HUNT VALLEY, Md. — The owner of a Baltimore County shopping center affected by a major water main break over the summer says he’s now footing the bill for related damages, even though he says the city should be responsible.
“I kind of had faith that something that was this cut and dry wouldn't really be an issue,” Mike Drzewiecki said. “But clearly, I shouldn’t have been surprised.”
Drzewiecki owns the Ashland Corner shopping center, directly adjacent to where a 30 inch water main broke along York Road on July 18 last year.
Gallons and gallons of water flowed down the parking lot and into a detention or stormwater pond that Drzewiecki is responsible for maintaining.
He says he had recently just paid for work to bring it into compliance.
The pond was wrecked by erosion, large soil deposits and pipes now needing re-grading because of the overflow of water.
Seeking about $8,600 for the anticipated repairs, Drzewiecki sought money from the city of Baltimore, which owns and maintains the water system.
In December, his claim was denied.
A claims investigator writing in a letter “the law in Maryland has long established that before a local government is required to pay a citizen for a loss, the claimant must first show that the City had notice of the defect which caused the loss and a reasonable opportunity to correct the defect.”
Drzewiecki appealed but was informed the decision stood and he was free to file suit as his remaining alternative to continue to pursue his case. He reached out to WMAR-2 News to share what he feels is an unfair situation.
"They have this system set up such that it would be impossible to meet their requirements, and there's no way for me to ever get paid for this loss even though they're clearly at fault,” he said. "To say that they don't have notice or that I needed to provide them notice, which I clearly would not be able to do, I find to be disingenuous."
RELATED: Businesses lose customers on busy weekend due to water main break in Baltimore County
Though the city owns it, it’s the county that’s been upgrading the water infrastructure, as part of an agreement dating back to the 1970s.
“We have aging infrastructure in the Baltimore area. This is part of that aging infrastructure,” director of Baltimore County DPW Lauren Buckler said in July 2025. “So although Baltimore County has been planning for a water line replacement in that area, unfortunately we've had this break before that's occurred.”
Baltimore City DPW spokesperson Mary Stewart told WMAR-2 News in an email “DPW cannot legally comment on pending litigation.”
At this time, no legal challenge has been filed, though Drzewiecki says he has been working with a lawyer. At this point, he says it may just be a lost cause.
“It's just kind of frustrating that it needs to be this way,” he said.
He expects now to pay out of pocket for the repairs before the end of this year to avoid any penalties or future problems.
According to Baltimore County Executive press secretary Dakarai Turner, the next scheduled inspection is December 2026 and if it's found to be non-compliant, the owner would be issued a notice.
