Maryland’s spending board approved a short-term lease extension Wednesday for a controversial eastern Baltimore County landfill, a step state officials said gives them additional time to plan for the facility’s closure.

As part of an agreement with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Days Cove Rubble Landfill in White Marsh will continue to operate inside Gunpowder Falls State Park under the terms of its previous lease, which expired in December, for six more months. The landfill will pay the state 10% of its gross revenue as rent, an amount estimated at $375,000, for the extension period.

A DNR official told the Board of Public Works on Wednesday that the lease extension would give the agency time to work with the landfill operator, Days Cove Reclamation Co., and the community on a long-term plan to shutter the 114-acre facility, which has operated on state park lands for four decades.

“The most important point I want to make is that it is DNR’s priority and commitment to finally close and cap this landfill and transfer its use to public accessible use at our beautiful Gunpowder Falls State Park,” deputy DNR secretary David Goshorn told the board. “That takes a little bit of time.”

The board, made up of Gov. Wes Moore, Comptroller Brooke Lierman and Treasurer Dereck Davis, approved the lease extension, which expires May 29.

The landfill, which accepts construction debris and sits within a few miles of two other landfills, has long been a flashpoint for local residents, who say the site has contributed to a steady erosion of recreational and economic life in their waterfront communities.

Calls to close the facility intensified in recent months, as it sought a permit to double its daily discharge of leachate, a potentially toxic liquid also known as “trash juice,” into the Gunpowder River. Days Cove Reclamation Co. has since withdrawn that request, and the permit remains under review by the Maryland Department of the Environment.

The landfill operator and DNR previously reached a lease agreement requiring the landfill to close by 2033, with no further extensions, and to cover the costs of capping, cleanup and restoration of the site to parkland. But the agreement was tabled in December when hundreds of concerned residents wrote in to say it didn’t go far enough in addressing their concerns about the facility’s environmental impact.

Since then, Goshorn said, the department held a meeting with community members. Another conversation is scheduled for later this month to gather input on the lease and future plans for the site.

The agency plans to resubmit an updated lease for the board’s approval in the spring.

“I obviously can’t guarantee that we’re going to come to 100% agreement on 100% of the issues, but at the very least, when we come back to you in the spring, we’ll have a plan that is informed by these conversations,” Goshorn said.