The Howard Area Transit Service (HATS) may consider revamping some of its plans for providing bus service for western Howard County residents from Lisbon to The Mall in Columbia.
Residents who met with transportation officials at the Western Howard County Senior Citizens Center on Route 97 yesterday suggested the bus service begin at the Park and Ride in Lisbon or St. Michael's Church in Lisbon.
They also suggested varying the schedule to include runs to Ellicott City a few times a week. The proposed route is to begin at the Lisbon Fire Department on Route 144 and run three times a day to the mall, said Cheryl Mooty, a rural transportation planner for HATS.
The bus service, which is to begin in mid-February, will provide 18 stops including Route 144 and Carrs Mill Road, Ten Oaks Road and Route 108, and Little Patuxent Parkway and Cedar Lane near Howard County General Hospital.
A public meeting will be held Wednesday at 7: 30 p.m. at Glenelg High School to discuss further options.
Continuing-care facility granted special exception
The Howard County Board of Appeals unanimously approved a special exception Tuesday for construction of a continuing-care facility for the elderly on part of 104 undeveloped acres in southern Howard County.
The facility, which will be on 13 acres near the intersection of U.S. 29 and Johns Hopkins Road, will have 175 independent-living units, 40 assisted-living units and 34 health-care units for the growing number of elderly residents expected to move into the county, officials said.
The board also granted a two-year extension to begin the project.
The project is one of at least six being planned to almost double the amount of housing for the elderly in Howard. According to the state Office of Planning, the county has about 20,500 residents 60 and older, about 10 percent of the county's population.
The population in Howard is expected to increase by 25 percent in the next decade, while the number of residents 60 and older is expected to expand even faster, by about 70 percent.
Pub Date: 1/09/97
