Town Water

The town of Hampstead will be surveying the 40 to 50 homeowners in a neighborhood just east of town, where the gasoline additive MTBE has shown up in some wells, to determine the level of interest in being annexed and connected to the town water supply. Hampstead Town Manager Ken Decker said letters to the property owners would be going out this week. About 40 people, many of them residents of the Hillcrest Avenue neighborhood, came to an informational meeting Wednesday night at the town hall with representatives of the Maryland Department of the Environment.

More than a dozen homeowners along Sunset Drive outside Hampstead want the town to annex their properties so they can have public water.Since August, several homeowners have experienced water-pressure problems, and some fear their water supply may suddenly dry up. Residents presented an informal petition for annexation to the Town Council last week.Mayor Christopher M. Nevin said last week that town officials would do whatever they could to help the homeowners, who rely on wells for water.

The mayor and Town Council of Hampstead will hold a workshop on water rates at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at Town Hall. Councilman Haven N. Shoemaker Jr. said town water rates have not changed in 11 years. The Town Council must approve new water rates. Water rates usually are passed as an ordinance with at least one public hearing. A change in water rates takes into consideration population growth, the town's water infrastructure and costs business, including federal regulations, said Town Manager Ken Decker.

The Carroll County commissioners reversed themselves yesterday and voted 2-1 to allow more houses to be built on a 137-acre parcel northwest of Mount Airy if schools can handle the additional students the development would bring.Commissioner Donald I. Dell voted against the zoning change, which will allow the developer to build about two houses per acre instead of one per acre.Last month, the commissioners refused to approve the change, saying increased density would strain public services in the area even though county and state agencies had found that schools, roads and public safety services could handle the increased population.

A limited water supply might force a reduction in the size of a proposed development that would be the first major subdivision in Union Bridge -- one that might double the town's population.Hampstead developer Martin K. P. Hill wants to build 317 homes, and permission from the Maryland Department of the Environment to pump enough water to sustain the subdivision from a well at the 120-acre property.Hill was seeking approval for 124,000 gallons a day -- enough for more than 500 homes, based on the state's projection of 230 gallons a day per household.

The Hampstead bypass will be a top priority of his, says Vincent Corsaro, the town's newest council member.Corsaro, 38, was appointed last week to complete the term of Councilwoman Wendy Martin, who resigned in May and moved to Florida.Corsaro, a 10-year resident of Hampstead, has served as a member of the town's Board of Zoning Appeals for about four years and brings additional support for a bypass to the five-member council.The bypass project, which was initiated about 20 years ago, is stalled, awaiting results of an environmental study on bog turtles that inhabit a portion of the proposed bypass.

The Carroll County commissioners will allow interim private water and sewer systems to be installed at an industrial development near Union Bridge, but only if the owner seeks annexation of the property into the town. "We are granting permission, contingent on application for annexation," Commissioner Dean L. Minnich said yesterday. "The owner also must agree to hook into the town systems when those become available." Those contingencies could prove too costly for David and Sam Lease, who are trying to sell 10 acres of their 90-acre farm to Hahn Transportation Inc. In addition to town property taxes, annexation could require the Leases to pay about $1 million to run public water and sewer lines to the property.

To any Marylanders whining about water restrictions, the little town of Manchester has this to say: Cry me a river, and recycle the tears.Manchester has lived under strict water use rules for five years -- including a permanent ban on watering lawns and filling or topping off swimming pools -- because of its chronic water shortage.The experience has hardened the Carroll County town's 3,100 residents, making them as stingy with a gallon of HO as Scrooge with a shilling.Vigilant homeowners capture rainwater in 55-gallon drums, recycle laundry water or collect water from their morning showers in buckets.

A battle for mayor is warming in Hampstead, where Councilman Wayne H. Thomas has filed to oppose incumbent Christopher M. Nevin.The filing deadline for the bipartisan municipal election for mayor and two council seats on May 11 is two weeks off.Nevin, 40, has not filed, but said he is running for re-election "as a ticket again" with incumbent Councilmen Larry H. Hentz Jr. and Stephen A. Holland, whose four-year terms are expiring.Holland, 39, and Hentz, 46, have filed for re-election. Also running for the council is Steven Balaz, 33.The Nevin-Hentz-Holland ticket won about 80 percent of the votes in 1995, when 30 percent of the town's 1,799 registered voters cast ballots.

A battle for mayor is warming in Hampstead, where Councilman Wayne H. Thomas has filed to oppose incumbent Christopher M. Nevin.The filing deadline for the bipartisan municipal election for mayor and two council seats on May 11 is two weeks off.Nevin, 40, has not filed, but said he is running for re-election "as a ticket again" with incumbent Councilmen Larry H. Hentz Jr. and Stephen A. Holland, whose four-year terms are expiring.Holland, 39, and Hentz, 46, have filed for re-election. Also running for the council is Steven Balaz, 33.The Nevin-Hentz-Holland ticket won about 80 percent of the votes in 1995, when 30 percent of the town's 1,799 registered voters cast ballots.