Windsor

The New Windsor Town Council has voted to annex the land on which the Brethren Service Center plans to build a retirement village.The council had stalled on the issue of extending the town limits to include the 6.63-acre parcel, which lies along Springdale Road.Council members were concerned that the Heifer Project International animal barn on the property would violate a town law that prohibits raising farm animals within town limits.But Town Attorney Marker J. Lovell told the council at its Wednesday night meeting that the land could be annexed to the town without violating the law because the agricultural use of the land was permitted before the land became part of the town.

Some homeowners living in the west end of New Windsor complain that the Resident Trooper Program and the town's Neighborhood Watch are not enough to curb lawlessness in their neighborhood, which they say is considered "the wrong side of tracks" by town officials.The residents say the town needs a full-time police officer to deal with trouble caused by outsiders, rowdies and people renting apartments in the west end from businessman John Connell Sr."I've been here 35 years, and it's never been like this," said Shawn C. Parry, 35, a bricklayer who lives in the house where he was reared, on Main Street west of High Street.

New Windsor residents will not have to worry about paying the cost of town development.The town plans to increase water and sewer connection fees to pay for capital improvements needed to accommodate new developments.Existing properties will be exempt from the increases."There is a pervading belief by current town residents that they are paying for the developments, and we need to reassure them that that is not what is happening," Mayor Jack A. Gullo Jr. said.Among the projects town government must undertake as a result of the development boom are finding another water source and upgrading the existing sewer and water treatment systems.

New Windsor Mayor Jack A. Gullo Jr. has big plans for the soon-to-be vacant New Windsor Middle School building -- providing the town gets the chance to use it.If he gets his way, the 41,630-square-foot building will be transformed into the town's main attraction, complete with a library, municipal offices, post office and pharmacy."

Juvenile vandalism is becoming more of a problem in New Windsor, but residents disagree about who's causing the trouble.The Town Council, a resident trooper and some of the more vocal residents blame children who live in apartments owned by John Connell Sr., a local businessman who has about 60 units in town.Mr. Connell has heard the allegations against his renters. He says he doesn't think the children involved live in his apartments.But even if they do, Mr. Connell said, it is not his concern.

As the state comptroller's office investigates whether to collect back taxes from Bill and Mel Schneider's New Windsor development company, the two worry about the validity of a contract with town officials and about being perceived as criminals.The company, the New Windsor Partnership, is being investigated because it didn't pay sales tax on about $80,000 in construction materials it purchased for a pump station it built on Route 31 at Springdale Avenue.But the Schneiders and former town Clerk-Treasurer Richard M. Warehime, who handled the transactions, said the Public Sewer Agreement signed April 16, 1992, by Town Attorney Marker J. Lovell and former Mayor James Carlisle -- now a councilman -- stipulated that the town would provide the construction materials.

Although New Windsor may soon overflow with development, it appears that, for the moment, the well has run dry.The town government has placed a limit on development until a water source is found to supplement the town's current supply.The restriction is an attempt by town officials to combat the confusion surrounding three planned development projects."I have discovered much confusion and misunderstanding between the Town Council, the citizens and the developers," Mayor Jack A. Gullo Jr. read from a prepared statement to developers July 7 during the monthly Town Council meeting.

Five candidates, including two incumbents, are vying for three New Windsor Town Council seats up for grabs in the May 8 election. Incumbents Kevin Null and Steve Farkas are seeking re-election, but Councilwoman Charlotte Hollenbeck is stepping down. Town officials said candidates for the council seats were slow to file. The other three candidates include telecommunications technician F. Tracey Alban II, career firefighter Byron Welker and disc jockey and video production company owner Ed Smith.

The building designs in Windsor Hills display everything from Victorian-style housing to modern apartment buildings to Japanese-inspired homes. The architectural variety is just a small part of the neighborhood's identity in West Baltimore. Residents praise Windsor Hills' diversity. Tanya Hicks, a resident of Windsor Hills for 35 years, said her now-grown son enjoyed knowing all kinds of people in his neighborhood. "He had all different kinds of friends: poor friends, rich friends," Hicks said.

Visitors once were drawn to New Windsor because of the so-called medicinal powers of the town's sulfur spring. But many residents who live there now boast about the quiet charm of this rural Carroll County community. "We had been living in Montgomery County and we were looking for a more rural environment," said Barbara Dolan Brown, who lives on the outskirts of town. After driving around New Windsor, they came to what is now the Browns' home, which overlooks the Catoctin Mountains. "My husband said, `This is it,'" Barbara Brown recalled.