Community Corner

Land Owners Fined $200,000 for Destroying Wetlands in Dickerson

More than an acre of forested wetlands were cleared without authorization.

The land owners accused of destroying more than an acre of wetlands in Dickerson were fined $200,000 for breaking state environmental laws, a Circuit Court judge recently ruled.

Associate Judge Robert G. Greenberg of Montgomery County Circuit Court ordered Anthony and Ruth Mereos pay the fine plus $5,000 each for failing to restore the wetlands at a property off Trundel Road, west of Poolesville, as part of the terms of a prior ruling, Circuit Court records show.

The Sept. 15, 2011 judgment was announced Monday by the Maryland Department of the Environment, which filed the civil complaint in Circuit Court on Sept. 8, 2008.  The MDE alleged that the Mereoses conducted unauthorized and environmentally harmful development on the property between 2005 and 2006.

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In August 2005, citizens’ complaints that trees were being cut down on the property spurred inspections by Montgomery County Department of Permitting Service and the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning commission, which uncovered several violations, court documents show.

Roughly 1.8 acres of forested wetlands were cleared, leaving deposits of woody debris in a Broad Run tributary, according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers field inspection. Later inspections by government agencies in 2006 found evidence of attempts to drain the property.

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On May 25, 2010, according to court records, Greenberg placed an injunction on further development without permits, and ordered the land owners to submit a plan by a certified engineer to restore the wetlands or discuss mitigation efforts with MDE.

The Mereoses faced the $200,000 fine and an additional penalty of $5,000 each if they didn’t comply within six months, according to the ruling.


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