Residential Development

THE ISSUE: The Carroll County commissioners will ask the county legislative delegation to propose a bill that would allow small-time gambling at the five senior centers. The ordinance would allow small amounts to be bet daily on bingo, cards and billiards. Do you think the legislators should sponsor the bill in the 2006 General Assembly session?Gambling bill should cover centers, more Gambling bill should cover centers, more Finally, the Carroll County commissioners have tackled a major problem: gambling by seniors.

ISSUE: In a first significant step in the comprehensive rezoning process, Harford County planners announced this past week that they are recommending denial of 75 percent of the 325 applications submitted for parcels to be rezoned. Only a limited amount of requests to change the zoning of agriculture land to residential development were recommended for approval. The recommendations still must go before the County Council, which will hold public hearings early next year. Said Anthony McClune, acting director of the Department of Planning and Zoning, "We are not recommending any expansion of the [county's]

Harford County planners have recommended denial of the majority of 325 rezoning requests, County Executive David R. Craig announced yesterday. Craig said that the county Department of Planning and Zoning is recommending that the County Council vote down 75 percent of the applications. A limited amount of requests to rezone agriculture land for residential development were recommended for approval. Anthony McClune, acting planning and zoning director, said: "We are not recommending any expansion of the [county's]

Like many residents, Judy Blomquist is concerned about the future of Harford County as a place to live. More specifically, she is concerned about the potential loss of farmland that provides the beautiful vistas, rolling fields of corn and open space that add to the quality of life. That's why she has been paying close attention to the county's first comprehensive rezoning process since 1997. "If all the requests to change the zoning of agriculture to residential or commercial development are approved, we would lose our agriculture industry," said Blomquist, president of Friends of Harford, a citizen organization that monitors growth issues.

Like a forlorn sentinel from Howard County's past, the decrepit former roller-skating rink and dance school facing U.S. 29 from Columbia Road in Ellicott City witnessed the disappearance of farms and fields. Now, it, along with the 1899 farmhouse next door, will soon be gone, replaced next year with 13 large homes selling for about $900,000 each. Older county residents remember carefree days in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, roller skating and eating homemade pies and sandwiches there in later years.

CHERRY HILL - Citizens already angered over a proposed residential development project that would more than double the size of this rural Cecil County community were even more upset last week when they were repeatedly denied the chance to voice their opposition to the project. Three times, the Planning Commission scheduled public hearings on one of the largest residential development projects in the history of the county. Three times, the meetings were either canceled or the project was pulled from the agenda on short notice.

CHERRY HILL -- One of the biggest residential development projects in the history of Cecil County is being bitterly opposed by residents of this Elkton suburban community who say it will double the size of their little town and destroy the charm of their quiet neighborhood. "That's adding a whole other city to our community," Lindsie Carter said of a proposal by a New Jersey developer to build 922 residential units on a 146-acre peach orchard near her home on Black Snake Road. Carter was speaking to more than 200 of her concerned neighbors who packed into Faith Southern Baptist Church here Thursday night to be briefed on the developer's plans and to form their strategy of opposition.

A Baltimore County councilman introduced bills last night to stop developers from building on property being considered for rezoning, ensure the compatibility of new development to existing neighborhoods and provide more protections for rural land. Councilman Kevin Kamenetz, a Pikesville-Ruxton Democrat, said he hopes to eliminate the race against the clock for some developers to win approval for building plans before the council votes in August on its quadrennial comprehensive rezoning cycle.

Seven teams of developers, including several nationally and locally prominent firms, are vying to build the initial phase of a heralded East Baltimore revitalization effort centered around a biotech park. "We're very pleased by the level and the quality of development interest in the first phase of development," said Jack Shannon, president and chief executive officer of East Baltimore Development Inc., the nonprofit organization overseeing the redevelopment north of the Johns Hopkins medical complex.

Responding to concerns raised by developers and landowners, Carroll County staff recommended yesterday that the county commissioners consider modifications to a proposal that revamps the county's adequate public facilities law. Under the proposal, residential development would have to meet more stringent adequate-facilities standards and pass two adequacy tests before developers could proceed with subdivision plans. The law is designed to prevent residential growth from overwhelming schools, utilities and emergency services.