Citing the potential for school overcrowding, the county administrative hearing officer yesterday denied a request by the owner of a large wooded tract on Marley Neck to rezone the parcel for a residential development.
Jane Pumphrey Nes had envisioned putting townhouses, single-family dwellings and some back-to-back units on 112.57 acres along Marley Neck Boulevard near Tanyard Cove Road.
Ms. Nes and her developer, Regency Homes Corp., had sought to change the zoning on the property from a mix of commercial, industrial and residential to residential R-10.
The development had support from neighbors, who said surrounding industrial companies threaten their community.
But Robert C. Wilcox, the county hearing officer, wrote that already overcrowded George Fox Middle School did not have the capacity to absorb the number of children a 600- to 700-unit development might bring to the area.
Mr. Wilcox wrote that George Fox Middle is already overcrowded lTC by 34 students. The school is expected to exceed the state recommended capacity of 978 by 117 students in the 1996 school year, by 145 students in the 1997 school year and by 216 students in the 1999 school year.
Any appeal of Mr. Wilcox's decision must be filed within 30 days to the county Board of Appeals.
