Officials To Revisit Land Donation

SALISBURY – Officials in Wicomico County will vote again on a land donation that they rejected late last year.

Last December, the Wicomico County Council voted to reject a 235-acre land donation from Connelly Mill Ltd. Partnership after an environmental study revealed potential pollution issues. The property, located next to the Henry S. Parker Athletic Complex and within the City of Salisbury corporate limits, is valued at more than $1 million and consists of wooded parcels and two ponds.

Earlier this fall, however, the council agreed to reconsider the donation after additional environmental studies eased officials’ concerns about contamination on the property and a cost-benefit analysis revealed the property’s potential as a borrow site.

Weston Young, the county’s assistant director of administration, told the council this week the property contained an estimated $20 million worth of soil, which could be used for operations at the county landfill. With the acquisition of a property adjacent to the landfill off the table, he said the county needed a place to mine additional soil.

More