Bill Lagna doesn't feel he's leading a coup.
As the first president of a community group created in the wake of a divisive plan to build condominiums at a weathered marina in Bowleys Quarters, Lagna says the goal is to unify residents on the eastern Baltimore County peninsula.
"The intent of the group is to try to come up with acceptable developments that will fit in with the general theme of the existing neighborhood," says Lagna, president of the new Bowleys Quarters Community Association. "We would like community input and to listen to the entire community - for and against any issue."
There is still some debate - and lingering tension - in the neighborhood about the condo proposal that last year became so intense that some residents called for the impeachment of the Bowleys Quarters Improvement Association president.
And, Lagna says, even now, not everyone agrees about the Galloway Creek condos.
"There are many opinions in the group at this time," says Lagna, who has lived in Bowleys Quarters since 1985, and whose family has owned a summer house there for more than 50 years.
Milt Rehbein, owner of the Galloway Creek Marina, first proposed to build a 36-unit condo building in late 2006.
Zoning for Rehbein's property would allow 22 homes to be built, so he applied for a "planned unit development," or PUD - a designation that, while subjecting the plans to public hearings, eliminates certain zoning rules if the project is deemed a community benefit.
When Rehbein presented the plan to the Bowleys Quarters Improvement Association in April 2006, the members voted to support the project: 75 in favor of the condos, 25 against, 1 undecided.
Some residents say that the project - and what was at stake - was not clear during that meeting.
But based on the improvement association's support, Joseph Bartenfelder, the county councilman whose east-side district includes Bowleys Quarters, introduced the marina condo project as a PUD, which was passed by the County Council in September.
But that didn't settle the issue in the community. Instead, neighbors started writing "No condos" on poster board and staking the signs in their yards.
Supporters of Rehbein's plan say it would be a worthy addition to the area.
They say it would look nicer than the outdated buildings on the property. Some residents say that they like the idea of being able to remain in the waterfront community but not have the maintenance of a home.
