Waverly Woods

Howard County's longest zoning fight in nearly 20 years ended yesterday, with proponents urging the creation of a "signature community" on the 682-acre Waverly Woods II site in Marriottsville and Woodstock.With only three opponents present, it was a peaceful conclusion for what had started March 11 with a packed auditorium and acrimonious exchanges between lawyers for the property's owners and residents seeking to preserve the area's rural character."It is a reasonable and rational plan that will enable us to have a signature community in Howard County," said Leonard Goldstein, attorney for the site's three owners, John Gudelsky, Bruce Taylor and Kennard Warfield Jr.But Susan Gray, a growth-control advocate representing opponents, urged the board to reject on legal grounds a package of zoning changes that would clear the way for the project.

It may take more than a peace offering of muffins by County Councilwoman Shane Pendergrass, a 1st District Democrat, to get friends and foes of Waverly Woods II back together, but at least they'll be in the same room tonight.County Council members will sit as the Zoning Board for the 12th day of testimony on the proposed 682-acre commercial, residential and golfing village.Developers of the 30-year project, which would include 937 homes and 1.7 million square feet of office space, have presented their case, and opposition witnesses will continue testifying tonight.

Debate about whether to allow the county's largest non-Columbia village to be built began last week amid an undercurrent of cool anger.Two nights of contentious hearings revealed little new about the Waverly Woods II project. The proposed residential, commercial and golfing village would be built on 682 rural acres along Marriottsville Road between Interstate 70 and Route 99.A standing-room-only crowd of more than 450 people showed up the first night, 128 the next.Developer Donald R. Reuwer Jr. "broughtin everyone who could swing a hammer or a golf club," said opposition leader Jean Iampieri Quattlebaum.

The Planning Board stunned a crowd of more than 200 protesters yesterday when it delayed a hearing on the Waverly Woods development proposal."I've lived here since 1978, and they pull this crap every time," Nancy Springfield of Woodstock said afterward. "It seems like every five years we have to go through this foolishness."Springfield's neighborhood is less than a mile away from the 682 acres that Donald R. Reuwer Jr. wants to develop as a residential, commercial and golfing village along Interstate 70 and Marriottsville Road.

A standing-room only crowd of 275 people crammed into Waverly Elementary School Monday night, mostly to oppose plans for a commercial, residential and golfing development on 682 rolling, rural acres bordered by Interstate 70, Marriottsville Road and Route 99.Developer Donald R. Reuwer Jr. said afterward he had not only gotten "great feedback," but "the hostility lessened toward the end."When the meeting ended at 10:31 p.m., only a third of the crowd remained. Many approached him afterward, Reuwer said, to say they were"appalled" at the way others in the crowd disrupted his presentationwith shouted questions and accusations.

Developer Donald R. Reuwer Jr. says the Zoning Board made a mistake.But about 150 people turned out to a Planning Board meeting Wednesday night to say it is Reuwer who is wrong.The crowd opposed a 682-acre residential, commercial and golfing village Reuwer wants to build near their neighborhoods.The proposed development, Waverly Woods II, would be located off MarriottsvilleRoad between Interstate 70 and Route 99.The board was hearing allegations of Reuwer that the Zoning Board made a mistake in 1985 whenit zoned the property rural -- one house per 3 acres -- instead of amix of planned employment center and residential uses called for in the 1982 general plan.

A plan to build 102 apartments for moderate-income seniors amid an upscale golf course community west of Ellicott City drew more than 150 opponents to a Howard County Zoning Board hearing last night. Their lawyer, Michael P. Tanczyn of Towson, called the plan a "classic bait and switch" that virtually the entire 800-home community opposes. "A lot of people have spent hard-earned money to bite on the bait," he told the board. "The switch part is what is before you now." Tanczyn argued that residents bought their homes based on plans to separate moderate- income housing in three locations around the development, and now feel plans to concentrate the units violate those promises.

It was a dream come true for three adjoining landowners. They had the patience and wisdom to see that the sum would be greater than the parts. And that by joining forces, they knew they could create something unique in Howard County."

It was the kind of maternal logic County Councilwoman Shane Pendergrass says comes easily to her.If the combatants in the Waverly Woods II zoning battle were squabbling, why not just have them sit down over muffins to sort things out?On the 11th day of sometimes bitter hearings, Mrs. Pendergrass, the First District Democrat, handed out baked goods to advocates and opponents of the proposed 682-acre commercial, residential and golfing village.In return, both sides promised to sit down and try to reach a compromise on the development that would transform the rolling countryside of Marriottsville and Woodstock into something resembling a Columbia village.

The Waverly Woods project is a departure from past growth in the Ellicott City area. One needs to only look at what has occurred since 1985 in the neighborhood of Howard County that is bounded by Route 40, Marriottsville Road, Bethany Lane and the Patapsco River.Simply, there have been about 1,155 dwellings developed in a six-year period.Each of these developments is quite attractive and has added in its own way to Howard County. However, the overall quality of life in the area could have been improved had they been developed with an overall "master plan."