Planning And Zoning

An Annapolis developer has withdrawn its plan for a 500,000-square-foot Target-anchored shopping center in Waysons Corner, a move expected to delay the project for months. After failing to meet two county deadlines for submitting a storm-water management plan, Petrie Ross Ventures decided to pull the site plan rather than ask for another extension, said Charles F. Delavan, a lawyer representing the company. Once the plan is redrafted to county specifications, Petrie Ross will resubmit it. "Some storm-water management issues have proven a little more difficult to resolve than we had hoped," he said.

Initial plans for a modest subdivision near the Patapsco Valley State Park have won approval. The development, Grovemont Overlook, would provide 33 single-family detached homes and 9 acres of open space - half of the 17.87-acre project. The property is on the east side of Landing Road, south of Norris Lane, in Elkridge. The state park and Belmont Research and Conference Center are to the east and south of the proposed project, and a 174-unit residential subdivision is to the north. The property of the proposed development is properly zoned, and there was no public opposition Thursday when the Planning Board unanimously approved the preliminary equivalent sketch plan.

Columbia isn't a `bedroom community'The article headlined, "Columbia blossoms from bedroom town into cultural center" (July 22), does a fine job of portraying the expanding cultural life of the city.However, the sentence, "Started more than three decades ago by the late James W. Rouse as the quintessential bedroom community," is a most unfortunate error that would have deeply troubled Mr. Rouse.Columbia was anything but the "quintessential bedroom community." Columbia was planned from the beginning to be a complete small city with opportunities for the development of a full cultural life for all its residents.

Opponents of a proposed 32-home neighborhood in Glenwood plan to resubmit their appeal to the Board of Appeals, which voted 4-1 Thursday to dismiss the case.Board members said the opponents' appeal was too vague.Developer Donald Reuwer wants to build the homes on 84 acres at Route 97 and Countryside Drive. The opposition is being led by Joe Carta, who lives across from the site.Carta said the site plan is too suburban for the rural part of the county and could threaten the area's well-water supply.

Woodbine resident Carol Fronzoli says there are times when she doesn't want to live in the brick rancher she bought in rural western Howard County 10 years ago.She blames her troubles on an Ellicott City utility contracting company that stocks cargo containers, metal pipes and concrete rubble on an open parcel across from her house on Old Frederick Road.If W. F. Wilson & Sons Inc. wins a court battle to overturn the county Board of Appeal's rejection of its plan to build a storage facility on the site, Fronzoli says she may not be able to sell her house.

A developer has submitted plans to build more than 100 houses on a 30-acre parcel of farmland in east Columbia bordering the villages of Oakland Mills and Long Reach.The subdivision, proposed by Ryland Homes, would consist of 102 single-family homes at Oakland Mills and Old Montgomery roads, near the former Smith farm, said Harold Bernadzikowski, a planner in the Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning's land development division.Residents have had little input on the proposed project, known as Ecker's Hollow, because the property already was zoned for residential use and public hearings were not required.

BALTIMORE County Council Chairman Kevin B. Kamenetz wants to stop treating developers of closed quarries differently than other developers, and he may have a point. Quarry plans are good for 30 years -- compared to five for other development plans -- and the council can't change their zoning, as it can on all other land.Mr. Kamenetz's proposed legislation to repeal quarries' special status under the law deserves serious attention, because it raises a legitimate question: Why should plans for the future use of quarries extend beyond even the county's master plan, which is revised every 10 years?

A developer has been forced to delay the expected start of a proposed 11-home project in Ellicott City that has attracted neighborhood opposition -- and, more recently, a bizarre message that caused a county employee to be disciplined.The Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning has ordered developer Ronald Wildman to resubmit a plan detailing trees and other vegetation on 10 acres of environmentally sensitive land he owns on Bonnie Branch Road.The request could force Wildman to wait until this fall to build the development, called Bonnie Branch Overlook.

FireManchester: Firefighters from Manchester, Hampstead and Lineboro responded at 5: 52 p.m. Thursday to a house fire in the 4200 block of Hanover Pike.Public meetingHampstead planning: Hampstead Planning and Zoning Commission will meet at 7 p.m. today at Town Hall, 1034 S. Carroll St. Information: 410-239-7408.Pub Date: 8/30/99

Sixteen months after his attempt to slow a planned residential community in Dayton failed, Howard County Council Chairman C. Vernon Gray is trying again.The east Columbia Democrat has drafted a zoning amendment that would prohibit Glenwood farmer Charles Sharp from building some of the 95 houses he has proposed on 237 acres of farmland on Triadelphia Road. Gray said the amendment would affect development of about 35 one-acre lots within 2,500 feet of the Triadelphia Reservoir.Gray, who in September 1997 proposed an amendment that would have reduced the number of houses Sharp could build, said he wants to protect the ground water in wells and the reservoir from the destructive effects of the development, known as Big Branch Overlook.

The Annapolis Board of Appeals has upheld a Department of Planning and Zoning decision to allow a homeless shelter to be built on Hudson Street, despite contention from a local businessman who said the shelter does not conform to the city zoning code at the proposed building site. Michael Roblyer, who has a law firm on Willow Street near the proposed shelter site, filed an appeal in February that the Light House Homeless Prevention Support Center, which is scheduled to start construction this summer at 10 Hudson St., could not be built in a BCE, or business corridor enhancement, zone because of the way certain terms are defined in the city code.

More than 300 Harford County property owners have requested reclassification of their land in a comprehensive rezoning process that has resumed after a three-year hiatus and should be completed by the fall, officials said. Planning and zoning staff will assess each application by the end of this month, hold information meetings with the Planning Advisory Board in April and issue final recommendations in May, County Executive David R. Craig said. The County Council is expected to submit its desired changes as legislation June 16 and vote on the proposal by September, according to C. Peter Gutwald, county planning and zoning director.

Howard County government planners have recommended approval of a proposal to redevelop downtown Columbia - as long as the developer accepts dozens of suggestions. In a 76-page report, the county's Department of Planning and Zoning praises developer General Growth Properties' ideas as "interesting and innovative." At the same time, the department asks that the company meet certain requirements, such as for affordable housing, before moving to the project's next phase. "We'll be reviewing the report very carefully and will continue to work with the county and community to bring forth a great plan," said Greg Hamm, GGP's regional vice president and general manager for Columbia.

The Harford County Development Advisory Committee serves as a forum for the review of subdivision and site plans submitted to the Department of Planning and Zoning by those seeking building permits. The committee will review the following proposals at 9 a.m. Wednesday (in the second-floor conference room of the Harford County government building, 220 S. Main St., Bel Air: 500 W. Gordon St. Location: End of West Gordon Street, on the north side. Developer : Harford County/Bay State Land Services.

The Harford County Development Advisory Committee serves as a forum for the review of subdivision and site plans submitted to the Department of Planning and Zoning by those seeking building permits. The committee will review the following proposals at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the second-floor conference room of the Harford County government building, 220 S. Main St., Bel Air: Abingdon Water Treatment Plant - Emergency Operations Public Safety Communications Location: North side of Abingdon Road, west of I-95.

The Aberdeen planning commission has recommended single-family dwellings for a development that had originally sought to build more than 1,600 homes and condominiums. Several members of the city's Planning and Zoning commission said the petition to build the dwellings on 497 acres, which would be annexed by Aberdeen, was too dense. Christopher Michaels, management director of the project called Glengarry, said last week it was unclear what the property owners would pursue next. "I don't mean to sound ambiguous," he said.

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.

To be forewarned is to be forearmed - or to have something to look forward to. That's why people like to know what real estate developments are brewing in their communities. You can gather information with a visit to your local planning office, but you have other research options, too. Anne Arundel County, at www.aacounty.org/LandUse, has maps of subdivision activity and a list of scheduled "pre-submission" meetings between developers and residents. The Office of Planning and Zoning is at 2664 Riva Road in Annapolis, 410-222-7450.

The Harford County Development Advisory Committee serves as a forum for the review of subdivision and site plans submitted to the Department of Planning and Zoning by those seeking building permits. The committee will review the following proposals at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the second-floor conference room of the Harford County government building, 220 S. Main St., Bel Air: Chapel Road Sports Complex Location: North side of Chapel Road. Developer: Harford County/G. E. Fielder & Associates.

County Executive Ken Ulman said he shares many of the concerns outlined in a letter from two lawmakers about proposed changes to the intersection of Route 32 and Cedar Lane to accommodate the planned Riverdale project. Del. Elizabeth Bobo and state Sen. Edward J. Kasemeyer, both Democrats, wrote to Ulman that the plans would "lessen the level of safety at that intersection and cause greater inconvenience to many of our constituents who rely heavily on Cedar Lane for their access to and from Route 32."