Community Corner

Asphalt Plant Plans to Build on Race Road

Laurel Sand and Gravel said it's moving forward with plans for construction on property CSX optioned.


Two companies are preparing to build on Race Road, raising concerns from neighbors.

Officials from Laurel Sand and Gravel met with Elkridge citizens last week as part of the permitting process so they could build an asphalt plant at 6330 Race Rd.

The 10-acre site near Mayer Brothers is currently under option with CSX, which was interested in land for its , a freight transfer station that greater Elkridge . 

Find out what's happening in Elkridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“They can’t be there if we’re there,” said Tim Schmidt, director of land resources for Laurel Sand and Gravel.

It’s either one project or the other, he explained.

Find out what's happening in Elkridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

CSX and partner Maryland Department of Transportation in central Maryland for an intermodal facility, including one between Hanover and Race roads that includes the parcel at 6330 Race Rd.

Laurel Sand and Gravel was planning on building an asphalt plant on Race Road in 2008, said Schmidt, but put the brakes on the project when CSX became interested in the land.

CSX purchased an option on the property, which Schmidt said will expire on May 5.

The Maryland Department of Transportation said that it is continuing to study four candidate sites for the project as  and has no plans to announce that it is steering away from any site, including Hanover.

The evaluation process for the intermodal facility is expected to take until the end of the year.

With the option on his property set to expire next week, Schmidt said his company wanted to get the process moving. "We want to be able to build so we're up and running for the season," he told Elkridge Patch.

Before proceeding with the project—which has already been submitted as a site development plan to the Department of Planning and Zoning—Laurel Sand and Gravel had to have a meeting with the public about the air quality permits it is seeking from Maryland Department of the Environment.

The plant will produce 400 tons of hot asphalt mix per hour and it will have a bag house, a structure that filters out chemicals. It will run 10 months out of  the year, with the off season being the coldest months.

Residents expressed concern about chemical leaks but project officials said that if there were a problem in the filtration system, colored steam would come out of the bag house and they would react right away.

Other residents said they were concerned in general about having an asphalt plant behind their homes dumping mix into trucks.

“In the past, there have been other asphalt plants there—in the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s. At one time, there were even two asphalt plants there,” said Schmidt. He said that by law, the area is zoned for heavy industrial use.

At the asphalt plant, 80 trucks per day would come to pick up the hot mix between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m.

The intermodal facility, or freight transfer station, would service up to 900 trucks per day, and operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Some residents were suspicious of the asphalt project and timing.

"This sounds like a ploy to me. Why start announcing other expensive plans (asphalt plant) when an option is about to expire? The obvious answer to that is they are going to negotiate for an even higher option price," wrote David Terry on the No Elkridge Intermodal Facebook page.

"Or, maybe [Laurel Sand and Gravel] might want to swap land with CSX and set up the asphalt plant somewhere else."

Laurel Sand and Gravel told Patch that it has another plant in Laurel and the Elkridge operation would be a "suppplement" to that. As for the timing, said Schmidt: "The option expires next month. We see the market's there and there's an opportunity."

People who live on the other side of the tracks, with their backyards facing the property, did not necessarily see the plant the same way.

Said Charles Menk of Hanover: “It looks like bad is the likely best outcome for Hanover Elkridge."

This article has been updated at 12:20 p.m. to correct the location of Laurel Sand and Gravel's other operation, which is in Laurel. Plants in other locations are owned by different companies.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here