Site Development Plan

Bowling Brook Preparatory School Location: East side of Crouse Mill Road, north of Middleburg Road in Middleburg Developer: Walden Real Estate, Keymar Engineer: CLSI, Westminster Zoning: Agricultural - schools are a permitted use Acreage: Nearly 112-acre campus Description: Improvements to existing private school campus to include a 19,000-square-foot vocational building, a 20,000-square-foot recreational building and, in the future, four...

The former site of a waste incinerator in Northeast Baltimore could be developed into a big-box store or warehouses or a combination under a plan being proposed by construction magnate Willard Hackerman, who has a contract to purchase the vacant, 19-acre site on Pulaski Highway from the city for more than $1 million. Hackerman, president and chief executive of the Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., has asked the city to designate the 6709 Pulaski Highway parcel a planned unit development, which would allow him to proceed with one of three scenarios.

The Howard County Board of Appeals has again postponed a public hearing scheduled tonighton a variance request for a recycling center that was built in Elkridge without a permit or county approval.The hearing, which had first been scheduled Aug. 19, has been rescheduled for Nov. 10 at the George Howard Building in Ellicott City.Richard B. Talkin, a Columbia attorney representing Partners Quality Recycling Services, asked the board for the postponement for unspecified reasons, said Robin Regner, an administrative assistant to the board.

The Columbia Wegmans grocery store faces one less hurdle after a challenge to approval of its site development plan was dismissed this week. Michele LeFaivre, Board of Appeals hearing examiner, ruled Monday that "the 30-day filing has to be very strictly construed," before dismissing the appeal brought by Philip Rousseau, a Columbia resident whose property backs up to within about 15 feet of Snowden River Parkway, which is expected to handle much more...

Construction of a sprawling, multimillion-dollar residential and retail compound on the edge of Columbia is expected to begin next month. The last major obstacles to the retail component of the project, Gateway Overlook, were removed Thursday night when the Planning Board unanimously approved two measures sought by the developer, General Growth Properties Inc. The first was an amendment to permit a tightly restricted gasoline station on the property....

Howard County officials say they are near an agreement that would allow a Baltimore recycling company to keep a transfer station that was built in Elkridge without county approval.In exchange for several concessions, Partners Quality Recycling Services would not have to move or raze the structure at the end of Kit Kat Road, said Joseph W. Rutter Jr., director of the county Department of Planning and Zoning and one of the architects of the compromise.According to the proposed agreement, Partners Quality would have to install a turnaround lane for county snow removal trucks on the site and dedicate a 15-foot-wide easement along the front of the property to the county.

The next phase of a sprawling, age-restricted housing development visible from Route 175 has been approved by the Howard County Planning Board. The development, Snowden Overlook, is limited to those ages 55 and older. Numerous units have been completed or are under construction. It is being jointly developed by Ryland Group Inc. and Lennar Corp. and will offer about 380 units when completed. The development is off Dried Earth Boulevard, near Snowden River Parkway in Columbia. The Planning Board unanimously approved a site development plan for construction of 54 townhouses and a four-story, 56-unit condominium complex.

Opponents of a proposed Ellicott City Wal-Mart want the county planning director to tell the Zoning Board in person why he doesn't like the idea, either.Planning Director Joseph W. Warren Jr. sent the Zoning Board a 25-page technical report recommending against rezoning 54 acres near U.S. 29 and U.S. 40 for retail rather than office use. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. wants the property rezoned so it can build a department store and members-only wholesale buying club.Simply having a report for the record is not enough, said Thomas M. Meachum, an attorney representing residents opposed to the project.

TODAY, Sykesville votes on its future in a referendum about whether to annex 138 acres of surplus state land that would be developed as an important economic and employment base of the town. It's a vote over locally controlling growth -- or leaving the decisions to others.Elected town officers and community leaders solidly favor the expansion to fulfill their 20-year site development plan. Voters should affirm that sound judgment in today's referendum.The town expects little or no public expense from the annexation, known as the Warfield complex of Springfield Hospital Center.

PUBLIC PROJECTS long planned but never realized cast a shadow of uncertainty over private development. That prospect has to be accepted by anyone who buys land with such pencilled-in possibilities on the plat. But one can appreciate the frustration of James Harris, who bought a 100-acre field east of Westminster in 1985 intending to develop 46 building lots, which already had preliminary county approval. Since then, his plans have been stymied by 40-year-old unfulfilled state plans to build a traffic bypass around Route 140. Up to half his land could have been taken by proposed bypass routes.

Amid a groundswell of community opposition, Wal-Mart announced yesterday that it has backed out of a plan to build a 121,000-square-foot Supercenter in Crofton. After meetings with County Executive John R. Leopold and property owner William Berkshire, a spokesman for the retail giant noted that despite making several concessions, "it has become clear to us that there are various views about a project of this size and scope at this specific site and its relationship to the County's long-term development profile."

The next phase of the luxury planned community Maple Lawn, Maryland will include more than 220 homes and a significant expansion of space for commercial offices. Many regulatory hurdles must be cleared before the expansion can begin, and it will be several years before the homes are constructed, but the developer is seeking county approval of an amended sketch plan that determines what can be built and where on the property. The Planning Board deferred action on the request Thursday night after a lengthy public hearing, saying it needed time to consider the application and testimony, particularly from opponents.

Construction of a sprawling, multimillion-dollar residential and retail compound on the edge of Columbia is expected to begin next month. The last major obstacles to the retail component of the project, Gateway Overlook, were removed Thursday night when the Planning Board unanimously approved two measures sought by the developer, General Growth Properties Inc. The first was an amendment to permit a tightly restricted gasoline station on the property....

Plans for four more structures, including three national restaurants, have been approved at Gateway Overlook, a large upscale residential and retail center under construction in Columbia. It was the second time in a month that the county Planning Board approved elements for the sprawling development, and others will be considered soon. Gateway Overlook is bounded by Route 175, Route 108, Lark Brown Road and Old Waterloo Road. It will be a mixed-use center, with a half-million square feet of residential and commercial space.

For months, motorists traveling near the intersection of Routes 175 and 108 have watched as vast amounts of earth were cleared, graded and moved. But that was just a precursor to the construction of a sprawling upscale residential and retail complex that will be one of the last major developments of Columbia's New Town. The county Planning Board has approved a site development plan for a one-story, six-unit retail structure at the site, the forerunner of Gateway Overlook, a 123-acre development.

Bowling Brook Preparatory School Location: East side of Crouse Mill Road, north of Middleburg Road in Middleburg Developer: Walden Real Estate, Keymar Engineer: CLSI, Westminster Zoning: Agricultural - schools are a permitted use Acreage: Nearly 112-acre campus Description: Improvements to existing private school campus to include a 19,000-square-foot vocational building, a 20,000-square-foot recreational building and, in the future, four...

The Columbia Wegmans grocery store faces one less hurdle after a challenge to approval of its site development plan was dismissed this week. Michele LeFaivre, Board of Appeals hearing examiner, ruled Monday that "the 30-day filing has to be very strictly construed," before dismissing the appeal brought by Philip Rousseau, a Columbia resident whose property backs up to within about 15 feet of Snowden River Parkway, which is expected to handle much more...

Construction of the 22-story tower overlooking Lake Kittamaqundi is expected to begin in four months, a top executive of the developer of the luxury residential and retail project says. The company will file for building permits next month and, barring delays, should have them in hand by June, said Anthony F. Albanese, division president of WCI Communities Inc., the developer. Construction of the multimillion-dollar project would begin immediately and take about two years to complete, he said.