Developer Under Fire Over Soil Test Results

Howard County officials are reporting a developer to the state after they say they were misled about a contaminated area where housing is planned as part of a major expansion of an Ellicott City golf course community.

County health officer Peter L. Beilenson this week told developers of the Turf Valley Resort and Conference Center that unusually high levels of arsenic and lead on part of a golf course would require cleanup before housing could be built there.

County officials said they were surprised to learn last week of the contamination, apparently first detected in 2005 in a soil sample by an environmental consultant. The matter came up during a meeting between county officials and the developers' representatives.

"They should have told us this," said Beilenson, who had been working with the developers to arrange for more soil and water testing.

The property is owned by the Mangione family, which is developing the land. Family representative Louis Mangione said yesterday that he couldn't recall when he learned of the test results. "We have to figure out what it's all about," he said. "We will do what is right."

Turf Valley, encompassing 809 acres west of Ellicott City and north of Route 40, has long planned a major expansion including 1,618 housing units, retail space and offices, some of it on a former golf course. The project, still in the planning review phase, has prompted some residents to call for comprehensive testing of the property.

County officials initially had pushed to sign a memorandum of agreement for more testing. But in light of the new information, "the memorandum of agreement is null and void," Beilenson said.

He wants Maryland health and environmental officials to step in, helping with a plan to determine the extent of contamination and overseeing a cleanup program undertaken by the developer.

A soil sample taken from beneath a parking lot near a golf course maintenance shed showed an arsenic level of 300 parts per million, many times above the naturally occurring arsenic level of 4.9 parts per million in central Maryland soils, Beilenson said.

A lead reading from the same sample was reported at 640 parts per million, considerably higher than the government's acceptable maximum of 400 parts per million, he said.

Robert D. Ballinger, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of the Environment, said the agency could not comment on the matter because it had not seen the sampling data.

Mangione said he could not recall whether he learned of the test results in 2005, but "I knew all along that the maintenance area was an area to be concerned about."