County Roads

Much of Maryland's westernmost county remained largely inaccessible on Wednesday afternoon, a result of superstorm Sandy's meeting a cold front and dumping more than 2 feet of heavy, wet snow on the region. About 80 percent of Garrett County residents - or about 24,000 people, according to recent census data - remained without power, and secondary roads remained "completely inaccessible," according to Brad Frantz, the county's emergency services coordinator. "This is as bad as I've seen it, and I've been in public safety for 38 years," Frantz said.

Carroll's population is projected to reach 200,000 by 2015, five years ahead of the estimate on which the county's master plan is based and quickly enough to strain the county's ability to keep pace with services, planning officials said yesterday. While the county's adequate facilities law sets a goal of limiting growth to 6,000 units over any six-year period, that target has been exceeded by nearly 700 in the past five years alone, said Steven C. Horn, county planning director. His office looked at projects in the approval pipeline, an estimate of growth in the county's municipalities and other projections to reach its estimate of population growth.

Hearing set tonight on new zoning class for business parks A public hearing on a proposal to establish a new zoning classification to encourage the development of business parks is scheduled for 7 p.m. today in Room 003 of the Carroll County Office Building in Westminster. Through an "employment campus zoning district," the county could designate parcels for use as business parks as part of its periodic reviews of zoning throughout the county. For the past decade, the county has been trying to devise strategies to attract businesses and light manufacturing companies that would increase its current industrial tax base of 12 percent and offer better-paying jobs to Carroll residents.

In an effort to give businesses extra protection against robbery, break-ins and other crimes, Baltimore County police will begin specialized patrols in October along seven major commercial corridors.Similar in concept to the Community Action Teams assigned to neighborhoods with crime problems, the patrols will use 40 officers to answer calls from businesses, talk with local merchants and work on crime prevention techniques.The seven roads picked for the program -- Baltimore National Pike, Liberty Road, Reisterstown Road, York Road, Belair Road, Pulaski Highway and Eastern Boulevard -- had the highest crime rates last year among county roads and business districts, said police Chief Terrence B. Sheridan.

Piles of dead sheep and goats have been dumped in a rural area of Carroll County four times in the past six weeks, prompting an investigation that includes police, road crews, agricultural and animal agencies. About 35 animals have been removed from the Marston area in southwest Carroll near the Frederick County line, said Jay R. Nave, administrative supervisor of the county Bureau of Roads Operations. About evenly divided between sheep and goats, many were so decomposed that it was difficult to determine the numbers, much less a cause of death.

Piles of dead sheep and goats have been dumped in a rural area of Carroll County four times in the past six weeks, prompting an investigation that includes police, road crews, agricultural and animal agencies. About 35 animals have been removed from the Marston area in southwest Carroll near the Frederick County line, said Jay R. Nave, administrative supervisor of the county Bureau of Roads Operations. About evenly divided between sheep and goats, many were so decomposed that it was difficult to determine the numbers, much less a cause of death.

The term bridge to nowhere has become something of a politically charged euphemism for government waste, but it is rather appropriate for two recently completed Harford County roads projects, and could well be applied to a third that's in the works. A few years back, under a previous county executive, there was a proposal to build a bridge over a creek named Broad Run, in Creswell, so as to allow for a thoroughfare linking Wheel Road to Route 136. The project faced opposition from people who didn't want their neighborhood streets being turned into shortcuts.

As tenderly as the fingers of a master pianist caress the keys of a piano, Wanda Hartlaub's fingers manipulated the multibuttoned control panel of her salt-laden snowplow truck.Mrs. Hartlaub, the mother of 14- and 18-year-old sons, said she enjoys the outdoor life of working for the Carroll County roads department, cutting trees and hauling blacktop. But she especially likes snow-plowing the new developments west of Route 27 from Dennings Road to Taylorsville.She said, "You get to know how low to place the blade of the plow just by the feel of the truck.

The Baltimore County Council agreed last night to allow more homes to be built in Middle River than currently permitted. The change was approved as part of a community plan for Middle River that officials said is designed to ensure that growth does out overtake county roads and schools. The council passed the plan 6-0, with Chairman Stephen G. Samuel Moxley absent. The council also approved amendments designed to scale back parts of the plan. The most substantive of Councilman Joseph Bartenfelder's changes involved a proposal by the Planning Board to reclassify about 300 acres zoned as rural to land that could accommodate hundreds of homes.

SPEED HUMPS, the latest development in speed control on county roads, are sprouting up in many of our neighborhoods, and they are proving effective.These ripples in the road are 2 to 3 inches high and up to 22 feet long (in the direction of the traffic). They are smaller than the more familiar, vertebrae-altering speed bumps, which are 6 to 8 inches high and 8 to 16 inches long.Unlike the more abrupt speed bumps, speed humps rise 3 inches in 6 feet, then are flat for 10 feet, then drop 3 inches in 6 feet.