CUMBERLAND — At Thursday’s Allegany County Commission meeting, the commissioners accepted county attorney William Rudd’s recommendation to return a request from Braddock Construction to rezone 104 acres along state Route 36 to the county’s Planning and Zoning Commission for further review.

The Frostburg-based company wants to change the status of the parcel from agricultural and residential to industrial.

Braddock Construction’s proposal to relocate its Clarysville headquarters to the parcel known as the Miller Bottom Industrial Complex has met with disagreement from nearby homeowners and land preservationists.

The company’s proprietors, Kristin and Dave Weimer, want to build an eco-friendly hot-mix asphalt plant and a rubble-clearing landfill at the site located about one mile north of Midland, one mile south of the Mountain View Landfill and two miles south of Interstate 68.

Rudd told the planning commission the only thing they are being asked to decide is whether or not the area should be rezoned. Whether or not it will bring in more jobs or increase noise in the area should not affect their decision.

Residents voiced opposition to the proposal during a March 26 public hearing on the situation.

Rudd said the planners must decide whether there was a mistake made in zoning originally or if there has been a change in the circumstances or the character of the neighborhood that justifies the zoning change.

Rudd said when the planning commission decided whether or not a mistake was made originally, they found there was not and he said the facts support that decision.

“The prior use of the property was a strip mine and strip mining is an approved use in an A district by special exception, so when it was zoned there was no mistake that strip mining was going to be done there,” he said.

“The bigger issue is the change in circumstances in the area. When the Planning Commission, made its decision, they made certain findings. And to read the findings, they seem to support the conclusion there was a change. But when they got to the end, got to the conclusion, they said there wasn’t.”

Rudd said there seemed to be some inconsistencies with the conclusion that there had been no change in circumstances in the area that could prompt litigation pending the outcome of the case.

He said the proposal seeks an all or nothing decision. Either all the property will be rezoned industrial or none of the property will be rezoned.

“There were other possibilities the Planning Commission could consider in terms of whether you rezone all property, whether you rezone part property, whether you put in buffers, whether you put in other conditions that could perhaps allow the proposed developers but also protect the neighbors and the people concerned with what’s going on,” Rudd said. “There could have been other options for zoning.”

He recommended the case go back to the planning commission with instructions to “review the facts and documents and to reconsider its finding of fact and whether those findings of fact support its conclusion that no change has occurred in the neighborhood warranting a rezoning of the subject property.”

Rudd said the planning commission should reconsider the matter within the next 30 days and provide findings within 90 days.

Phil Hager, county planning coordinator, said the Commissioners have given the Planning and Zoning Commission clear direction in what they are seeking from them.

“It’s certainly feasible with the time period you specified that the Planning and Zoning Commission could review the facts of the case, could look at what you advised them to analyze and come back within that time period with a determination,” Hager said.

County Commission President Jim Stakem said he needs more information before a decision is made.

“There are inconsistencies and to confirm this or deny this right now today would be a mistake,” he said. “I think we need more information and we need to look at the big picture of all of the different zoning possibilities and what can be done. I want to do this right.”

Contact Tess Hill at thill@times-news.com.