Cattail Creek

A group of development-wary residents have filed a lawsuit against Howard County that claims the government's process of making land-use decisions illegally denies citizens the right to challenge them by referendum. The 124-page suit, filed in federal court by residents contesting three prominent development projects, is the latest salvo in the decades-long clash over growth in the well-heeled county of about 270,000. The suit alleges that the county has violated the county charter for years by making land-use decisions via County Council resolutions and administrative decisions instead of by bill or ordinance.

The residents who purchased expensive townhouses and single-family homes in a western Howard County community in the state's most expensive ZIP code ended up with views of open, grassy slopes, proximity to a golf club, capacious living rooms with high ceilings, open floor plans, extra bedrooms and countryside-like quietude. For their money - around a half-million dollars and significantly more in many cases - they also bought a headache: A truck rumbles down their street several times a day to cart away sewage because the community's on-site sewage plant does not work.

Longtime opponents of a planned Glenwood senior citizen complex will kick off another fight tomorrow at a Board of Appeals hearing, targeting a proposed 32-home neighborhood next to the complex site off Route 97.Critics say the latest proposed project would bring too much suburban sprawl into a rural part of the county and possibly threaten residents' well water."

In a long anticipated move, the Howard County Board of Appeals approved construction of a proposed 116-unit condominium complex in Glenwood last night.By a 3-1 vote, board members ended a four-month series of contentious hearings on the senior citizen project slated for 58 acres next to Cattail Creek Country Club.Developer Donald Reuwer was seeking a special exception under zoning rules to build the complex, which would offer condominium homes of 1,800 to 2,000 square feet at prices estimated at $210,000 to $250,000.

The developer of a proposed 116-unit senior citizens complex in Glenwood weathered repeated and heated questions about the project's potential impact on the environment, water supplies and traffic along busy Route 97 during a public hearing yesterday.About 50 residents, led by two slow-growth advocates, fired questions and statements at developer Donald Reuwer, who is seeking a special exception to build condominiums on 58 acres near Cattail Creek Country Club.While many of the questions centered on "what ifs" and several others focused on legal technicalities, Reuwer defended his project, saying it was good for Howard County and filled a need.

Opponents of a proposed 116-unit condominium complex in western Howard say they will renew their fight next week in a meeting with state environmental officials.Developer Donald Reuwer and his engineers will present information about the site's proposed septic system before a group of environmental officials at a public meeting in Ellicott City.The septic system, which could discharge up to 34,800 gallons a day, was a contentious issue during 13 hearings spanning four months before the county Board of Appeals.

An official with the agency that oversees the Washington area's reservoirs said last night that a proposed senior citizen complex in Glenwood could contaminate water supplies because it is too close to a major watershed.But William Kennedy, an environmental affairs manager for the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, said he was only expressing the WSSC's concerns about the 116-unit condominium complex and that the agency does not oppose the project."We came here to raise concerns, find out details about the project," Kennedy told county officials last night.

Where some see the benign image of 200 senior citizens living out their retirement on 58 acres in bucolic western Howard County, others see contaminated ground water and crowded roads.Residents of Glenwood who oppose the Villas at Cattail Creek are expected to turn out in force Saturday at a Board of Appeals hearing on the special exception needed by developer Donald Reuwer -- one of Howard County's most prolific developers -- to build the 116-unit condominium complex for senior citizens.

After four months of public hearings, supporters and opponents of a proposed 116-unit condominium complex in Glenwood folded up their papers, packed up their exhibits and stopped objecting to each other's arguments early Friday morning.The Battle of Cattail Creek is almost over.Lawyers for both sides must submit written closing arguments this month. The County Board of Appeals will hold a work session May 5 to debate the proposal to build the Villas of Cattail Creek, a senior citizens' community planned for 58 acres adjacent to Cattail Creek Country Club.

A proposed senior-citizen condominium complex near the Cattail Creek Country Club in Glenwood met fierce opposition at last night's Board of Appeals public hearing.In a room packed with about 75 people, the board heard testimony from one witness and the developer's statements about the proposed complex, to be located just north of the country club on the western side of Route 97.The unexpected number of opponents wishing to testify will prolong the hearings until March 10, officials said.

The strong smell of human feces that residents of the upscale Villas of Cattail Creek say sporadically seeps out of their new community sewage treatment plant is just the latest indignity after the nearly five years without a working sewage system that preceded it. "It's just never-ending," said Renee Parcover, one of the 55-and-older residents of what was intended to be an idyllic group of 93 retirement homes next to a country club and golf course in...

Lawyers for Howard County used strong language in seeking dismissal of what they characterized as a "frivolous" federal suit filed by residents who say the county's land-use decision process is unconstitutional. The exchange is the latest chapter in the continuing development wars in the prosperous, fast-growing county. "This lawsuit is merely the chosen vehicle for a handful of residents to vent their frustration over three land-use projects in Howard County," County Solicitor Margaret Ann Nolan argued in the county's March 31 reply to the suit.

A group of development-wary residents have filed a lawsuit against Howard County that claims the government's process of making land-use decisions illegally denies citizens the right to challenge them by referendum. The 124-page suit, filed in federal court by residents contesting three prominent development projects, is the latest salvo in the decades-long clash over growth in the well-heeled county of about 270,000. The suit alleges that the county has violated the county charter for years by making land-use decisions via County Council resolutions and administrative decisions instead of by bill or ordinance.

The chance to live in what was billed as the county's only gated golf course community for seniors drew eager buyers to bucolic Glenwood over the past five years. But a lawsuit filed by the county government claims that the developers and builders of the Villas at Cattail Creek misled homebuyers about many aspects of the project. The suit accuses developers Donald Reuwer Jr. and J. Thomas Scrivener, along with NVR Inc., owner of the builder, Ryan Homes, of deceiving buyers for years. The allegations laid out range from the gate at the entrance, which the county said still doesn't work, to an unbuilt golf course, to a water and sewer system that even the developers acknowledge never functioned properly.

A measure to allow speedier approvals for revitalization projects along the U.S. 1 corridor won unanimous approval from the County Council, but only after several amendments sharply limiting the law's effect were added. The bill approved Monday doubles the number of housing units allowed each year by permitting the borrowing of allocations from future years. However, the council's amendments to the measure impose several restrictions: * Limiting allocations to projects comprising commercial and residential development, a reversal from the original proposal that made residential-only projects eligible.

A Columbia Democrat venturing west to Republican-dominated Glenwood to hear residents' complaints could run some political risk of hostility, but County Executive Ken Ulman encountered only civility at his recent public forum, despite high frustration over two local issues. Ulman started with an advantage - the sparkling, recently built county community center, public library and regional park complex where the standing-room-only meeting took place. Just down the road is another treasured county asset - the big, new Bushy Park Elementary School.

The chance to confront Howard County Executive Ken Ulman face-to-face with their festering complaints brought a standing room-crowd of more than 200 people last week to a public forum at Glenwood Community Center in western Howard County. "Isn't it fun being county exe cutive?" Hugh Flaherty asked to laughter as he rose to speak about one of the two issues that brought the majority of the crowd out Thursday night - a proposed used-car lot in rural Daisy, in far western Howard County. The other major topic was the failed septic system at the Villas at Cattail Creek, where construction is soon to begin on a new system.

Howard County officials are still checking the fine print but are initially relieved that Gov. Martin O'Malley's $1.52 billion operating budget appears to contain no new reductions in local funding. "We're still dealing with absorbing the cuts from the special session and the slowing economy, but it could have been much worse," said County Executive Ken Ulman. "The governor from Day One when he laid out his package last year did not pass the majority of the cuts to the county," Ulman added.

The residents who purchased expensive townhouses and single-family homes in a western Howard County community in the state's most expensive ZIP code ended up with views of open, grassy slopes, proximity to a golf club, capacious living rooms with high ceilings, open floor plans, extra bedrooms and countryside-like quietude. For their money - around a half-million dollars and significantly more in many cases - they also bought a headache: A truck rumbles down their street several times a day to cart away sewage because the community's on-site sewage plant does not work.

When you're standing calf-deep in cool, clear Cattail Creek on a sweltering July morning, you somehow absorb a sense of a time in Howard County when there was no air conditioning, and the pace of life naturally slowed. Before you know it, you're bending to pick up rocks in hopes of finding a crawdad. You're poised to swish a net in the water and see if you can scoop up a fish before it rides the ripple around the bend. Welcome to the summer educational farm tour, "Ponds, Puddles and Creeks" at Sharp's at Waterford Farm in Brookeville.