Projects

County road engineers and land-use planners will be available tonight at Arundel High School on Annapolis Road to discuss public and private projects planned for West County.The information will be presented in a series of 30-minute, small group forums from 4: 30 p.m. to 9 p.m., according to John A. Morris, spokesman for the county Department of Planning and Code Enforcement.Specialists from PACE, the county Public Works and Recreation and Parks departments will answer questions about projects such as the Odenton Town Center, the extension of Town Center Boulevard and Morgan Road, the expansion of Severn/Danza Park and the West County and South Shore trails, and Tipton Airfield.

Construction projects for Lakes Elkhorn and Kittamaqundi are expected to begin by late next summer, a Columbia Association spokeswoman says. Tomorrow, the Columbia Association will close its bidding process for contractors on the projects, and the staff will begin reviewing proposals, said Karen Hawkins, an association spokeswoman. Residents and officials have voiced complaints about the algae and sediments growing in the two manmade lakes. The association board approved $1.7 million in the fiscal 2006 budget for dredging Lake Elkhorn, in Owen Brown village.

The Carroll County Department of Public Works has announced road construction projects for this week. For information on the following projects, call the county Bureau of Engineering, 410-386-2171. Waterline installation: Raincliffe Road from Route 32 to Slacks Road. Road construction: Ladiesburg Road, closed at Route 75. Paving: Medford Road from Stone Chapel Road to the railroad crossing. Road construction: Kate Wagner Road extension from Route 32 to the end. The following are improvements being made to subdivision roads.

ANNAPOLIS -- Gov. William Donald Schaefer is trying to make state legislators who want capital projects built in their districts to say so.In writing.To him.For about a month, Mr. Schaefer has been sending letters to General Assembly members telling them that money for specific projects in their districts is about to be released, and all they have to do is write him a letter verifying their support for the projects.Mr. Schaefer has complained for years that many legislators publicly oppose raising taxes, or cutting the budget, but then privately ask him for help for projects or programs in their districts.

Local recreation councils will put their time and money toward more than a dozen projects, including ballfields, a pavilion, parking and fences, with help from a Carroll County fund. In most cases, the county pays about three-quarters of the cost, and the groups contribute the remainder in money and labor, said Richard Soisson, the county director of recreation and parks. The Recreation and Parks Advisory Board recommended these self-help project requests in spending $53,925 remaining from the 2005 capital budget, he said.

The crash of the Baltimore-Washington area's commercial real estate market has pushed three Maryland projects owned by Philadelphia-based Rouse & Associates Inc. into foreclosure, the Daily Record reported yesterday.The three projects -- one each in Columbia, Hunt Valley and Laurel -- are slated to be put up for sale in separate, not-yet-scheduled public auctions, Claiborn M. Carr III, regional manager for the development company, confirmed. He acknowledged that the company has defaulted on more than $36.5 million in loans for the projects but said negotiations with Maryland National Bank on restructuring the debt are continuing.

Howard County officials fear that the state's decision to use money from Program Open Space to pay off the deficit will cost the county $3.1 million and delay plans for the county's first golf course and other park projects.The state has decided to tap $30 million set aside for local parkland acquisition funds to cover the latest $109 million state deficit.Howard County faces the loss of $1.5 million to buy land for a golf course in the Elkridge area and $1.6 million to cover what it already has paid for 37 acres adjacent to David Force Park in west Ellicott City near Interstate 70 and Bethany Lane.

Homeowner spending on home-improvement projects rose slightly to an annualized $102.5 billion in the first quarter of this year, according to the Remodeling Activity Indicator of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. In the last quarter of 2000, spending on home improvement totaled $102.1 billion. Last year's first-quarter spending on home improvement came to $101.5 billion. "Recent cuts in the prime rate have helped make remodeling projects more affordable at a time when consumer spending in other sectors is beginning to decline," said Kermit Baker, director of the program.

ANNAPOLIS -- After criticizing the paucity of private-sector financing, a Senate panel approved yesterday initial-design funding for three technology-related projects.But the members of the Budget and Taxation Committee's subcommittee on capital spending sent a clear message to the state's economic development community: Give us a return on our investments.The capital budget subcommittee, which includes nearly everyone on the full committee, approved $3.4 million for the three projects:* The Christopher Columbus Center for Marine Research and Exploration, a nearly $200 million complex scheduled to be built on Piers 5 and 6 in the Inner Harbor area.

WASHINGTON -- In a major rethinking of public housing that is sure to reignite passions over integration, U.S. housing secretary Henry Cisneros yesterday released a plan to demolish urban high-rise projects and disperse their tenants to middle-class neighborhoods.Outlined in a scathing report called "The Transformation of HUD" that Mr. Cisneros sent to Congress, the public-housing plan is a key element of a broad streamlining effort. Congress would have to approve significant changes from current policy, but early reaction was positive.