Project planners presented the gas station concept to the city’s Board of Appeals at a contentious meeting Thursday, requesting that the project be granted approval for “conditional use” on the 33.32-acre property. Per city code, project planners must receive approval from the board before they are obligated to submit site plans outlining the project in detail.

Current information for the project states that a gas station and a 25+-room hotel are planned for the land, but no details on the number of gas pumps, number of hotel rooms, square footage, vehicle access, parking, traffic impact or other details have been made available for either of the proposals.

Mitch Ensor, with Bay State Land Services, told the board he had been working with the property since it was annexed into Havre de Grace about 10 years ago.

He explained that the land’s current zoning allows for a mix of commercial and residential development, and said a gas station is in line with the city’s comprehensive development plan.

Ensor also said every intersection in the county with a state road that intersects Interstate 95 — as Level Road does near the proposed development — has a gas station, which he said causes a need for the proposed gas station.

Residents of nearby housing developments attended the meeting and expressed concern with traffic, noise, quality of life, environmental concerns, overdevelopment and the impact the gas station would have on their home value. Many residents said that within a 5-mile radius, there are numerous gas stations and the proposal is unnecessary.

Some residents said developments in the area will add more residents and increase traffic: Bulle Rock plans to expand, and The Legacies is ready to break ground on 290 new homes off Level Road.

Speaking for himself and not as a City Council member, City Council President Jim Ringsaker emphasized that the property’s zoning allows for commercial development and said he fears not passing the conditional use could open the city to litigation.

He also criticized some of the project opponents, saying many did not live in city limits.

“While I don’t discount [what] everyone said, I understand if you live there, you don’t want stuff going in. But they don’t live in Havre de Grace,” Ringsaker said. “They are not within the city limits of Havre de Grace, and I think that diminishes the weight of the petition.”

Crowd members audibly sighed and snarked at the comment.

Acknowledging the concerns of the residents, Ensor said his review of the gas station found it would not have any impact on surrounding developments.

“I think the newly developing neighborhoods would be perfect users and convenient use of a gas station,” Ensor said, prompting audible laughs from the attending residents.

Despite the outline of a gas station and “over 25+-room hotel” being presented, board members said they do not have enough information regarding either of the developments to approve or deny the request for conditional use on the property.

After numerous back-and-forth conversations among board members, project planners and meeting attendees, it was determined that the project’s representatives are unsure of the development’s traffic impact as well as the scope of the gas station or hotel at this time because a tenant for either of the projects has yet to be identified.

Board members said numerous times that the project very well could be a one-pump gas station or something as big as a travel center.

The board voted to table its decision on the conditional use for the gas station and the hotel, citing a request for the project planners to present them with the project’s traffic conditions; planned facility usage; effect on local houses; protection of surrounding properties and conservation of property values.

Both projects will go before the city’s board of appeals at a later date. Project planners said that once a date is set for the next meeting, they will provide the requested information to the board.

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X.

Juan Yahir Quiroz Manzueta, 21, of Yonkers, New York, is charged with attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault and second-degree assault on a law enforcement officer. Police say Manzueta was driving a rental truck full of stolen used cooking oil Aug. 26 on Interstate 95, fleeing police, when he struck a police officer with the truck.

The officer, Lt. Robert Burgess, a 29-year member of Harford County Sheriff’s Office, was thrown nearly 40 yards after being hit and suffered critical injuries. He was airlifted to the Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore but has since been released and is expected to make a full recovery.

Manzueta was extradited from New York to Harford County last week; he faces a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.

In his first hearing since extradition on Monday, Manzueta’s bond review took five matters into account. Aside from the three felonies he faces for injuring a Harford police officer, Manzueta’s charges include driving without a license in Anne Arundel County; two counts of theft and two counts of malicious destruction in Baltimore County; and driving on a suspended out of state license in both Prince George’s and Cecil counties.

The Harford County Public Defender’s Office requested that Manzueta continue to be held without bail. Prosecutors agreed and emphasized that Manzueta has been charged under different aliases for other charges in other states for offenses such as the theft of used cooking oil — something police recovered out of the Penske rental truck he used to flee police on Aug. 26.

Harford County District Court Judge Kerwin Miller deemed Manzueta a threat to public safety and ordered that he be held without bail.

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X. 

Juan Yahir Quiroz Manzueta, 21, of Yonkers, New York, is charged with attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault and second-degree assault on a law enforcement officer — all felonies.

The sheriff’s office said that after several weeks of legal proceedings, Quiroz Manzueta declined to waive his extradition and was returned to Harford County to face trial. He is being held without bond in the Harford County Detention Center, according to police.

Quiroz Manzueta’s charges date back to Aug. 26, when Harford County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Robert Burgess initiated a traffic stop on a Penske rental truck that police say was driving erratically in the Churchville area. The routine traffic stop turned into a chase when Quiroz Manzueta fled, striking numerous cars on the roadway, according to police.

Quiroz Manzueta drove the wrong way on Interstate 95 during the chase and was later engaged again by Burgess, who got out of his unmarked patrol car on the highway and attempted to deploy Stop Sticks. Quiroz Manzueta swerved and struck Burgess, knocking him 30 to 40 feet across the road, police said.

Burgess was critically injured and airlifted to Maryland Shock Trauma Center while police worked to locate Quiroz Manzueta, who police say bailed from the rental truck at some point during the chase. Burgess has since been released from the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.

After the pursuit ended with the truck going into the woods, police found a large container of used cooking oil in the back of the truck, which police said was linked to a theft at Applebee’s in Aberdeen. Police said the theft was unknown to Burgess at the time of the pursuit.

Used cooking oil is primarily used to produce renewable biodiesel, animal feed and other industrial products. Biodiesel is a multibillion-dollar market with industries such as Formula 1 — the highest class of international single-seater auto racing — phasing out traditional gasoline in favor of biofuels that rely on used cooking oil.

Police said they found paperwork for a biodiesel business in Quiroz Manzueta’s possession when he was arrested.

According to online business records, Quiroz Manzueta is listed as the “registered agent” for Maryland Biodiesel, LLC. Records show the New York-based company is active and was started in June.

Police said investigators have yet to confirm Quiroz Manzueta’s possible involvement with the business.

Investigators identified Quiroz Manzueta hours after the pursuit by using fingerprints from the Penske truck, GPS data and the rental agreement supplied by Penske. They also reconstructed a damaged cellphone found in the truck.

Quiroz Manzueta was tracked to an apartment in New Rochelle, New York, where he was arrested the next morning by U.S. Marshals.

According to virtual court documents, Quiroz Manzueta has a bond review hearing at 1 p.m. Monday before the Harford County District Court. His preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 8 at the same time and location.

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X. 

Baltimore County Police said around 8 p.m. Saturday, officers responded to the report of a stabbing at the mall. An investigation discovered that the four teens — between the ages of 14 and 17 — committed second-degree assault and robbery against another group of teens, according to police.

Police said one of the teens sustained a laceration from a screwdriver possessed by one of the suspects. All of the items taken from the victims in the alleged robbery were recovered by responding officers, police said.

Police said the four teens were then taken into custody. One was referred to the Department of Juvenile Services, while the other three were released to their parents, according to police.

Baltimore County Police said Sunday that the teen is now facing attempted murder charges for the robbery and assault, and is being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center.

According to the Towson Town Center’s website, anyone under the age of 17 must be accompanied by a parent or a supervising adult that is 21 or older after 4 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Baltimore County Police said they will be “working closely” with mall security to “ensure its parental guidance policy is being adhered to.”

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X. 

Plans for the proposed development show the 18 homes spread throughout a 47.54-acre parcel of open field with a roadway cutting across the property.

The roadway, according to the proposed plans, will lead to West Jarrettsville and Rock Spring roads, providing an entry and exit to the development.

According to site data, the property is one of the last large open fields in the area, surrounded by higher-density neighborhoods, businesses, the Forest Hill Airport and forest land.

The project is moving through Harford County’s development process, having had its Development Advisory Committee hearing Wednesday morning.

So far, the project’s Forest Delineation Plan — a plan outlining the impact a project will have on trees and the surrounding environment — is the only portion of the project to receive approval.

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X.

The 33.32 acres of land where developers intend to build the new businesses are now vacant and semi-forested. The land is zoned under “Residential Business,” and before a hotel or gas station could be built there, the city’s Board of Appeals must approve. More specific details on both the hotel and gas station have not yet been made publicly available.

The Board of Appeals is expected to recommend approval at Thursday’s hearing, according to staff reports for both projects. If the board approves, the project must next get final approval from the Department of Planning.

Thursday’s meeting at Havre de Grace City Hall at 711 Pennington Ave. will begin at 6:30 p.m.

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X. 

Glassman broke his yearslong silence on his successor in a public statement he posted late last week.

He says Harford County was in a strong financial position when he finished his eight years in office in 2022, and that Cassilly’s claim that he inherited a $90 million deficit from Glassman is incorrect.

Cassilly, who is running for reelection in 2026, took office in December 2022 and has said the county was spending $90 million more than it was bringing in at the time. Cassilly used $90 million of the county’s savings to cover the deficit in his fiscal 2024 budget and said he had been working to reduce the deficit ever since by slowing spending and not raising taxes.

In a news release addressing Cassilly’s claim, Glassman said he “has refrained from publicly criticizing the current county executive or his administration,” but said Cassilly’s claim of the deficit is “simply untrue” since an audit showed Glassman left a surplus of $175.7 million.

Though he emphasized his belief that statesmen shouldn’t criticize their successor or predecessor, Glassman said he finally had enough of Cassilly criticizing his administration.

“I felt it wasn’t fair because we did a lot of work to build up big balances and get through COVID and I felt like with my administration, someone should stand up and defend what we did,” Glassman said. “It is disingenuous as a political statement to say I left a deficit.”

Glassman’s last budget as county executive was the fiscal 2023 budget, which grew county spending by about 15% compared with the county’s historical 3% to 5% annual budget growth.

“Revenue in that year did not grow by 15%,” Cassilly said. “Spending more than your revenue is by definition a ‘structural deficit.’ This is not a political statement; it is a fact.”

Glassman said he had increased the county’s savings to about $175.7 million at the time and wanted to help property owners by giving them a 5-cent tax reduction, saving them a few hundred dollars per year, and costing the county about $20 million in revenue.

County Treasurer Robert Sandlass, who was hired by Glassman and serves under Cassilly, said the $90 million deficit was largely caused by Glassman’s increase in county spending, reduced property taxes and a multitude of state-mandated spending increases such as education funding, public safety expenses and state expenses that were passed to the counties to fund.

Sandlass said he informed Glassman about the implications of his decisions at the time.

“Finance guys, we are always going to say we can’t afford that — it’s the nature of being a finance person,” Sandlass said. “From Barry’s perspective at the time, he saw the inflation and wanted to provide something back to the taxpayers while funding the departments.”

Glassman said he went through with the tax cut at the time since the data showed the cut wouldn’t have an adverse impact on the county.

During fiscal 2024 budget discussions, Cassilly implemented a cellphone tax, reduced education spending, and received revenue increases from state property assessments.

“Even with that modest tax cut, the county is taking more money in property tax revenue, the cellphone tax and other fees, so the tax cut was kind of wiped out in [Cassilly’s] first year,” Glassman said.

Sandlass explained that regardless of the fee increases, the “aggressive” fiscal 2023 budget set the stage for county-funded entities, such as the school system and sheriff’s office, to expect even higher increases in following years. But the county’s boosted revenues would not have been able to keep up.

No matter how the county’s expenses were paid, Sandlass said the county has “never ever” been in a position where it could not pay its bills. Similarly, Glassman said the county budget has never been in the red, but understands the politics in claiming otherwise if the county has to dip into its fund balance to cover recurring expenses.

“There is a narrative where you can say that when you use reserves, you have a deficit, but that’s a political statement and an interpretation,” Glassman said. “The bottom line is that the budgets, as audited and approved, are in the black and the fund balances are not in deficit situations.”

“This county built up its fund balances, but we had an aggressive budget, reduced our revenues and we started eating into that fund balance,” Sandlass said. “We had enough savings so we could weather it, the fund balances were built up but when you start using $90 million in fund balance, it doesn’t take many years before you run out.”

Glassman said the timeline for when Cassilly claimed to have inherited the $90 million deficit to when he “erased it” was something he saw coming since Cassilly made the claim three years ago.

“I said three years ago that when the county said they walked into a structural deficit that it would be gone by election time,” Glassman said. “One of the reasons I don’t miss elected politics anymore is because it is now the new normal to be disingenuous and spin things a certain way. The climate in Harford is a reflection of what we see at the dysfunctional federal level and problems at the state level.”

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X.

As of Tuesday night, 924 voters casted ballots. Incumbent Etting received 595 votes, followed by Gavin Hanley, who received 589, and Matthew Gullion, who received 347 votes.

Final election results will be available late next week, according to the town’s Public Information Officer David Anderson, and the commissioners will be sworn in Nov. 17.

Etting, 66, was elected as commissioner in November 2021 and appointed mayor of Bel Air in November 2023. She has lived in Bel Air for over 30 years and campaigned on ensuring responsible development that promotes homeownership and that fits the character of Bel Air.

During her first term as a commissioner, she supported different pieces of legislation that addressed issues like open space in new developments and reducing the number of dwellings per acre.

Etting said before Tuesday’s election that if reelected she would address the revenue shortfall of the Bel Air parking garage, which does not bring in enough annual revenue to sustain itself. She said the garage is an enterprise fund that should be financially self-sufficient, but each year, funding of the garage dips into the town’s reserve fund.

Hanley, 27, ran with the intention to preserve Bel Air’s historic character by warding off high-density housing developments while also addressing the needs of residents and promoting public participation in local government.

His election marks his first official seat in politics. Outside of his goals for the town, Hanley was inspired to run by his father, Terry Hanley, who is the current deputy director of Parks and Recreation for Harford County, and a former mayor of Bel Air, where he served from 2005 to 2007, after two terms as a commissioner.

On the campaign trail, Hanley said he would work as a commissioner to promote homeownership in the town of Bel Air and prevent large, multifamily, high-density projects from changing the town’s character.

Despite former commissioner Mary Chance’s seat being filled in this election, the board of Bel Air Commissioners will still have one vacancy after Commissioner James B. Rutledge III announced his resignation last month.

The board is seeking applicants to fill his seat, meaning Gullion, who was not elected Tuesday, could apply for the vacancy.

Rutledge was most recently elected in 2023. The person selected to fill his seat will serve the rest of his four-year term, which ends in 2027.

The appointment will be made about 30 days after the town election, according to Etting.

Qualified applicants must have been a resident of the Town of Bel Air for at least six months before applying and must be registered to vote in the state of Maryland, Harford County and Bel Air. The deadline to apply for the vacancy is noon Nov. 20.

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X.

Clark Turner, representing the local development company Trademark Homes, presented the plans to the Havre de Grace City Council on Monday night. Turner explained that the hospital is composed of seven parcels of land in the area of Downtown Havre de Grace bordered by Stokes, Revolution, Market and Alliance streets.

The hospital property is part of the city’s Residential Office zoning strip that spans 10 blocks from Giles to Green streets, between Freedom Lane and Lodge Lane. The thin, extensive zoning band — referred to as the “hospital district” — was initially established to support independent businesses such as florists and pharmacies when the hospital was in full operation, and accommodates business, office and residential development.

Turner said that since the hospital is being torn down, there is no need for office space in the area and that additional business would bring competition to the city’s thriving downtown commerce area — leading Trademark Homes to focus exclusively on housing.

“The hospital is really the heart of the town so it’s very important that we are sensitive to that and do something that is good for the town,” Turner said.

Current plans show the properties being turned into single-family homes that are the same height and scale of the existing homes in the area. Turner said the new homes would “mimic the architecture of Washington Street and Union Avenue” — keeping in character with the area.

According to images shown during the meeting, 16 lots bordered by Strawberry Lane, Washington, Lewis and Revolution streets will be cottages built for senior citizens that will feature adaptive amenities like access without steps, wider doorways and wider hallways.

“They are adaptable for people to age in place but not anything institutional in feel — still very residential,” Turner said. “This population that we have likes Havre de Grace and does not want to leave … so this gives an opportunity for them to live independently and age in place.”

Along with the single-family homes, Turner outlined plans for a park in the area from Revolution Street down Union Avenue toward the parking garage, in honor of the hospital’s extensive history. The park will have placards, gardens, benches and a statue of a medical professional.

The century-old Harford Memorial Hospital operated under the University of Maryland Medical System and closed in February 2024 due to its aging infrastructure. A newly updated University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Aberdeen opened the same month.

Havre de Grace Mayor Bill Martin said developers have pitched ideas for some “serious high-density apartments” in place of the hospital in recent years and that the city welcomes the plans Trademark Homes outlined.

“Can you imagine the intersection at Revolution and Union Avenue at 7 o’clock in the morning with 500 apartment units going to work?” Martin said. “We like the product, we think the opportunity to provide more houses for the people to live in Havre de Grace is always a great thing.”

Outside of the pushback from residents who opposed apartments and condominiums on the hospital site, Turner said redevelopment of the buildings on the property is not even viable due to the age of the buildings.

Martin noted that Turner and Bob Ward, the owner of Trademark Homes, both live in Downtown Havre de Grace within blocks of the development. He said that while plans for the hospital could change, he trusts Trademark Homes because of their hyper-local connection to the area.

A timeline for the development, Turner said, is not set as the plans have not been finalized. However, Turner said he expects the bid for environmental cleanup to take about four months.

After the bidding process, Turner said he expects demolition of the hospital to take about three months and two months for all of the material to be removed from the site. 

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X. 

Anne Arundel County Fire officials said crews were dispatched to Fort Meade Road and Russett Green for the report of a car crash around 8:42 p.m.

A short time later, the call was upgraded to a stabbing and two people were transported to Maryland Shock Trauma, fire officials said. According police, the stabbing occurred after occupants of one of the vehicles began attacking the occupants of the other vehicle following the crash.

Police were unable to indicate if the stabbing was out of self-defense, but said the matter is under investigation and will be presented to the Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office for evaluation.

The two people taken to Shock Trauma were treated for what police said were non-life-threatening injuries related to the stabbing. A child was also taken to the hospital to be treated for a dislocated arm.

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X.