A Howard County quarry that saw its zoning permissions revoked earlier this year amid complaints from nearby residents will continue operating after a recent ruling from the Howard County Board of Appeals.

Residents in the Jessup area, surrounding the Savage Stone quarry, had complained of dust, as well as property damage and noise associated with the quarry’s blasting to mine a rock called gabbro, which is used in road construction.

After several lengthy hearings about the quarry’s operations, a Howard County hearing examiner agreed with the residents, stating that the quarry was in violation of conditions attached to its zoning permission, and should have its permission revoked.

But the quarry, which has operated since the early 2000s, appealed the ruling, bringing the case to the county appeals board, a five-member panel that is appointed by the County Council.

During an Aug. 29 hearing, the quarry’s lawyers argued that the original set of hearings should never have happened, because the county wasn’t allowed to set conditions requiring the quarry to come back for approval to keep operating every five years. That county requirement flies in the face of state law, which requires the Maryland Department of the Environment to govern mine operations.

Quarry attorney Sang Oh cited a 2012 decision by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, now named the Appellate Court of Maryland. In that case, East Star v. the County Commissioners of Queen Anne’s County, the court ruled that Queen Anne’s could not set a time limit on a mining operation, because that power rests with the state.

“Our representative, the state legislature, saw fit to create laws to protect mining activities,” Oh said. “And what they specifically did was create a body of law that was so encompassing that they made a clear intent to say the state — the Maryland Department of the Environment — controls the activities of the quarry, once this board decides where it goes.”

Attorneys representing homeowners’ associations from neighborhoods near the quarry argued the East Star ruling didn’t apply.

In that case, Queen Anne’s County limited a mine’s operation to five years, going beyond state law, which includes a 25-year ceiling. But in this case, Howard County placed no such cap on the quarry, said Samantha Bingaman, a student attorney with the University of Maryland Carey School of Law’s Environmental Law Clinic, which is representing the homeowners’ associations. The county merely required five-year renewals during the mine’s 25 years of operations, she said.

“We see a huge difference between limiting the amount of time that a mine can operate, regardless of whether they’re in compliance with the conditions, which is what East Star stated, versus what’s going on here,” Bingaman said.

The Board of Appeals determined that the county’s requirement of five-year renewals for Savage Stone should be revoked, though its other zoning conditions, governing the blasting, noise and vibrations for example, still would apply. The law clinic team is exploring its options following last week’s decision, Bingaman said.

Randy Heckler, Maryland operations manager at Laurel Sand & Gravel, which runs Savage Stone, declined to comment on the decision, given that the official order has yet to be released by the Board of Appeals.

University of Maryland law professor Jon Mueller, who manages the Environmental Law Clinic, said that even with the adverse ruling, the county Department of Planning & Zoning has the authority to pursue enforcement action against the quarry for the violations alleged earlier this year.

“The Board did not rule on what the hearing examiner said. The board ruled on a legal issue that the hearing examiner was not even presented with,” Mueller said. “They’re still blasting. We think they’re still in violation of the other conditions of the conditional use zoning, and the county does have the authority to act.”

“The ball is in the county’s court,” Bingaman said.

The county’s Department of Planning and Zoning did not respond Thursday to a request for comment.

The hearing examiner ruled that the quarry ran afoul of its original agreement with the county, which required it to maintain a fund to reimburse residents for any damage from blasting. Throughout its history, the quarry has never paid any residents, arguing that its blasts never exceed regulated levels, meaning that damage cited by residents cannot be caused by the explosions.

Residents, including in the neighborhood of Pleasant Chase, have described items falling from shelves and walls during the worst blasts, and argued that cracks they’ve noticed on their walls, foundations and driveways can be attributed to the mining operation.

For residents, the recent ruling was deeply frustrating, said Camille Edwards, president of the Pleasant Chase Homeowners Association. Some residents believed they would be able to testify before the Board of Appeals, just as they had earlier this year before the hearing examiner.

“People took time off their jobs to be there,” Edwards said. “And then they voted … to not proceed. So, who do the residents go to to complain now?”

During their deliberations, board members stated that neighbors still could go to the state or the county zoning departments with complaints about the quarry’s operation. But the five-year renewal hearings were unlawful, and not a proper forum for the complaints, the board ruled.

“It has to go through the complaint process through the county, or through whatever mechanism. They have to investigate it. They have to take action,” said Gene Ryan, chairman of the Board of Appeals. “Ultimately, it may come to us, but we can’t short-circuit that process.”

David Schneider, who purchased his home near the quarry site in 1997 — before the quarry existed — said he also was angered by the ruling. During the deliberations, he said, he felt as though the board members already had reached a foregone conclusion: that they could not rule on the merits of residents’ complaints.

“It’s had a tremendous impact on our community: damage to our houses,” Schneider said. “In my driveway, in particular, there’s about a 2-foot crack across the driveway that developed after the mine.”

“It was our belief that this was coming to an end. And that basically, the quarry would be phased out,” he said.