Quagmire on the Patapsco

Commentary by Lisa Laden

Since most whitewater paddlers now put in on Old Frederick Road rather than upstream directly below Daniels Dam, they miss paddling by the historic site of the Daniels Mill on a peninsula on river right. The original mill was built in the 1830s. The town that grew up around it was called Elysville, then Alberton under a new owner, and became Daniels when it was sold to C.R. Daniels Co. in 1940. The mill manufactured cotton duck fabric used by the government and later added other products. It operated until Hurricane Agnes flooded it in 1972 and C.R. Daniels found another location. The once-bustling town was abandoned. The Alberton Cornet Band, founded in 1879, stayed together for forty years after the town closed. One building remains intact, the granite Gary Memorial Church built in 1879 on a hill above town and in use through 2012. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

When I moved from Manhattan to Windsor Hills, on the western edge of Baltimore City, I hiked in the nearby sections of Patapsco Valley State Park and discovered the abandoned red brick mill buildings at Daniels. I was learning still photography and the site was an attractive subject. I knew the buildings were from the nineteenth century, so I assumed Daniels was preserved as an historic site in the park. Moving around in the Baltimore-Washington area, I didn't return. This past January, I was surprised when Daniels popped up in my Facebook feed in an alert from Howard County Indivisible's Environmental Action Team about efforts to protect the historic site.

I was shocked to learn that the mill buildings have been gone for years, damaged by floods and a fire in 1976 and then razed. Although the site of the former mill town is surrounded by park land, and still shelters historic ruins, that land is not part of Patapsco Valley State Park. The land just downstream of Gary Memorial Church is owned by Carlin Properties, LLC. This fifteen acres, 2020 Daniels Road, is in the floodplain of the Patapsco and is zoned for industrial use with a 100-foot stream centerline buffer. Carlin Properties, LLC, rents space to three businesses: a landscape supplier, a mulch supplier, and a welding company. River left, the Baltimore County side of the river, is in the Patapsco Valley State Park corridor, with the Alberton hiking trail running along the river.

Unfortunately, the Daniels site has been the subject of citizen complaints and state and county citations alleging violations of regulations and non-compliance with environmental requirements since 2019. The owner requested a permit for a natural wood waste recycling facility, a land use that requires a plan for controlling erosion and managing stormwater. Over the past few years, state and county inspectors, neighbors, and hikers have reported dumping, grading, and paving that allegedly violates the law, allegedly failing to comply with requirements for erosion control and stormwater management, and allegedly impinging on the property of the historic church.  Although there are three businesses at the site, there is no permit for a septic system or sewage hook-up. The property is posted with signs that prohibit trespassing and photography. A neighbor reported that bamboo planted around the property forms a visual barrier. State and county workers have sometimes been denied access to the site, making it difficult to document the violations. When a property owner refuses access to inspectors, the agency must obtain a warrant to enter the property, but neither the state nor Howard County took that step; they tried to work with the owner to bring the property into compliance. After years of documenting alleged non-compliance and violations with no enforcement, Howard County issued two criminal citations to Carlin Properties, LLC.

As a paddler who enjoys the Patapsco, it concerns me that absent the mandated government inspections and water quality sampling at Daniels, I have no way to know what, if anything, is being dumped into the river or on its banks, and what might be washing into the river during heavy rains and flooding. We paddle the river after heavy rain, putting in not far downstream. The Patapsco floods fairly frequently. It's difficult to see the aerial view of the property jutting out into the river, surrounded by parkland, and not wonder why it's still zoned for industrial use. With so much effort by government agencies and environmental organizations to clean up the Patapsco and restore the riverine environment, Daniels seems incongruous. Although this land has been an industrial site almost since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, industry may no longer be an appropriate land use when it is in a floodplain surrounded by a heavily used park, historical markers, and ruins of churches. it may no longer be compatible with the state's goals for the Patapsco and the community's desire to protect their environment and the area's history.

To that end, a community member and hiker created a website, https://carefordaniels.org/, to inform the community and track the effort to hold the property owner accountable. The Howard County Chapter of the Sierra Club and the Environmental Action Team of Howard County Indivisible are advocating for the site, along with Liz Walsh, the area's representative on the Howard County Council. Ms. Walsh and people representing these organizations were present in court in February when Robert Carlin and his attorney appeared to contest the two criminal citations. The citations are related to illegal grading and lack of an environmental plan. I attended the court proceeding as well.

Although the trial had already been postponed several times, the judge postponed it again due to a technical error in one citation. While allowing the prosecutor to amend the citation, she granted the defense attorney's request for postponement. The new trial date is June 9. The judge sternly reminded the defense of the many concerned citizens who had taken time to attend the trial and the government employees who had left their regular duties to wait in the courtroom to testify. Although the case is still pending, I left feeling that it did make a difference that concerned citizens showed up in the courtroom.

The advocate who maintains the Care for Daniels website believes it would be helpful for paddlers and hikers to take more photographs of the site from park trails, and when conditions permit, from the river, especially when run-off is occurring. Aerial photos or video from a drone would be very valuable. The park allows drones, but the drone pilot needs to be licensed. The local organizations advocating for Daniels would welcome representatives of other organizations invested in the Patapsco—paddling clubs included—as observers at the trial in June. 

Regardless of the outcome of the trial, the state and county will need to continue monitoring and enforcing environmental regulations and requirements, which has been difficult in the past. A different property owner and different types of activity at the site might minimize environmental impacts, but Howard County can't force Carlin Properties, LLC to sell to someone who might be a better environmental steward. The question is whether Industrial activity is still acceptable at Daniels as community values and goals have shifted toward protecting the environment and historical sites. If the answer is no, what are the possible solutions? Rezoning? Lobbying the state to buy the fifteen acres for Patapsco Valley State Park through Program Open Space? That could encounter resistance to removing the property from the tax base and committing state funds to cleaning up and restoring the property. This is a small piece of land on a relatively small local river, but the questions it raises are relevant to rivers and historic river valley communities throughout the eastern United States.

Links

Care for Daniels

Patapsco Heritage Greenway

Patapsco Heritage Greenway - Daniels History

AW Patapsco River pages

AllTrails - Alberton Road Trail