NEWS
By Madison Park | June 22, 2008
The Aberdeen planning commission has recommended single-family dwellings for a development that had originally sought to build more than 1,600 homes and condominiums. Several members of the city's Planning and Zoning commission said the petition to build the dwellings on 497 acres, which would be annexed by Aberdeen, was too dense. Christopher Michaels, management director of the project called Glengarry, said last week it was unclear what the property owners would pursue next. "I don't mean to sound ambiguous," he said.
NEWS
June 17, 2008
As anyone who has tried to navigate the junction of Interstates 70 and 270 in the late afternoon knows, the city of Frederick has no shortage of drivers on its roads. That congestion is just one reason why proposals to annex land for commercial development and thousands of new homes have some people in the area nervous. Nevertheless, Frederick, which grew like gangbusters during the 1990s, is on track for more growth and development now that the city has secured access to millions of gallons a day of Potomac River water.
NEWS
By Timothy B. Wheeler | June 9, 2008
FREDERICK - The clustered church spires immortalized in a famous Civil War poem still anchor the downtown skyline of this historic city. But the "green-walled hills" cradling the town are likely to sprout walls of brick, concrete and vinyl siding if a bevy of developers gets its way. Municipal officials are weighing no fewer than 14 requests to annex nearly 2,300 acres - much of it farm fields and horse pasture - so that developers can build millions of...
NEWS
By Madison Park | March 21, 2008
Headlights beaming through front windows. Gunfire in the neighborhood. Some who live in the Locksley Manor subdivision just outside Aberdeen's city limits say it's happening again. The owner of a neighboring golf course at the center of a dispute over annexation was charged in November after shots were fired in the neighborhood. The annexation issue came up again last week at a city meeting -- along with, several residents said, commotion in their subdivision. Paul Burkheimer said he called police after a truck that was parked across from his house beamed its headlights through his front window about 11:30 p.m. Saturday.
NEWS
By Madison Park | November 14, 2007
A Harford County golf course owner faces charges after being accused of firing shots near homes, state police said. Samuel C. Smedley, 50, was charged with one count of having a handgun in a vehicle, one count of disorderly conduct and two counts of reckless endangerment in connection with the incident Saturday, according to police. Smedley was a key figure in an Aberdeen annexation proposal. Last year, the Aberdeen City Council attempted to annex 524 acres to make way for a development of more than 1,000 homes.
NEWS
By Madison Park | November 3, 2007
Distributing campaign fliers and pamphlets, a group of community activists has been canvassing Aberdeen neighborhoods every weekend in a door-to-door effort to persuade the electorate to sweep Mayor S. Fred Simmons out of office. But most of the group's members are devoting time and money in hopes of influencing an election they can't take part in - they're not Aberdeen residents. Nonresidents have taken keen interest in this Tuesday's election, which features competitive mayoral and council races.
NEWS
By Timothy B. Wheeler | April 25, 2007
NEW MARKET -- Voters in this historic town east of Frederick voted yesterday to reject annexation of 262 acres of former farmland that would have increased the tiny community's population nearly fivefold. Capping a six-month debate about the future of Maryland's self-styled antiques capital, residents voted 148-105 against the annexation, which would have allowed 925 new homes to be built. About three-quarters of the town's 340 registered voters marked paper ballots in yesterday's referendum.
NEWS
April 6, 2007
Ariz. won't try sniper in slaying TUCSON, Ariz. --John Allen Muhammad, one of two men charged in the 2002 Washington-area sniper shootings, will not be tried for a Tucson killing, a Pima County official said. There is little point in trying to convict Muhammad in Arizona because he is on death row in Virginia for his role in the shootings, Chief Criminal Deputy Attorney David Berkman said Wednesday. Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were arrested after 10 people were killed and three were wounded during a three-week period in October 2002.
NEWS
January 3, 2007
Speaker Busch fills subcommittee seats House Speaker Michael E. Busch picked 10 lawmakers yesterday to lead the subcommittees that help shape the state budget. Slots as chairmen or vice chairmen of subcommittees are generally the lowest rungs on the Annapolis leadership ladder, but the House Appropriations Committee, which annually works through the state's $29 billion budget to decide what programs to cut and which to keep, relies heavily on its subcommittees to make decisions. That means the chairmen and vice chairmen of those groups have an unusual amount of influence over transportation projects, public buildings, education funding and other issues.
NEWS
By Justin Fenton | December 4, 2006
On a breezy September afternoon, Jerry Queen invited some friends over for a cookout on his front lawn, which overlooks a golf course that the city of Aberdeen wants to annex to help make way for more than 1,000 homes. After throwing some hot dogs on the grill, he pulled his pickup truck onto the grass and opened the hood - to maximize the sound of his horn when he blared it into a golfer's backswing. He decided against actually laying on the horn, on the advice of his attorney, but the golf course owner who is pushing the development likely got the message anyway: All the attendees at his party were wearing red shirts, the uniform of those opposed to the proposed annexation that has riven this Harford County community.