A group of neighbors objecting to the installation of 700 oyster cages over 5.5 acres of oyster ground in Milford Haven have filed suit in Mathews County Circuit Court to try to stop the project.

The case is scheduled for hearing at 10 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 21, in Gloucester County Circuit Court.

David L. Judson, his wife Rosalie, and son Tristan, along with the Gwynn’s Island Condominium Unit Owners’ Association and 60 additional signatories, filed the suit on Nov. 27. They also filed a request for an emergency injunction to keep Island Seafood owner Kevin Wade and his business partners J.D. Blackwell, a non-resident, and Ben Woodard from obtaining a VMRC permit to begin installation of the cages before the case can be heard.

According to the filing, Wade’s oyster cages would take up the entire water column and thereby “supplant approximately one-third of the navigable breadth of Milford Haven … effectively walling-off 5.5 acres of bottom lands, water ...