BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Oversights in how Anne Arundel handles land acquisition has left the county cleaning up tons of illegally dumped plastic and elected officials calling for reform.

“We had ownership of property and failed to do due diligence of what was on the ground,” said County Councilman Jamie Benoit, D-District 4, who called on the county auditor to probe the acquisition of land for the WB&A Trail in Odenton.

So far, the county has removed more than 230 tons of discarded plastic waste at the cost of nearly $100,000 from a small stretch of land near the Little Patuxent River.

The Maryland Department of the Environment is assisting Anne Arundel, and initial tests show the material doesn’t pose an immediate threat to people or the environment.

But the county acquired the land without conducting environmental surveys or getting County Council approval.

HOW THE WASTE GOT THERE

The Piney Orchard Partnership offered to give about 200 acres to Anne Arundel in 2002.

The county used Program Open Space money to buy half of the land that had development value, while Piney Orchard donated the other half that abutted the trail and was mostly for conservation.

The land finally was acquired in 2004.

The land is part of a regional project to turn the long-defunct Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad right of way into a trail.

The material was dumped decades ago, some of which was linked to a plastic company based in Odenton, said Jack Keene, who was the chief of planning for the county’s recreation and parks department.

But since the company no longer operated in Anne Arundel when the debris was discovered in 2002, it hampered efforts to confront the company on cleanups, he said.

Today, much of it is gone; but along the banks of the trail, mounds of thin plastic tubing, molding and hard plastic globs in yellow, green and blue still exist under the weeds.

As of today, county officials are not making any effort to find the people responsible for dumping the material.

“If someone is liable for this, I guarantee their day will come. But our No. 1 concern right now is the environment,” said Alan Friedman, government affairs director for County Executive John R. Leopold.

WHO KNEW?

Keene said most of the debris was on the railroad right of way, which the county possessed since the mid-1990s.

Even then, officials said, Anne Arundel knew the debris existed.

“I am not sure if your folks are aware of the plastics and potential cleanup costs that may be involved if the County inherits this mess,” said County Fire Chief David Stokes in a 2002 e-mail.

Keene said he filed written documents to county officials detailing the need to clean up the material.

But the engineer contracted by the county to design the trail, John E. Harms and Associates Inc., did not sufficiently note the need to clean up the material as part of the construction plan, officials said.

Though Harms and Associates did supply Keene with a map and photos in 2002 of the material, Anne Arundel moved forward with the acquisition and approved the contract for the trail.

“There was documented instructions given early in this project to address the cleanup as part of the construction ... and through some oversight, that was not included,” Keene said.

The county didn’t realize until last summer that it hadn’t approved funding for the cleanup.

Harms and Associates did not return calls for comment.

The county’s Department of Public Works also failed to initiate an environmental study of the donated land, which may have pointed out the oversight and prompted a quicker response, officials said.

Public Works Director Ron Bowen deferred questions to his deputy, Chris Phipps, who could not provide an explanation for why an assessment was not done.

All of this happened under then-County Executive Janet Owens. Officials said Owens’ office would not have been involved in the cleanup efforts.

The current executive, Leopold, issued an order Wednesday that all projects on property donated to the county be reviewed to make sure environmental studies have been conducted.

LAND ACQUISITION

How Anne Arundel came into possession of the land near the trail also is being called into question.

If property is donated to the county that will have an effect on the budget, the County Council must approve it, according to county law.

The county never submitted the request, according to county Auditor Teresa Sutherland’s memo sent in March to District 4’s Benoit.

Though the county’s contract to build the rail trail did not include the waste removal, Anne Arundel knew it would cost $50,000 to clean up the mess, she said.

“The Administration failed to comply with the county law,” Sutherland wrote.

Deputy Public Works Director Chris Phipps said it was unknown why the process wasn’t followed.

As a result, Benoit has introduced a bill that would require environmental studies and fiscal impact analysis before the council gives approval on projects.

Officials say at least one good thing has come out the entire issue.

“If the county didn’t purchase the land, all of the trash would likely still be sitting there today and not being cleaned up,” said Dennis Callahan, the county’s chief administrative officer.

jflanagan@baltimoreexaminer.com