Zoning Administrator

James Norvell, administrator for the Carroll County Board of Zoning Appeals, has accepted responsibility for the county liquor board as well, the county commissioners confirmed this week.The liquor board administrator's position became open when J. Ronald Lau retired in March. Mr. Lau had been the administrator for six years."We're combining both positions," said Commissioner Julia W. Gouge. "We're going to try this for a three-month period to see if it works."The commissioners decided to merge the positions because the workload for the Board of Zoning Appeals diminished recently, she said.

The county commissioners have ordered staff to review Carroll's zoning laws, as the three-member board moves forward with plans to consider rezoning 47 mostly rural properties for commercial or industrial use. The directive was issued during a routine staff meeting yesterday, after the commissioners learned that county zoning laws fail to address Carroll's need for assisted-living facilities for seniors. Current zoning laws allow for nursing homes as a conditional use on farmland, but make no mention of assisted-living and continuing care retirement communities.

As early as next week, a group of Westminster residents might see the end of their monthslong fight against a methadone treatment center that has been proposed for near the city's downtown area. Residents near the planned location in the 200 block of E. Main St., near Washington Road, say the mixed commercial and residential neighborhood is not appropriate for a methadone program. Others have complained at recent public hearings that the center could bring problems such as more pedestrians and a parking shortage.

The Carroll County commissioners unanimously enacted an ordinance yesterday that will allow bioscience research facilities to operate in areas zoned for agriculture. The ordinance could affect any possible expansion of Spring Valley Laboratories in Woodbine, the county's only animal research facility. The facility, on a 110-acre farm, has housed labs for breeding and testing animals since 1980. The business tests vaccines and has contracts with the National Institutes of Health and several private companies.

Is it a construction equipment storage site?Or is it a junkyard?That's what county zoning administrators will try to decide abouta site in New Windsor where Weller Bros. Construction Co. Inc. stores cranes and other heavy equipment.Yesterday, the Carroll Board of Zoning Appeals began hearing arguments in the case, which pits the company against a group of residents who live near the 0.7-acre site on New Windsor Road.In March 1990, the residents filed a complaint with the county zoning administrator, saying that the site has become overgrown and that some of the equipment there is inoperable and remains there indefinitely in violation of the zoning code.

The Carroll County commissioners unanimously enacted an ordinance yesterday that will allow bioscience research facilities to operate in areas zoned for agriculture. The ordinance could affect any possible expansion of Spring Valley Laboratories in Woodbine, the county's only animal research facility. The facility, on a 110-acre farm, has housed labs for breeding and testing animals since 1980. The business tests vaccines and has contracts with the National Institutes of Health and several private companies.

The Rubber Tree will take root in Fells Point after all.A Baltimore Circuit Court judge yesterday reinstated an occupancy permit for the condom shop at 904 S. Broadway, reversing a previous ruling by the city zoning board.Circuit Judge Andre M. Davis said the zoning board was "irrational in the extreme" in denying a permit for the shop by the waterfront.Jeanne L. Brown, the shop's owner, said she planned to be open for business by the end of next month."I feel wonderful. It's been a long time coming," said Ms. Brown, a Lutherville mother of two teen-agers.

One of the last remaining strips of open land along the southern shore of Marley Creek soon will be the site of a new town-house development.Despite protests from neighbors, who wanted to turn the property into a nature sanctuary, the county last week approved building 15 town homes off Forest Road.Arguing that construction would destroy a fragile coastal area, a half-dozen neighbors petitioned the county's zoning administrator Dec. 4 to deny a special exemption and two variances needed to develop the project.

Disputing a characterization of his proposed methadone treatment center in a Westminster neighborhood as a medical clinic, the operator of three other facilities in Maryland said he would offer a "medication-assisted program" in a professional office setting. At yesterday's Board of Zoning Appeals hearing, Brian Prichard said his proposed center would provide therapy sessions, mental health counseling and medication assistance much like other professional offices in the downtown area that provide similar health-related services.

With developers and property owners facing months of delays in getting their zoning cases heard in Baltimore, Mayor Martin O'Malley has hired a new administrator who is determined to speed up the work of the city's powerful zoning board. David C. Tanner, a 30-year city employee, became executive director of the Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals last week. Previously the city's zoning administrator and general superintendent of housing inspection services, Tanner applied for the job with a plan for clearing a backlog in zoning cases that forces developers and property owners to wait up to six months to begin projects or renovations.