NOVEMBER 2014 UPDATE
In September Baltimore County finally directed the owner of the Nottingham Ridge site to halt erosion, but is unclear whether this applied to a couple of acres or all 23 acres of exposed soil on the site. We are awaiting recent aerial photos to determine the extent of stabilization.
On October 21st Baltimore County Administrative Law Judge John Beverungen ordered Nottingham Ridge to comply with the 2000 Maryland Stormwater Design Manual. As you will see in the graph below, this provides 70% of the benefits which would result from compliance with Environmental Site Design.
Original Article: Nottingham Ridge is an 83-acre Planned Unit Development (PUD) proposed for a site adjoining Whitemarsh Run, in Baltimore County, MD. The site also drains to the Bird and Gunpowder Rivers, then the Chesapeake Bay. Presently, two office buildings occupy a small percentage of the site. A development company is proposing to intensively build-out the site.
The project would needlessly add a tremendous quantity of nutrients and other pollutants to the Gunpowder and Chesapeake Bay. The site has also been needlessly discharging large amounts of muddy water (like that pictured to the left) for more than a decade! Why the emphasis on the word needlessly? Continue reading