdue.

Louis cared about a better world for all and left many of us better off for knowing him. We know the rest of the Royal Oak community joins us in saying, rest in peace, dear friend.

Kathleen Linehan and Ed Gabriel
Royal Oak

The Move the Monument Coalition is seeking donations to fund moving the Confederate monument from the Talbot County courthouse lawn.

The coalition, in coordination with county officials, estimates the total cost to be $82,000. So far, the coalition has raised about one-third of that. 

On Tuesday, the Talbot County Council voted unanimously to award a contract to Stratified Inc., a Washington, D.C., based firm, to remove the Confederate monument to Cross Keys Battlefield in Rockingham County, Va.

The council also passed an amendment that would allow submission of alternative sites until Dec. 6. These would have to meet the same qualifications as Cross Keys—a high bar since this is a site where monuments are guaranteed appropriate, respectful care in perpetuity. The council would vote on these sites Dec. 14.

The amendment will not delay removal of the statue, expected to take place in January. Stratified is charging $67,000 to move the monument; the battlefield requires an estimated $15,000 to prepare the ground and set it up.

Move the Monument Coalition has pledged that taxpayers will not pay to move this monument. 

Move the Monument has an account through Mid-Shore Community Foundation. For those interested in making a donation,  type Move the Monument. https://www.mscf.org/donate-online

Those who wish to write a check should make it out to Mid-Shore Community Foundation and write Move the Monument Fund in the subject line. Mid-Shore is located at 102 East Dover Street, Easton, MD 21601.

Move the Monument Coalition
Talbot County