Rezoning

Stephanie Stone fulfilled a longtime wish when she moved to a 15-acre horse farm on Broad Creek in northern Harford County 23 years ago. Neighboring farms surrounded her home until about a decade ago, when the vista began to change. Harford's population has nearly doubled since Stone, a research psychologist and teacher at the Johns Hopkins University, arrived. On her commute to work, she saw how development was encroaching on areas with a long-standing agricultural tradition. "I started seeing all this housing where farms were," she said.

Every four years, Baltimore County councilmen face an ethical choice: whether to accept campaign contributions while they sit in judgment over potentially lucrative zoning decisions.This year, two council members went for the cash.Councilmen Joseph Bartenfelder and John Olszewski Sr. held political fund-raisers after Baltimore County's quadrennial rezoning process began Aug. 2, campaign finance documents and interviews show.Bartenfelder and Olszewski ignored a council guideline to suspend fund raising until after the seven-man board rules on hundreds of applications that could greatly increase the value of landowners' property.

Rezoning farm for a golf course makes sense ...We have been following with interest the recent stories about the Rash farm in southern Carroll County. Much of the focus has been on the rights of the Rash brothers to sell their property and live a comfortable retirement. This has been balanced by the desire to retain rural farm land.We've lived In the Sykesville/Eldersberg area since 1980 and my wife has taught in the Carroll County school system since 1971. We moved, here for the affordable housing, but have welcomed the growth in services and conveniences that have come over the years.

A REPORT out of the U.S. Census Bureau last week stated that the number of residents in suburban Baltimore, including Carroll County, continued to grow during the past year. Not as rapidly as in previous years, but still increasing. Baltimore City, no surprise, again lost population.Carroll and Howard counties were percentage-gain leaders in population growth in the metro area last year, as they have been since the 1990 Census. During the decade, Carroll's population has risen by 21 percent, Howard's by 26 percent.

When the Carroll County commissioners voted to rezone 145 acres of South Carroll farmland for a 50-home golf course community in August, the decision -- which some fear will lead to unbridled development -- drew criticism from some of Maryland's most powerful environmental groups, the state planning office and Gov. Parris N. Glendening.But when it came time to appeal the decision, the job fell to a fledgling group of South Carroll citizens and a Sykesville resident. They have few financial resources, must depend on their own legal knowledge and will most likely face an uphill battle in the courts.

The county commissioners are expected to make a decision today on a landmark rezoning request that would allow 145 acres of South Carroll farmland to be developed into an upscale golf course community.The farm's owners -- brothers Claude, Edwin and Glenn Rash -- have been trying to rezone their land for nearly a decade, saying increased traffic and residential development have made farming impossible. If approved, the development would also help them retire comfortably, they said.County planners warn that the rezoning would open the door for more development of farmland and undermine the county's celebrated agricultural farmland preservation program.

To ease water shortages in Carroll's most populated area, county officials have entered into negotiations with Baltimore City to draw more water from Liberty Reservoir.The county would like to increase by 2 million gallons its daily allocation of water from the reservoir, a 75 billion-gallon lake that the city owns, and expand the Freedom Treatment Plant in Eldersburg.The county must win the city's approval to proceed.The county commissioners and several department heads who met recently with George G. Balog, Baltimore's public works director, said that the city was receptive to their proposals.

After lengthy public debate, the Sykesville Town Council postponed action last night on a $3.5 million corporate headquarters that Fairhaven Retirement Community plans on the northern edge of town.The 3-2 decision disappointed the nearly 50 residents who attended the session, who expected the council to vote on a petition that would change the zoning on the vacant 3 acres from residential to commercial."This postponement is obviously a delaying tactic," said Connie Higgins of Main Street.

An environmental contractor just outside Sykesville has asked the Carroll Circuit Court to review the mayor's and Town Council's decision last month to rezone a neighboring property for residential development.While it's more usual to see neighborhoods trying to keep out industry, this judicial review is sought by Enviro Serve Inc. of the 7400 block of Buttercup Road, a training school for construction workers that serves the East Coast in remediation work such as asbestos and lead-paint removal.

Nearly 1,100 homes proposed for the Freedom Area, Carroll's most populous region, will not be built because the planning commission has delayed the necessary zoning.Reviewing a growth plan for Freedom, the Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended no rezoning for residential development on 1,500 acres and approved the creation of a business district and an employment campus."We should leave property as it is zoned, not change it at all," said planning commissioner Grant Dannelly in a reference to a 295-acre parcel near Linton Road, which is zoned for agricultural use. "There is no valid reason to rezone."

Article on car lot missed key point Larry Carson's article Feb. 1 on the effort of Concerned Citizens of Western Howard County to block development of a used car lot in Daisy missed one important point our community organization has been making about the need for rezoning in the county's rural west. That point is that if rezoning had been done by the county when it should have been done, we would not be fighting a proposal to build a used car lot in a rural community where the General Plan in 1990 and 2000 said such large-scale commercial development is impractical and undesirable outside of five designated rural growth areas, of which Daisy is not one. The problem was created by the failure in the 2003-04 comprehensive rezoning process to follow policy set in the 2000 General Plan that was adopted to protect the rural character and resources of the county's largest remaining area of agricultural preservation, rural conservation and rural residential land - nearly 70,000 acres.

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.

A group hoping to block construction of a used car lot near Lisbon is trying to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat. The site in Daisy has been zoned commercial for more than 50 years, and other vehicle-related businesses operate there. But more than 200 residents met to protest when they learned about plans for a 3,850-square-foot building and 155-vehicle lot on 4.2 acres at Daisy and Union Chapel roads. County officials have said they can't stop the legal use of a property owner's land.

After more than two hours of discussion, the Howard County Planning Board put off a vote on changing the way Columbia's village centers can be rezoned until at least Feb. 4, its next work session. None of the four board members present at Thursday night's meeting objected to the main concept of Zoning Regulation Amendment 102, which would allow individual property owners in the village centers to petition for zoning changes. Currently, under what is known as the "gatekeeper provision," only Columbia's master developer, now General Growth Properties, may ask for a zoning change in the commercial centers.

The constituents who packed a Baltimore County Council meeting last night for its quadrennial redrawing of the county's zoning map were silent as mice for almost the entire 90-minute gathering, during which officials gave rapid-fire assent to hundreds of proposed zoning changes. The only exception was a happy ripple of applause when council members rejected a controversial request from Theodore W. Bauer, owner of the Oregon Grille restaurant on Shawan Road, who has faced a barrage of flak - not to mention a lawsuit - from neighbors because of his desire to expand the property.

As reported Oct. 4, 1977, in The Sun: The Howard County Zoning Board yesterday defeated the much debated proposal for a $ 75 million Marriott Corporation "theme park" on an industrially zoned site in the Guilford area south of Columbia. At the same time, the board adopted the first comprehensive rezoning plan for Howard county in 16 years. The vote to deny the bid by Marriott was 3 to 1. It is the second time in five years that the firm has failed to obtain zoning for a large amusement park in Howard county.

Karen Gulczynski wants to build a second house on her 2 acres in Essex for her daughter and future son-in-law. There's one hitch: Baltimore County zoning rules won't let her. "I could put a golf course back there. I could put a rec center back there, a small church," said Gulczynski, a bus attendant for Baltimore County public schools. "I could put anything back there but a home." Beginning Tuesday, Gulczynski and anyone else in Baltimore County will be able to ask their elected officials to change the rules covering what can be built on a particular piece of property.

Requests for changes in yearlong rezoning to be accepted online As Baltimore County planners prepare to take on one of the biggest tasks in local government -- the wholesale rezoning of land -- they are turning to the Internet to make the process a little less cumbersome this time. The county's once-every-four-years comprehensive zoning map process is scheduled to begin next month. And for the first time, those seeking changes to the rules covering what can be built on their property will be able to submit applications online.

Stephanie Stone fulfilled a longtime wish when she moved to a 15-acre horse farm on Broad Creek in northern Harford County 23 years ago. Neighboring farms surrounded her home until about a decade ago, when the vista began to change. Harford's population has nearly doubled since Stone, a research psychologist and teacher at the Johns Hopkins University, arrived. On her commute to work, she saw how development was encroaching on areas with a long-standing agricultural tradition. "I started seeing all this housing where farms were," she said.

Over the objections of the lawmaker representing the Annapolis Neck and amid accusations of ulterior motives, the Anne Arundel County Council has approved the first extensive rezoning of the peninsula in a decade. The zoning package "downzones" 600 acres south of Forest Drive to stop further residential growth, codifying a growth plan that residents approved four years ago. But the Republican-majority council went against the local councilman, Annapolis Democrat Josh Cohen, and County Executive John R. Leopold to "upzone" three properties along Bestgate Road - a move that critics say might open the gates to a proliferation of retail and office space along the congested corridor.