June 09, 2011|By Larry Carson, The Baltimore Sun
A proposed zoning change that would alter a key tool intended to spur redevelopment of the U.S. 1 commercial corridor and allow 140 more apartments in the highway median in North Laurel was approved on a 3-2 vote Monday night by the Howard County Council.
The vote allows the owners of Ashbury Courts, a 148-unit, mixed-use complex built on the site of a former trailer park, to build a planned second apartment building on the north end of the parking lot, but this time without the accompanying retail space required under the original zoning.
Critics, including County Council members Courtney Watson, an Ellicott City Democrat, and Greg Fox, a Fulton Republican, argued in vain that while the change may be needed, it should wait until a once-per-decade comprehensive review of county zoning, likely to occur in several years.
But Jerry Ricciardi, president of Patriot Realty, the project's developer, said that the project might fail without new units. More retail won't help, he said, since the first-floor retail space in the existing building remains 75 percent vacant.
"That's one-fifth of the building," Ricciardi said after the vote.
County Councilwoman Jen Terrasa, a Democrat who represents the area, said the zoning change is needed to save what she called "a pioneering project" at the southern gateway to Howard County. Allowing Ashbury Courts to fail could influence other potential projects and hurt the effort to improve the corridor, she said. Approving the bill says the opposite, she said.
"It sends a message to the business community that Howard County appreciates their investment in North Laurel," she told her colleagues before casting her "yes" vote.
Steven F. Hunt, a community resident who supported the change, said residents feel the zone, labeled "Corridor Activity Center" when it was created during the last comprehensive rezoning, has not worked as intended, and that Ashbury Courts cannot afford to wait until a general fix is crafted.
"I don't think there is time for that. This project would fail," he said.
Community members ended up supporting Patriot's request after a series of meetings in which Patriot agreed to make the exterior appearance of the original building more attractive, contribute a $50,000 matching grant to the county to build sidewalks south to the county line, provide meeting space for the community, and do a thorough traffic study to ease residents' fears that the new units would make congestion worse. In addition, the new building must be submitted for review by the county's Design Advisory Panel.
Sang Oh, the attorney for Patriot, told the council in March that the apartments were rented quickly, but the retail store space on the first floor was not. The new units would financially boost the project and provide more potential customers, needed to attract more retail businesses, he said.
Mary Rekus, a nearby resident, said the developers had the right to build a second building anyway and have worked with the community to craft an agreement everyone could live with.
"Our biggest issue was to get them to follow the proper process," she said, with plenty of notice.
The bill was introduced several months ago, but then tabled as negotiations continued.
Critics of the move warn that allowing a zoning change for an entire category of properties in order to affect one site is risky, especially since the county land review is due in the next several years.
"This bill doubles residential density on one particular property," Fox said before voting against the bill. Watson said she was sympathetic to the developer's plight, but also agreed with Fox that the issue should be dealt with during comprehensive rezoning. She said she and others are frustrated that the process is not ready to begin now.
Community leaders in Elkridge, in Watson's district, agreed.
"They really should address this in comprehensive rezoning and fix it everywhere," said Howard Johnson, president of the Greater Elkridge Community Association. The retail segment at Ashbury Court did not work, he said, because it was poorly designed, with small store spaces and too little customer parking.
In other action, two zoning proposals were withdrawn by the residents who requested them, according to Council Chairman Calvin Ball. One would have limited new funeral homes to areas already equipped with public water and sewer service. The second would have eliminated "limited outdoor social assemblies" from activities allowed in rural residential areas.
Both stem from ongoing disputes, including a fight over a large funeral home proposed in Clarksville and a neighborhood battle over Robert and Maxine Walker's intent to rent out 10 acres of their farm on Jennings Chapel Road for social events on weekends. Another bill still before the council would require more parking for funeral homes.
The council also approved a resolution asking that the county's sustainability board review the nine- to 12-month federal environmental review of two possible locations for a proposed CSX rail cargo transfer facility that could come to Howard County.
larry.carson@baltsun.com
