Jablon

Technically, it doesn't exist. The Development Review Committee was not created by statute, so the panel has no authority. Because it is an unofficial body, no notes or minutes of its meetings are kept. Yet the six-member advisory board, made up of Baltimore County agency heads, is considered by many to be one of the most powerful in the county. The reason: It determines whether proposed development projects will be subject to public hearings. "I say all their actions are illegal," said J. Carroll Holzer, a former county attorney who two years ago unsuccessfully challenged a DRC recommendation on construction of a convenience store before the county Board of Appeals.

Baltimore County's announced crackdown on illegal roadside vendors over Mother's Day weekend produced no arrests, but )) will result in dozens of letters to violators threatening $200-a-day fines if they continue such operations, permits chief Arnold Jablon said yesterday.A dozen county inspectors, aided by police, checked hundreds of locations on major roadways around the Beltway in the action aimed largely at flower sales.They took names and addresses of violators -- not only of those selling flowers, but people with goods such as furniture and purportedly Persian carpets -- who were told to move on and not return.

Politicians say it is constituent service and bureaucrats call it coincidence, but nearly half of Baltimore County's 11 newest inspectors have ties to county officials.Critics charge that the recent hirings smack of old-fashioned political patronage -- running counter to a civil service system created decades ago to eliminate such practices.For example, County Council members forwarded the resumes of three inspectors, including one whose wife is a councilman's aide. Another inspector worked for County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger when he was a councilman.

On the surface, the fight over plans to build condominiums on 24 acres of vacant land in old Relay seems simple.Carl Julio wants to build 224 condominiums and call the development Hilltop Place. The Relay Improvement Association, which originally wanted the land turned into a park, now wants to limit Mr. Julio to building no more than 132 units.The dispute is the latest in a series of battles over the land's eventual fate. The community and the developer both have had a frustrating, roller-coaster ride through the county's regulatory system.

A dispute between Lansdowne residents and a neighboring beverage company may be headed to a zoning commissioner.Members of the Lansdowne Improvement Association recently voted to request a zoning hearing to limit the hours of operation of Beverage Capital Corp. and to determine whether the company has the proper zoning. Neighbors of the 312,000-square-foot building at 2209 Sulphur Spring Road have complained of heavy truck traffic, noise and air pollution.At the heart of the conflict is a dispute over whether the firm is a warehouse or a trucking facility.

Baltimore County officials are not wasting any time when it comes to enforcing a long-awaited law that takes effect tomorrowand is intended to force adult video stores out of neighborhoods.Councilman Wayne M. Skinner, a Towson Republican, asked zoning officials in a letter this week to inspect two stores, and the zoning administrator said the inspections will be conducted Monday, the first working day after the law takes effect.Zoning Administrator Arnold Jablon said he would order inspections at other adult video stores, if similar requests for inspections are filed.

The Baltimore County Council tabled a bill last night that would have expanded a rental registration pilot program to five Towson-area neighborhoods. Although the bill's sponsor, Councilman Vincent J. Gardina, a Perry Hall-Towson Democrat, said the program was needed to prevent the decline of some neighborhoods in his district, other councilmen said they wanted to hear a report on the pilot program from the county's permits department before seeing it expanded. The report is due next summer.

Michael Bussacca feels lost in the forest of real estate developers' signs that sprout every weekend in his community of Cub Hill.For the past eight months, Mr. Bussacca has waged a lonely fight to get more restrictions on the signs, which are technically illegal in the first place.Marsha Weber runs a small business in Rosedale that makes wrought iron railings. She employs eight workers. Over 70 percent of her work is for builders of new homes.Mrs. Weber is worried that limits on the signs that direct people to new developments could hurt house sales -- and her livelihood The Baltimore County Planning Board is developing legislation that it hopes will satisfy them both.

Michael Bussacca feels lost in the forest of real estate developers' signs that sprout every weekend in his community of Cub Hill.For the past eight months, Mr. Bussacca has waged a lonely fight to get more restrictions on the signs, which are technically illegal in the first place.Marsha Weber runs a small business in Rosedale that makes wrought iron railings. She employs eight workers. Over 70 percent of her work is for builders of new homes.Mrs. Weber is worried that limits on the signs that direct people to new developments could hurt house sales -- and her livelihood The Baltimore County Planning Board is developing legislation that it hopes will satisfy them both.

The Baltimore County Council voted last night to fine-tune restrictions on residential development that critics say were passed too quickly and with too little public comment. Council members said they were fixing technical problems created by last-minute amendments introduced when the regulations were approved last month. But critics, still angry at the lack of public input into council redistricting, say the fixes wouldn't have been necessary if the council had acted more deliberately.