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Community Survey to Help Shape Future of Little Elk Creek, MD Site
The Citizens Reuse Committee in Elkton, Maryland will soon collect the results of a unique questionnaire asking local residents how to redevelop a huge chunk of potentially valuable land near Interstate 95. Widespread groundwater contamination stemming from the properties in the area have stymied commercial and residential development in the area for years and contributed to high unemployment rates. But, under EPA's One Cleanup Program, there is new hope.
Under the program, the area, nicknamed the Little Elk Creek One Cleanup project, was designated one of 10 national area-wide pilots in 2003. One Cleanup Program pilots seek better coordination at separate cleanup sites grouped near one another or with similar contamination. As such, the EPA, the Maryland Department of Environment (MDE) and local, county and state interests have joined forces to address the Little Elk Creek area. [PDF, 1 page map, 7M, about pdf] The group's goals are to clean up the area, a growing bedroom community for Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore, and support the revitalization needs of the Elkton community.
The revitalization will encompass several cleanup sites - some closed, some still operating - in and near the Triumph Industrial Park just west of Elkton in Cecil County. Groundwater investigations show widely distributed volatile organic contamination throughout the area. The groundwater contamination may also be impacting water quality in the Little Elk Creek, which flows through the industrial park.
As EPA and MDE have been working to clean up the contamination problems, the Elkton community has formed the Citizens Reuse Committee to consider future development options for the area. The 25-member committee is funded by the EPA and MDE and meets bi-monthly. It includes representatives from local government -- Cecil County Departments of Health, Planning and Economic Development -- elected officials, local businesses, community organizations and property owners. The University of Maryland School of Nursing, assists in convening the committee and facilitates meetings and communications among the group.
To gather ideas from the community on potential reuse options for the contaminated sites, the Reuse Committee recently sent the survey to local citizens asking for their input. The 12-question survey, which focuses both on contamination issues and on economic and community development needs. Once the results of the survey are available later this fall, the committee will work with students from University of Maryland's School of Landscape Architecture to develop schematics of potential reuse options for the area.
The Triumph Industrial Park poses complicated challenges. It was first used as a fireworks and munitions production facility supplying military ordnance for World War II. Since closure of the munitions plant following the war, other industrial users moved into the area. Dump sites and ordnance-related debris are widespread both in and outside the present-day industrial park.
More than 15 sites have been identified in the surrounding area with similar groundwater concerns, some of which are designated Superfund sites. Environmental investigations have been ongoing at some of these sites for more than 20 years, and many cleanups are nearing completion. Once the cleanups are completed, some of these properties will be available for redevelopment. These redevelopment decisions will affect the community, and community members need to be involved.
All residents and business owners in Cecil County have an opportunity to provide input by filling out a Reuse Planning Initiative Community Questionnaire and have until September 26 to complete and send in their survey forms.