Show up August 19th to Protect Our Rural Community

🚨Our Community Needs to Show Up🚨

This is not just a request for a special exception by Sawmill Acres LLC (yes that is the name of the owner of the property). It's a proposal that will permanently change the character of our agricultural community.

A hearing is being held regarding a proposed firewood processing, distribution, and construction services business on property that is currently part of our rural agricultural landscape.

If approved, this will introduce activities that many residents never wanted when choosing to live in this area:

❗ Increased commercial truck traffic on local roads (that your taxes pay for)

❗ Lower Property values

❗ Heavy equipment operation and associated noise (this type of equipment can travel for miles)

❗ Outdoor storage of materials, machinery, and equipment

❗ Dust, fire, smoke, and air quality concerns from firewood processing

All I'm saying, is that it's a slippery slope…  If we allow farmland to be used as a substitute for commercial zoning, we create an incentive for additional businesses to follow the same path. Agricultural land becomes the bargain basement for commercial development, while residents bear the consequences through increased traffic, noise, industrial activity, and the gradual erosion of the rural community. Once that transformation begins, it will be hard to stop.

Sawmill Acres LLC aka Brittain Tree Service currently has a very large property in COMMERCIALLY ZONED land on Conowingo Rd/ Route 1 that the business 'is currently' running out of now. No one will lose their jobs nor will it prevent more jobs from being created by not using this farmland in a commercial way. Why not expand the business on the property they already own in a commercial area? Why take AG land from those that want to use it to live on and farm?

I know that the owner's wife, friends, and employees are doing their best to minimize the impacts and belittle real concerns, but I don't see them volunteering to live next to this…

 All I want to do is stand up for myself and the community that wants to keep the peace and tranquility we sacrifice for to live here.

This hearing is about more than one property. It is about the future of our community.

📅 Date: August 19th

⏰ Time: 6:30 PM

📍 Location: 212 South Bond Street Bel Air MD, 21014

County officials need to see that residents are paying attention and care about the long-term impacts of decisions being made today.

✅ Attend the hearing.

✅ Speak if you are comfortable doing so.

If we don't show up, others will make these decisions for us.

As for the image you see in the update, I had this sent to me by a neighbor that has been supporting our efforts to prioritize the preservation of the local community. This is the type of 'businessman' we are dealing with... Doesn't look like someone who respects their neighbors, and isn't that all we are asking for?