Anne Arundel County has lost another round in its decades-long battle over a proposed Odenton rubble landfill, and the price of that latest defeat is nearly half a million dollars in legal fees. Maryland’s appellate court upheld a ruling that the county acted in bad faith when it tried to derail the project’s permit review.
In an opinion filed Thursday, the Appellate Court of Maryland affirmed an order requiring the county to pay National Waste Managers Inc. $491,984.35, according to The BayNet. The case is the latest chapter in a dispute that has generated roughly three decades of litigation and multiple appeals.
National began seeking approval for the landfill in 1988 and received a special exception from the Anne Arundel County Board of Appeals in 1993. The approval included a condition requiring access from Conway Road through a fee-simple right-of-way, rather than an easement, as outlined in an earlier Maryland appellate opinion.
The fee fight grew out of two letters county officials sent to the Maryland Department of the Environment in 2020. The county argued that National had not obtained the required access and asked the state agency to halt or deny the permit application, but the court later found officials had effectively tried to change the special exception without first using the county’s formal appeals process.
National sued in December 2020, and the circuit court later found the county lacked a legally supportable basis for defending the letters. National had requested more than $1.7 million in fees and costs, but the lower court reduced the award after reviewing billing records, removing duplicative work and approving 1,245.53 hours at $395 per hour, according to The BayNet’s report.
Appeals Court Rejects County’s Fee Challenge
Anne Arundel County argued that it had a legitimate legal basis for its position, that the lower court improperly considered the parties’ full history and that the award was excessive. The appellate panel rejected those arguments, finding enough evidence to support the conclusion that county officials knew their letters would stop the state review and then defended them without substantial justification.
The ruling does not automatically revive the landfill project or guarantee that it can be built. In a separate decision, the Maryland Department of the Environment denied National’s permit application in 2024, saying the proposed operation would harm public health because of the planned entrance’s proximity to Two Rivers Elementary School and the WB&A Trail, according to the Maryland Department of the Environment.
A Landfill Fight That Keeps Returning To Court
Hoodline previously covered the permit denial and the county’s push to preserve the property for conservation or passive recreation. For now, the newest ruling leaves Anne Arundel County responsible for the fee award and the costs of the appeal, while the broader landfill dispute remains tied up in separate legal and regulatory questions.
