Land Development

R.E. Michel Co. Inc., a Glen Burnie-based distributor of heating and cooling supplies, was host to 21 plumbing and sanitary pipe distributors from Western Europe on Oct. 17.Mulligan/Griffin and Associates Inc., a land development company, and Mulligan/Griffin Property Managers Inc. are relocating to 15204 Omega Drive, Suite 100, in Rockville.Westland Printers Inc. in Burtonsville received a $3.19 million revenue bond from the Maryland Energy Financing Administration to install energy-saving equipment and make building improvements.

The governors of three Chesapeake Bay watershed states are to meet today with officials from the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and the mayor of Washington to ratify a new agreement to clean up the bay. But three contentious issues remain unresolved. One of them -- the rate at which forests and farms are being converted for development -- "is a potential deal breaker," Mike Morrill, director of communications for Gov. Parris N. Glendening, said yesterday. The governor is "not going to be satisfied" unless there are "specific, measurable goals" for reducing the rate at which farmland is being developed, he said.

Oscar Sahlin's Crownsville farm, the last along the banks of the Severn River, won't become a subdivision as planned. Instead, a conservation group announced yesterday, 292 acres - sandwiched between land already set aside for safekeeping - will be preserved and housing development along the property will be forbidden. The move allows the land to maintain its rural character by protecting trees and birds, and will help limit runoff into the river. The Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit organization that conserves land for public use, put together the $1.65 million deal to buy the development rights, with $650,000 coming from the federal Forest Legacy Program and the rest from grants and donations.

The Land Development Council of the Home Builders Association of Maryland named Morris H. Wolf, principal of Morris H. Wolf Enterprises, of Towson, Land Developer of the Year for 1997 at its awards program last month at the Camden Yard Banquet Club.Projects developed by Wolf include Vineyard Oak, Country Walk, Woodbridge Center, Harford Town and Laurel Valley in Harford County and Parkview Trail, Chapelgate and Owings Overlook in Baltimore County.Project of the Year honors went to Paternal Gift for Paternal Gift Farm, an equestrian-centered development in Highland, Howard County, that will include 28 homeowners with joint ownership of a 74-acre working farm with pastures, riding trails, stables and an on-site manager.

Later this year, new townhouses and single-family homes will sprout on a site in Middle River where apartments built 60 years ago for defense workers once stood. As part of the continuing revitalization of eastern Baltimore County's waterfront region, the first spades of dirt will be tossed today by officials to start the Miramar Landing development, which will also feature a senior community with 100 apartments. A spokeswoman for Ryland Homes said sales have started for townhouses that will sell for about $260,000 and up. "On Wednesday night, we had a line form overnight at our sales center at what will be Miramar Landing," said Cindy Plackmeyer.

SAN DIEGO -- From a small pod of offices above an electronics store here, a citizens' war is being waged against the nation's fastest-growing suburbs.A staff of five opens mail with checks of $3, $7, $15. They stack signed petitions. On weekends, up to 500 volunteers man tables at malls and local festivals."I don't want to sit in traffic like I did in L.A. and make my kids wear smog masks," said Randy Kokal, a member of the grass-roots organization PLAN -- Prevent Los Angelization Now.After an unsuccessful attempt last year to bring the growth issue before San Diego voters, PLAN now is close to getting the broadest development-regulation initiative ever proposed in California onto the city's ballot.

CARROLL COUNTY will be haunted for a long time by the disgraceful decision to rezone a family farm in the southwest area for big-money residential development.It flies in the face of decades of county commitment to farmland preservation and directly imperils state funding for needed roads and sewers.The 2-1 decision of the county commissioners is the first domino to fall, toppling Carroll's long-standing goal of preserving its farmland.It sends a clear message to farmers: No need to keep their croplands, in spite of tax-preferential treatment, or to seek government payments to preserve their land if a developer will pay them more.

Carroll's commissioners will decide next month whether to earmark $1 million to improve the county's chance of sharing in a $24 million state program to save Maryland farms and woodlands from development.The Rural Legacy program, part of Gov. Parris N. Glendening's Smart Growth initiative, will provide the money over the next two fiscal years to buy development rights from property owners who agree to keep the land in agriculture, forest, wetlands or waterfront buffers.The County Commissioners rejected an initial request to set aside $500,000 in local agricultural preservation funds in each of the next two fiscal years for Rural Legacy.

In what would be the largest sale of state property in recent years, officials are considering selling a 546-acre chunk of the Crownsville Hospital Center campus in Anne Arundel County, possibly to a housing developer.The hospital has no use for the land, which is mostly woods and meadows west of Interstate 97, said Ronald Hendler, chief executive officer of the center.The state Office of Planning could recommend by the end of the month what to do with the land, said state planner Linda Janey.

Bill and Ellen Waff aren't long for their 25-year Savage homestead, thanks to huge property tax assessment increases tied to soaring Howard County land prices and local growth controls. In 1999 the assessed value of their 6.7-acre property exploded from $168,220 to $425,250 -- more than doubling their annual tax burden just as Bill was laid off from his defense industry job. They appealed that valuation but lost. Last July, their tax bill rose from $2,265.66 in 1998 to $5,666.73. A new assessment announced last month would inflate their homestead's value another 42 percent, to about 3.6 times its 1998 worth -- from $168,220 to $605,840 in four years.