Office Of Planning

Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz announced Tuesday the formal consolidation of two community planning and support offices in county government that will now fall under one director - Andrea Van Arsdale, who was named as the county's director of planning in April. Kamenetz said the merger combines the former Office of Community Conservation with the Office of Planning, while eliminating one director and one senior staff level position through attrition. The new agency will be known simply as the Department of Planning.

The Anne Arundel County Council will consider zoning changes to parcels of land across the county beginning next month, a process that will likely take most of the year and begin with projects related to the federal military realignment plan expected to bring thousands of new residents and jobs to the region. In an effort to prepare for the influx, the council plans to tackle the process of comprehensive rezoning incrementally, with legislators first considering rezoning applications in council districts 1 and 4. Those districts are in close proximity to Fort Meade and the National Security Agency — where the bulk of development relating to the Defense Department's base realignment and closure plan, or BRAC, is expected.

As Shirley L. Bigley worked her way up from law school graduate to Citibank Maryland vice president during the 1980s, she never felt like a pioneer among working women.It was more like being part of a movement, she says. Sure enough, newly released 1990 census figures show Ms. Bigley had plenty of female company as she climbed the job ladder.Tens of thousands of Maryland women -- and millions across the United States -- moved into professional and managerial jobs during the 1980s, the data show.

Residents who run businesses out of their homes along Defense Highway in Crofton haven't persuaded the Crofton small area planning committee to recommend the commercial zoning they want. They'll have another chance to plead their case tonight at a public hearing on the final draft of the small-area plan covering the area bound by the Little Patuxent River, Route 3, U.S. 50 and the North River. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at Crofton Woods Elementary School, and residents can sign up at 5: 30 p.m. to speak before the panel.

The Powhattan Beach Improvement Association is inviting neighboring civic associations to discuss issues concerning the Solley Road corridor at a general meeting at the Powhattan Beach Fire Hall, Monday, Sept. 9 at 7:30 p.m.County officials including Councilman Carl "Dutch" Holland, R-Pasadena, and representatives from the Office of Planning and Zoning, Public Works and Utilities Department have agreed to attend to answer questions about the planned widening of Solley Road,new sewer projects and any other issues of general concern.

Coppin State University is moving forward with an $80 million Science and Technology Center that it hopes will boost sagging enrollment despite concerns that the West Baltimore school will not have enough money to operate the building. A ceremonial groundbreaking is scheduled May 14, though demolition has been completed and utility work is under way, said Maqbool Patel, Coppin's associate vice president for administration and finance. Completion is expected in early 2015. "We have to create an area that attracts students and faculty," said Patel, describing the quad-like atmosphere the building will create on the south side of West North Avenue at Thomas Avenue.

The sole bus route serving southernmost Anne Arundel County will continue running uninterrupted through June of next year after getting an infusion of cash from the Department of Social Services. The South County Connection, or C-50 route, was scheduled to end service Friday night, but the department, after negotiating with the Office of Planning and Zoning and clearing state and federal funding hurdles, was able to fill the financial gap, County Executive John R. Leopold announced Friday.

The Anne Arundel County Office of Planning and Zoning plans to offer bus circulator service connecting Glen Burnie to other rail and bus transit options. County Executive John R. Leopold last week said that he applied for a grant from the Maryland Transit Administration that will pay for 12 new buses in hopes of encouraging more residents to use public transportation. Only eight percent of residents use public transit to commute to work. The Office of Planning and Zoning plans to implement a service route that would begin and end at the Cromwell light-rail station.

Gov. William Donald Schaefer's committee on redistricting has announced the following schedule for meetings to solicit opinions on the state's congressional and legislative redistricting plans. All meetings are scheduled for 7 p.m.; for locations please call the Maryland Office of Planning at (301) 225-4548. Groups and individuals can call the planning office to reserve a time, but anyone who wants to testify can.June 18, Tuesday: Salisbury (Somerset, Worcester, Wicomico counties)June 19: Easton (Caroline, Talbot and Dorchester counties)

A Brooklyn Park landlord has asked the county Board of Appeals to rule his Brookwood Road apartment building a legal, nonconforming use.William C. Trevillian has turned to the appeals board because a county zoning official last August denied him permission to continue operating the three-unit building in an area zoned for single-family homes.The county Office of Planning and Zoning had told Mr. Trevillian in 1990 that he needed to eliminate at least one of the apartments or apply for a legal, nonconforming status.