This is part two of nine in the Paving Paradise series. To read the full article click here.

Perryman's Landscape Legacy

The Perryman Peninsula has seen many cycles of change since European colonization. Originally inhabited by Iroquois, the first European contact came with John Smith’s Chesapeake voyage in 1608. Settled by Episcopalians, Perryman would quickly become a productive agricultural peninsula relying heavily on slave labor. A census in 1771 counted a total of 1,440 people. Roughly 55% of the population was White and 45% Black, approaching equal Black and White populations, a ratio typically seen only in southern plantation states. After the passing of the 13th amendment in 1865 and slavery abolition, the agricultural industry shifted towards corn canning, utilizing exploitative company labor. Perryman would change again when in response to World War I, Congress purchased 69,000 acres of peninsula land for Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) from farmers, many of whom were Black descendants of the area’s intensive slaving past. Moving into the 20th and early 21st century, Perryman would become a quintessential Chesapeake town, a mixture of farm fields and waterfront residential development, with close knit community ties based on their rich, complex history. However, in the last 20 years, the landscape of Perryman itself, and its history, are being paved over for distribution centers to feed an ever growing demand for direct-to-consumer goods.

Perryman Peninsula and Maryland Mega Warehouses  

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With wide open spaces, low population density, and close proximity to urban communities, Perryman Peninsula became an ideal location to site industrial warehouses. Clorox built the first modern industrial facility in the area in 1992. The Clorox company subsequently opened another facility in 1998, employing nearly 200 people; this marks a critical turnaround point, as Perryman began transitioning from farming and canning to industrial uses, like warehouses and distribution centers. Enabled by local zoning changes from agriculture to “light industrial” in the early 2000s, distribution center development exploded on the peninsula. At the turn of the century, large tracts of farmland were converted into warehouses for rapidly growing companies like Bob’s Discount Furniture, Wayfair, and Amazon. Historic land owners continue to sell off their property for development, despite intense opposition from neighboring residents. One such family, the Mitchells, are at the center of controversy.

For Sale by Owner

The Mitchell family was the driving force of Perryman’s historic canning industry. In the 1920s, F.O. Mitchell & Sons, Inc., produced 200 tons of canned corn per day. The company would operate until the mid 1980s. At its height, the Mitchell family owned approximately 1,000 acres of Perryman Peninsula land as of 2012, becoming the single largest private landowner, according to tax parcel records. In 2015, the Mitchells sold 208 acres of their property along the border of Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG). That property is now home to three distribution centers and another under development. The historic canning buildings still stand, vacant and in disrepair, beneath the shadow of a 672,00 square foot Bob’s Discount Furniture warehouse.

The Mitchell family plans to sell an additional 711 acres of property in the center of Perryman to the Chesapeake Real Estate Group. If the deal goes through, the land will house the third largest distribution complex in the country, including one building that will become the eighth largest in the country. The development will offer 5.24 million square feet of warehouse space for lease, equivalent to over 90 American football fields. Perryman residents unhappy about the development have limited recourse. As an unincorporated community, Perryman Peninsula has no direct representation; it’s governed by the seven-member Harford County Council and the Harford County Executive. As a result, proposed legislation addressing distribution center development must be heard at the county level. Without a town council and the resulting power over issues like zoning and construction, Perryman residents lack the political agency to approve or reject zoning and construction projects in their community. To influence the decision-making process, residents must articulate their grievances in Bel Air, the county seat and a 25-minute drive from Perryman. Construction projects call for a series of county, state, and federal permits, requiring social and environmental impact statements, traffic studies, construction plans, and other documents. As long as these permits are approved, residents have little say in whether the project moves forward. Neighbors first learned of the plans in November 2021, when notices about the development were sent to residents; reportedly, 73 were distributed. At the first Community Input Meeting in December 2021, nearly 300 people showed up to voice their concerns. Following that meeting, Perryman residents organized to form the Protect Perryman Peninsula coalition (3P), citing nuisances from existing distribution centers, quickly dwindling undeveloped land, and potential threats to wells that provide drinking water to a third of Harford County's 250,000 residents.

To see the next section in the Paving Paradise series, Truck Trouble click here.