Subdivision

County Council members, sitting as the Zoning Board, will hear testimony tonight on a planned 65-acre subdivision near Harper's Choice village.The county Planning Board on June 23 endorsed plans for the development by Woodlot Enterprises Inc., but stopped short of giving its recommendation to the County Council on the zoning needed for the project. The subdivision of 32 town houses and 95 detached houses on quarter-acre and one-fifth-acre lots would be built on what is known as the Carroll property, off Harper's Farm Road between the Hobbit's Glen and Swansfield neighborhoods.

— Joining the Big Ten means that Maryland's football team will soon have Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan and other schools as new division opponents. But it also means the school's nonconference schedules are being upgraded and that some previously-scheduled games could be dropped. The Big Ten wants Maryland — which joins the conference in 2014 — and its other members to stop scheduling Football Championship Subdivision opponents. As a result, according to multiple officials, Maryland may drop at least some of their planned games with FCS schools in future seasons.

Developers planning subdivisions in eastern Howard County or projects that require conditional-use permission must meet with neighbors before submitting plans to the county. The next meetings are: Tomorrow at 6 p.m. at LDE Inc., 9250 Rumsey Road, Suite 106, Columbia, for a proposal to build two homes on a little more than an acre of the Guendel/Aleshin property, 10630 Gorman Road, Scaggsville. Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Land Design & Development Inc, 8000 Main St., Ellicott City, for a proposal to build nine homes on a little more than 5 acres of the Wichman/Kummer property on Talbots Landing, Ellicott City.

A year after leading Towson to its first Football Championship Subdivision appearance in school history, fourth-year coach Rob Ambrose reacted angrily Sunday after his 7-4 Tigers were snubbed by the NCAA selection committee for an invitation to this season's playoffs. Despite finishing the season on a four-game winning streak, including a 64-35 demolition of playoff-bound New Hampshire in Durham, N.H., Saturday, Towson failed to be invited into the 20-team field after losing in the opening round to Lehigh in 2011.

The Office of Planning and Zoning will meet Aug. 13 to review preliminary plans for a 5-acre subdivision near Riviera Isle.According to plans submitted to the county, the Amherst subdivision would be built on the northeast intersection of Fort Smallwood and Elizabeth roads. Plans call for 10 single-family homes valued at between $125,000 and $149,000, with three or four bedrooms. Lots will be a little less than a half-acre.Plans were submitted by the property's owner, American Savings Bank, at 4023 Annapolis Road.

Disputes with two developers have prompted Carroll County government to consider punishing developers who change subdivision plans without Planning Commission approval.The county commissioners appear ready to adopt the county's first fine for violating subdivision regulations."We're about as wide open on penalties as you'll see any county," Planning Director Edmund R. Cueman told the commissioners at a recent briefing on the proposal.Commissioners Donald I. Dell and Elmer C. Lippy endorsed the changes to create a possible penalty and authorize the Planning Commission to require an amended plat where the developer is found to have made substantial unauthorized changes.

A subdivision that predates county zoning regulations has current homeowners and a developer embroiled in controversy.Plans to build a dozen new houses along Homedale Road, a 12-foot-wide gravel road that intersects Klee Mill Road in Sykesville, have led to lawsuits and contention."

County officials have unveiled a proposed overhaul of Anne Arundel's 25-year-old subdivision ordinance, saying the changes would force developers to deal with crucial issues at the outset while offering more chances for public scrutiny of plans.It also would halve the time for a subdivision proposal to move through the bureaucracy.What is a two-step process for developers would become three steps, involving sketch plans, preliminary plans and final plans. Builders would be told at the start what issues they should resolve before returning with preliminary plans, said Joseph Elbrich, assistant planning and code enforcement director for development.

A reader owns a home in an 18-lot subdivision. The lots were sold subject to a declaration of restrictions recorded by the developer. The restrictions prohibit lot owners from erecting temporary structures. If a lot owner wants to construct a fence, wall or other structure or materially change the exterior appearance of a home, written plans and specifications for the project must be submitted and approved by the developer. The restrictions also prohibit lot owners from keeping commercial trucks or junk cars on their lots; prohibit raising animals for commercial purposes, and establish other regulations designed to "insure the maintenance of residential property values" for owners of lots in the subdivision.

A hearing on a planned 65-acre subdivision near Harper's Choice village in Columbia was put off last week for insufficient public notice.County Council members, sitting as the Zoning Board, were to hear testimony Wednesday on the development proposed by Woodlot Enterprises Inc. Because a legally required advertisement did not appear in the Howard County Sun, the hearing had to be postponed until Tuesday.The meeting will be held in the Banneker Room of the George Howard county office building, starting at 8:30 p.m. If needed, a second hearing would be held Oct. 29 at 8 p.m.The subdivision of 32 town houses and 95 detached houses on xTC quarter-acre and one-fifth-acre lots would be built on what is known as the Carroll property, off Harper's Farm Road between the Hobbit's Glen and Swansfield neighborhoods.

Marge Cissel is pressing her right index finger into the cover of a white loose-leaf binder containing a new state law limiting the use of septic systems, urging restricted development rights for some farm property. She's had the binder for months now, adding up what the law means for the value of her family's 310 acres in the Lisbon area, and she's angry. "This is not compensation," says Cissel, who with her husband, Lambert, started the Kimberthy Turf Farm 50 years ago. "This is legalized stealing.

A national homebuilder paid almost $20 million for land in two Anne Arundel County locations that are both approved for development, a local land brokerage said Monday. The Annapolis-based Hogan Cos. said it represented builder D.R. Horton in the purchase last week from Koch Development. It was the biggest acquisition of unimproved land in Anne Arundel this year, Hogan said. D.R. Horton could not be reached for comment. Hogan said the builder bought Canterbury Village, 130 lots off Jones Station Road in Arnold, and Millstone Village, 116 lots between Reece Road and Loving Road in Severn.

As a professional in the Maryland home building business, I urge members of the Maryland General Assembly to oppose Gov.Martin O'Malley's proposal to limit new residential subdivisions served by septic systems (SB 236/ HB 445 - The Governor's Sustainable Growth and Agricultural Preservation Act). If approved, the bill would have negative effects on our industry and would kill jobs. It takes planning authority away from local governments by requiring counties to add "growth tiers" into their comprehensive plans by the end of this year or else many of their septic subdivisions will be denied.

A man who died in a Stevensville subdivision house fire on Dec. 2 purposefully set the fire, police said Friday. A man who died in a Stevensville subdivision house fire on Dec. 2 purposefully set the fire, police said Friday. Police had been investigating the death as possibly involving foul play. William Matthews, 47, died in his home in the 200 block of Queen Anne Club Drive from smoke inhalation and burns, according to a statement from Maryland State Police. Firefighters found Matthews on the second floor of his two-story home, police said.

Eugene "Euke" Todd, a former Harford County cattleman turned developer, died in his sleep Sept. 30 at his Bel Air home. He was 87. Born in Galax, Va., the son of farmers, Mr. Todd was a child when he moved with his family to Colorado Springs. "His father had tuberculosis and doctors advised that he move to the drier climate of Colorado. After he regained his health, he moved in the early 1930s to Pylesville," said a daughter, Cara T. Blount of Bel Air. Mr. Todd, who had attended Bel Air High School, helped his father manage several Harford County farms and hauled livestock to market from surrounding local farms as well as from farms in Pennsylvania and Delaware.

The first public explanation of the new plan for building as many as 325 single-family homes in the northeast corner of historic Doughoregan Manor is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Ellicott City Senior Center, next to the Miller Library on Frederick Road. The session, called a "pre-submission meeting" in planning jargon, will let the public to hear an explanation of the proposal from the Carroll family's representatives before any plans are submitted to the county. Joseph Rutter, a former county planning director hired by the family, said they hope to stick to the division of land under a previous plan to build an Erickson retirement community on the site.

The forested, hilly land off Henryton Road where Shirley Collier and her neighbors live is wild and wonderful, but it's in Howard County, not West Virginia, and residents want government help to improve the half-mile unpaved private road that their developer installed three decades ago. But county officials fear that relaxing the laws on private road conversions for Collier's community would bring dozens more expensive requests. "It's our little piece of heaven out here," said Collier, a 23-year resident.

Barack Obama's election as the next president of the United States has obviously generated a lot of excitement and optimism in a country desperate for solutions and, yes, change. But among the topics that the president-elect and Republican John McCain wrestled over in their campaign debates, I don't recall a college football playoff being mentioned. And on all those whistle-stops where Obama talked eloquently and convincingly about the top issues in Americans' minds - the economy, the war in Iraq, health care, education - again, I don't remember any discussion of BCS rankings.