Waugh Chapel

The developers of the Village at Waugh Chapel in Crofton compare the proposed shopping and residential complex to everything from the Champs Elysees in Paris to Main Street, America -- anything but a traditional shopping center.And the latter is exactly what area residents and county planners do not want to see built on the 71 acres at Route 3 and Waugh Chapel Road.Developer Robert DeStefano has submitted the conceptual design plan to the county, six months after the County Council approved landmark legislation to allow the suburban community center.

A 15-year-old Gambrills boy was in critical condition at Maryland Shock Trauma Center yesterday after he ran into traffic on Waugh Chapel Road and was hit by a car Tuesday, county police said.Jacob Paul Mysiuk of the 2300 block of Maytime Drive in Gambrills was struck by a car driven by Craig Carlton Wharton, 40, of the 1700 block of Sharwood Place in Crofton, police said.Wharton was driving east on Waugh Chapel Road about 8: 30 p.m. and had a green traffic signal at Maytime Drive, police said.

BY APPROVING the so-called "suburban community centers" legislation that will allow the development of the Village at Waugh Chapel near Crofton, the Anne Arundel County Council may have gotten slightly ahead of itself. In salvaging a worthy project, the council may have also cracked open a Pandora's Box on future land-use policy.In one version of the Greek legend, Pandora, the first mortal woman, opened a box out of curiosity and allowed all the human blessings -- except for hope -- to escape forever.

DEVELOPER ROBERT DESTEFANO'S proposal to build a retail and residential project at Waugh Chapel Road and Route 3 near Crofton presents a special problem for the Anne Arundel County Council.Should the council pass Bill 36-96 at its meeting tonight, it will be creating a new category of zoning that will apply to strips of property all along the congested Route 3 corridor. If the county kills the bill, however, it might put a premature end to an interesting, and potentially useful, zoning concept.

Greed wins, citizens lose in zoning changeThe headline should read, "Strip Shopping Center Coming to a Neighborhood Corner Near You." That was exactly what I thought while driving home from the Anne Arundel County Council hearing on Bill 36-96 on May 2.The Suburban Community Center legislation as amended is not required to do what the citizens of Crofton and Waugh Chapel wanted. There is no required special housing for seniors, no required community center to house child care and no legal standing for the touted Planning Advisory Committee to require it. This bill is just what the general developers wanted -- general commercial development at half the price.

A 4.5-mile car chase on Routes 3 and 32 by county fire marshals and police Tuesday ended in the arrest of a 41-year-old Millersville man on drug and traffic charges.Francis A. Howard, of the 1400 block of Hoppa Road, was charged with possession of crack cocaine and driving on a suspended license.Fire Marshals James Stallings and Michael Pyle were investigating recent arsons near the intersection of Route 3 and Waugh Chapel Road about 8 p.m. when they saw a 1981 Ford Escort pull into a dirt driveway off Waugh Chapel Road, police said.

Two Crofton men were arrested on drug charges Tuesday after being searched when an officer stopped their car on Waugh Chapel Road because a headlight was out.Police said yesterday that the officer was on Chapelgate Drive at Waugh Chapel Road shortly after midnight when he saw the suspects' 1987 Dodge Aries traveling west on Waugh Chapel Road.When the officer stopped the car, he asked the driver and passenger to consent to a search. The officer found in the driver's pants pocket and on the passenger an unspecified amount of a substance that tested positive for marijuana, police said.

Developer Robert DeStefano is edging closer to winning widespread support for a change in a county zoning law that would allow him to build a retail and residential project on 66 acres along Waugh Chapel Road and Route 3.Crofton Civic Association and the Four Seasons Community Association -- together representing about 5,000 households -- voted Monday to support Mr. DeStefano's Village at Waugh Chapel development and the legislation that would make it...

Eight homes were evacuated Friday afternoon and a section of Waugh Chapel Road closed while Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. crews repaired a ruptured gas line, county police said yesterday.A worker for Jones Intercable drilling under the sidewalk of the 800 block of Vacation Drive hit the gas line about 3:30 p.m. County firefighters evacuated nearby houses and county police closed Waugh Chapel Road for about 90 minutes, police said.No one was injured in the incident, police said.Woman hurts her head when she falls off carA Baltimore woman suffered head injuries Friday evening when she fell from the trunk of a friend's car while the friend was driving around the parking lot of the Maryland Correctional Institute at Jessup, state police said.

Scores of students took part this spring in the Waugh Chapel Elementary School program "I Love to Read."Once a student or staff member read a minimum of four hours they were officially on the reading incentive team. A minimum of six hours of reading earned a white ribbon, eight hours a red ribbon and 10 hours a blue ribbon.Twenty-two staff members and 262 students read a minimum of four hours. White ribbons were awarded to 44 participants, red ribbons to 34 and blue ribbons to 206.Top readers in each grade were given T-shirts from the Center for the Book, which is housed at the Library of Congress: Brittany Bevins, Early Childhood Intervention, 16 hours; Bryan Ward, kindergarten, 24 hours; Mary Catherine Nowottnick, David Nowottnick and Michael Nowottnick, first grade, 24 hours each; Matthew Ward, second grade, 53 hours; Brian Stiffler, third grade, 36 hours; Nichole Waters, fourth grade, 48 hours; Kathleen Ferner, fifth grade, 71 hours.