Zoning Administrator

The county commissioners appointed yesterday Robert A. "Max" Bair as Carroll's new zoning administrator. Bair, an executive assistant to the commissioners, had been acting zoning administrator since Jan. 18. He was one of 17 applicants for the post, but was not the candidate favored by the county planning commission. The planning panel voted 3-1 to recommend Claude Rash, one of three brothers who won county approval last year to rezone their Woodbine farm for a golf course community.

Scofflaws beware: Laws against abandoned vehicles, repair shops in residential neighborhoods and lighted signs will be enforced within 10 days - as opposed to two months - county officials promise. In an attempt to catch up with a backlog of complaints, the county commissioners have shifted responsibility for zoning enforcement to the Department of Permits, Inspections and Review. Under the new system, as many as six inspectors will be looking into reported zoning violations, a job that used to be done by one person.

Scofflaws beware: Laws against abandoned vehicles, repair shops in residential neighborhoods and lighted signs will be enforced within 10 days - as opposed to two months, county officials promise. In an attempt to catch up with a backlog of complaints, the county commissioners have shifted responsibility for zoning enforcement to the Department of Permits, Inspections and Review. Under the new system, as many as six inspectors will be looking into alleged zoning violations, a job that used to be done by one person.

Taneytown officials have learned they erroneously approved a change in the city code in August that removes the requirement for downtown businesses to provide off-street parking, said Mayor Henry C. Heine.Heine said he expects the error to be corrected without incident in the next few months. The error is not in the code, but in the way the change was approved -- without a public hearing.In the meantime, the changed code is valid, Heine said, and the first people to benefit from it, Keith and Cinda Reed, have approval to lease the first floor of their building, the former Central Hotel, as business space.

The Carroll County zoning administrator will hold public hearings today on eight requests for variances in zoning regulations.The hearings begin at 9 a.m. and will be held in Room 124 of the County Office Building, 225 N. Center St., Westminster.Scheduled cases are:9 a.m., Case ZA-405 -- Request by Thomas R. Aldridge to reduce two lots at 215 Goodwin Quarry Road. The first lot is to be reduced from 10,000 square feet to 8,057 square feet and the rear yard setback from 40 feet to 36 feet.The second lot is to be reduced from 10,000 square feet to 7,375 square feet, with the width cut from 70 feet to 55 feet and the side yard reduced from 12 feet to 8.7 feet for the conversion of a garage to a dwelling.

Hampstead's planning and zoning commission decided last night not to recommend that the Town Council reconsider what businesses to allow under general business zoning.The proposal offered by commission member Dennis Wertz, which lost by a 3-2 vote, would also have asked the council to consider rezoning tracts three, four and five of the Roberts Field Business Center from general business to local business.Local business zoning, designed to provide retail services to a residential community, is more restrictive than general business use.Mr.

Man cited for keeping 40 cars on his propertyCarroll County zoning officials last week cited a Taneytown man for parking 40 cars on his property in the 6200 block of Taneytown Pike.Neighbors complained that Christopher Loveland had parked too many cars on his 5-acre property in the agriculture district, Zoning Administrator Solveig Smith said yesterday.County zoning law allows a person to park a reasonable number of cars on a property in the agricultural zone, depending on what the property is used for, she said.

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.

Taneytown officials have not selected a city manager yet -- but they're getting close.Mayor Henry I. Reindollar Jr. said last week that he and the City Council were about to interview two candidates. A third candidate is also being considered."We advertised again, and these candidates are from the second set of applications," Mr. Reindollar said. "We're calling in one of the people from the last set to come in for another interview."City officials advertised for a new city manager in municipal publications shortly after Joseph A. Mangini Jr. was fired in August by the mayor and council for unspecified reasons.

The Mount Airy Town Council has introduced an ordinance aimed at cracking down on the temporary signs popping up at shopping centers and along streets."