Special Exception

Officials at Terrific Inc. -- a nonprofit Washington group that cares for children ill with the AIDS virus -- say they will hold their first employee retreat in January at a $655,000 farmhouse the group owns on 32 acres in western Howard County.The retreat, to held Jan. 6-8, comes two weeks before the expiration of the group's special exception allowing it to hold weekday retreats with up to 10 people at the house on Ed Warfield Road in Daisy, officials at the county's planning and zoning office say.The group's president, the Rev. Debbie Tate, received a special exception from the Howard County Board of Appeals three years ago.Since then, neighbors of the property have complained, the group has not had any retreats at the house.

Require new application for nursing homeThe progression of events in the Beechwood Heritage Nursing Home development in Anne Arundel County has reached a critical juncture. The entry of Allegis as the developer resulted in substantial changes to the design. About 30,000 square feet were cut. The original two buildings were replaced by a single building.Along the way William Mulford, our county councilman, introduced a bill that would prohibit nursing home development in our R2-zoned land without a special exception.

A Sykesville-area man who has run a masonry contracting business out of his home for 19 years will have to close or move, the Howard County Board of Appeals has ruled.Mark A. Tucker Sr., owner of Matco Masonry Contractors Inc. on Howard's Lodge Road, said the decision has left him with no means to support himself and his four children, who are in his care since his wife left him this year."This is a nightmare," Tucker said. "Lost my wife at the beginning of the summer. Lost my job at the end of the summer."

Marty Giggard says it is bad enough that she has to live with noisy cars and rambunctious youths who congregate at the telephone booth at the Royal Farms convenience store on Fort Smallwood Road in Pasadena.She fears things may get worse if Royal Farms gets permission to convert part of its store in the Sunset Beach neighborhood into a self-service gasoline station."It's mostly the fumes from the gas that's going to bother me," Giggard said. "It's a health hazard."Baltimore-based Cloverland Farms Dairy Inc., which owns Royal Farms, has asked Robert C. Wilcox, the county's administrative hearing officer, to grant the company a special exception to enable it to add a two-pump island that could serve four cars at a time.

The Howard County Board of Appeals will decide next month whether the former site of the Elkridge Drive-In will remain a flea market.The Department of Planning and Zoning accused Columbia developer Barry Mehta -- who owns the 17-acre parcel off U.S. 1 and Bonnie View Lane -- of failing to make required site improvements, such as paving the parking lot and fencing the trash area.During a four-hour hearing on Tuesday, Mr. Mehta said he complied with the conditions of the special exception, but planning and zoning officials chose to interpret the conditions too strictly.

A Ferndale woman who was denied a special exception to convert her single-family home into a two-family dwelling and a variance to make legal an existing deck is appealing the county's decisions.The Board of Appeals will hear both cases at 6:30 tonight at the Arundel Center in Annapolis.Last June, administrative hearing officer Robert C. Wilcox rejected Natalie Campbell's request for a special exception, citing the deck as a reason. Mr. Wilcox ordered Ms. Campbell to remove the 18-by-23-foot deck because it did not meet the county requirement for a 7-foot setback from the property line.

A petition for a special exception to allow a 225-foot mobile communications tower in Pasadena has been denied by Anne Arundel County Administrative Hearing Officer Robert C. Wilcox.In the decision Thursday, Mr. Wilcox said he denied West Shore Communications' petition because there was no testimony to show why a 164-foot water tower on the property behind the Eastern District Police station could not be used for communications antennas.About a dozen angry residents from Chesterfield and Westwood Manor protested the company's application at a June 1 hearing.

A Columbia synagogue has abandoned its religion-based constitutional challenge to Howard County's land-use authority and asked for formal permission to teach elementary school classes at its day care facility in the Sebring neighborhood.Lubavitch of Howard County was due to plead its case in county JTC circuit court next month against the county Board of Appeals. The Jewish sect members sued the board after it ruled Dec. 6 that the 1989 special zoning exception allowing a religious facility and day care center did not allow first-grade classes.

Frustrated by a Columbia developer's failure to improve an Elkridge flea market site, Howard County planning and zoning officials have taken steps to revoke his special exception to operate the business.Last week, the county Department of Planning and Zoning filed a request to revoke Barry Mehta's special exception because he did not make required site improvements -- including paving or applying an asphalt preservative to the parking lot and providing better access to roads -- before opening the Elkridge flea market April 2."

The Howard County Board of Appeals last night approved plans for the county's first permanent mosque, pleasing members of a Muslim congregation who worked to allay neighbors' concerns about parking, noise, lights and terrorism.The board voted 4-0 to approve a special exception for a religious facility in Clarksville on Route 108 just east of Manor Lane for the Dar-Al-Taqwa congregation."Definitely I'm pleased with everyone involved in getting this project approved," said Salah Elshanawany, a congregation member and engineer.