The Calvert County Commissioners conducted a public hearing Tuesday, Sept. 24 regarding the amending of the Comprehensive Water and Sewerage Plan. After no one from the public came forward to testify the board voted unanimously to amend the document to allow for installation of a private water and sewerage system to service a proposed shopping center in Dunkirk.

The commissioners’ action was contingent on final approval from the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE).

The project, known as The Shoppes at Apple Greene, is being developed by Marrick Commercial. The plan calls for construction of an 110,000 square-foot retail center to be located on the southeast corner of Route 4 and Ward Road in Dunkirk. The project, which will consist of one large retail building and three freestanding buildings, will take about one year to complete.

State law requires planned infrastructure to be incorporated in the county’s Comprehensive Water and Sewer Plan before the MDE will issue permits.

On July 31, the commissioners conducted a work session on the proposed private water and sewer system and directed county government staff to take the proposal to the Calvert County Planning Commission to determine if the installation was consistent with the county’s Comprehensive Plan. The planning commission considered the issue Aug. 22 and determined it was consistent since it is located within a priority funding area. The panel’s chairman, Maurice Lusby, then sent a “letter on concurrence” to MDE’s Director of Water Management Administration Jay G, Sakai.

According to the amended section of the Calvert County Comprehensive Water and Sewer Plan, the proposed water component is “designated as a non-community transient system under the Federal/State Drinking Water Act.”

Both the water and sewer components “will be privately owned and operated by a Maryland-licensed operator” the amendment declares.

The water system includes a tank and sewerage system includes a storage lagoon and drip fields.

“[This is] the end of a very long process,” said Commissioner Susan Shaw [R].

The planning commission had reviewed the project’s site plan and conditionally approved it in 2003. Concerns about the proposed sewerage system’s proximity to the Apple Greene subdivision surfaced in 2008. The issue was resolved between the subdivision’s homeowners&rsqu