Planning And Zoning

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.

When the General Assembly considered video lottery facility legislation in the special session of 2007, a defined area of Anne Arundel County was included as one of five designated sites. In fact, it was included as the site allocated the greatest number of slot machines. This meant it was the site that would generate the greatest revenue for the state education trust fund. Anne Arundel County was willing to accommodate the largest site and respond to the constitutional provision requiring compliance with local zoning laws.

Anne Arundel County's Office of Planning and Zoning was scolded yesterday for failing to keep careful account of certain development and building fees - mistakes that in one instance may have cost the county as much as $1 million in unused funds. Auditors found that the Office of Planning and Zoning has been slow to decide what to do with forfeited landscape deposits worth about $1 million - money that could be used by the county to spruce up weeded lots. In addition, auditors discovered that the office has been incorrectly calculating fees to developers for changes to building plans and subdivisions - a situation that has cost the county an unknown sum of cash.

U.S. 1 in Howard County gets you from Elkridge to Laurel, from the White Elk Motel to the Fat Daddy Saloon, with an array of industrial and office parks, homes, fast-food restaurants, storage places and gas stations in between. The strip is looking better in recent years, sprouting new developments with names like Elkridge Crossing, Howard Square and Ashbury Courts, but it's still a work in progress. The county's planning department has a vision of what that 11-mile stretch along Howard's eastern edge could be, and has included these notions in the proposed master plan for growth to be presented to the County Council for the first time Monday night.

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.

Kimberly Flowers knows what she's up against, and she's still excited about her new job. As deputy director for planning and zoning for Howard County, Flowers sees her greatest challenge as overcoming public distrust of the system. "I don't think they believe we have the citizens' best interests in mind," said Flowers, 35. "I think they believe that we are encouraging too much development and at too rapid of a pace. I've heard word on the street of cutting backroom deals with developers."

Public meetingMount Airy planning: Mount Airy Planning and Zoning Commission will meet at 7: 30 p.m. today at Town Hall, 110 S. Main St. Information: 410-795-6012.Pub Date: 7/27/98

Public meetingsSykesville planning: The Sykesville Planning and Zoning Commission will meet at 7 p.m. today in the Town House meeting room at 7547 Main St. Information: 410-795-6390.

In a story in yesterday's Carroll County section of The Sun, the chronology for certain events in Hampstead was incorrect. The town Planning and Zoning Commission gave preliminary approval to 220 homes in North Carroll Farms on Aug. 29. A resolution was introduced Sept. 13 in the Town Council to test the municipal adequate facilities clause in court. The confrontation between William Drummond and James Springer occurred at the Sept. 26 meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission.

The Hampstead Planning and Zoning Commission last night approved, for the second time, the site plan for the proposed Oakmont Green shopping center on the east side of Route 30, across from Brodbeck Road.But a representative of the owners of North Carroll Plaza, which is across Route 30 from the proposed Oakmont Green center, said the planning commission does not have jurisdiction to grant that approval.Clark Shaffer, a representative of North Carroll Plaza's owners, H. M. Mall Associates Ltd., said his clients and the developers of Oakmont Green have both appealed a related Hampstead Board of Zoning Appeals decision to the Carroll County Circuit Court.

I would like to expand on my comments about the Warfield neighborhood traffic outlook presented at the April 12th meeting of the Planning Board hearing and reported in your April 19 edition. The Town Center Village Board, which represents Warfield residents, expressed concerns that while adding 800 residential units and new retail stores, the Howard Hughes Corporation plan approved by the Planning Board actually reduces the number of travel lanes on Mall Ring Road in the vicinity of the AMC Theater, from the number recommended in the original Downtown Design Guidelines.

The Department of Planning and Zoning in conjunction with the Harford County Historic Preservation Commission is seeking nominations for the 2012 Historic Preservation Awards. As part of this year's annual celebration, the Harford County Historic Preservation Commission will present preservation awards to individuals and organizations whose contributions demonstrate outstanding achievements in historic preservation in Harford County. Awards will be presented in May in recognition of National Historic Preservation Month.

When developer James W. Rouse revealed plans in 1963 to build a "new city" in Howard County, he predicted that it would have more than 100,000 residents by 1980. Nearly five decades later, Rouse's planned community - named Columbia in 1964 - still hasn't officially crossed that numerical threshold, federal and local planners say. But it appears poised to do so within the next few years. According to both the U. S. Census Bureau and Howard County's Department of Planning and Zoning, Columbia had between 99,000 and 100,000 residents as of December 2011, and that number has essentially held steady for the past several years because of a lack of housing construction.

Dear President Boniface: The League of Women Voters (LWV) works to protect the citizen's right to know and to promote citizen participation in government decision-making. We believe that a democratic government depends on these principles. At the request of the County Executive, the Harford County Council has introduced Bill 12-01, "2012 Master Plan and Land Use Element Plan. " LWV of Harford County understands the importance of these plans. Our one concern is that the public, as well as the County Council, have not been provided with maps of sufficient clarity and detail to enable proper consideration of the information portrayed in them.

The Bush River Community Council will host a public discussion on the master plan for the Bush River communities of Abingdon, Belcamp, Long Bar Harbor, Otter Creek, Perryman and HollyWoods on Monday, Dec. 19, at 6:30 p.m. at the Anita Leight Estuary Center, 700 Otter Point Road in Abingdon. In October, the Harford County Department of Planning and Zoning released an update to the master plan specifically designed for the areas surrounding the Bush River. This plan will be the guideline for how the county foresees development in the Bush River community for the next 10 years.

Some months ago, Howard County Council Bill 52 came up for public hearing. This bill, sponsored by the administration, would eliminate the county's Cemetery Preservation Advisory Board. This citizen board was created in 1992, at the urging of then-County Council member Vernon Gray, following the illegal demolition of graves in historic St. Mary's Cemetery (Turf Valley Overlook) during the building of houses atop and within the three-acre cemetery. The new advisory board, to be appointed by the county executive and to serve without compensation, was charged with creating and maintaining a current cemetery inventory and map, and with providing continuing oversight of our cemeteries to insure their preservation.

Klunk is newest member of zoning, planning panel Jaimee Klunk of Manchester has been sworn in by Mayor Christopher B. D'Amario as a member of Manchester Planning and Zoning Commission. The commission is responsible for the review and approval or disapproval of residential and commercial zoning and planning for Manchester. Klunk is a sales associate with the Hampstead OPF/ERA realty office and is a member of the National Association of Realtors, Maryland Association of Realtors and Carroll County Association of Realtors.

Mount Airy planners skip December meetingThe Mount Airy Planning and Zoning Commission will not have its regular meeting Monday because of the holiday season.The next meeting will be Jan. 25. Information: 829-1424 or 795-6012.

Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold is considering a move to overrule the recommendations of his own planning department, as he weighs a veto on a hard-fought bill that would allow a Pasadena apartment complex to move forward. The county's Office of Planning and Zoning recently recommended that the County Council approve intensified zoning for a property along Long Hill Road in Pasadena, where Annapolis-based development company Koch Homes plans to build 390 apartments.

Kathy and James Galli have made some modest upgrades to their no-frills marina and boat-repair business in the decade that they've owned the property along the Severn River, mostly replacing outdated rigging and fixing broken equipment. They might want to do more with the waterfront location someday — perhaps a restaurant or bar would be a draw — but such an addition seems out of reach for now. Like many of Anne Arundel County's marinas, Severna Park Yacht Basin is in a residential area, and it is allowed to operate there only because it dates to the 1930s, two decades before county zoning laws went into effect.