Zoning Appeals

Carroll County scored one minor court victory last week in its yearlong battle to curb runaway growth. Carroll County Circuit Judge Michael M. Galloway upheld several decisions handed down by the county Board of Zoning Appeals that validated the yearlong freeze. The moratorium was imposed by the county commissioners in June last year and lifted last month. The ruling filed Wednesday is a judicial review and does not go to the heart of the issue: the legality of the commissioners' action.

Carroll County scored one minor court victory last week in its yearlong battle to curb runaway growth. Carroll County Circuit Judge Michael M. Galloway upheld several decisions handed down by the county Board of Zoning Appeals that validated the yearlong freeze. The moratorium was imposed by the county commissioners in June last year and lifted last month. The ruling filed Wednesday is a judicial review and does not go to the heart of the issue: the legality of the commissioners' action.

Romeo Valianti has spent 12 years on Westminster's Board of Zoning Appeals. Larry Wiskeman has been on the city's Planning and Zoning Commission for 13 years. Both were stung by not being among those on a list of reappointments by the city Common Council last week despite their long service - and upset by the way the turnover was handled by Mayor Kevin E. Dayhoff. Valianti and Wiskeman say the mayor told them in curt meetings that he was appointing younger volunteers to the commissions.

Common Council of Westminster approves budget The Westminster Common Council has approved a $28.6 million budget for the 2005 fiscal year that includes no increase in the property tax or other fees. The spending plan approved Monday night initially called for an annual $65 fee for residential trash collection, but city officials decided against it after debate. The budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 calls for the city to borrow $1.5 million and includes cuts to several programs to make up for $300,000 in revenue the trash fee would have generated.

Basing its decision on strict interpretation of city zoning regulations, the Westminster Board of Zoning Appeals yesterday denied a methadone clinic the right to open on Main Street. The three-member board's vote was unanimous. "The crux of the matter is terms," said appeals board member Gary Beard. "This is a clinic and as such it is not a permitted use in the downtown business zone." While medical, dental and law offices are permitted in the downtown area, which includes all of Main Street and a portion of Green Street, a clinic could only be located in the city's business zone, which is predominantly along Route 140, the board ruled.

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.

It will be at least a month until Westminster's Board of Zoning Appeals decides whether a methadone treatment center is allowed in the city's downtown area. On Thursday, the three-member board wrapped up hearing two days of arguments and testimony from city officials, the applicants for the treatment center and numerous residents. In the meantime, attorneys representing the city, the zoning administrator and the applicants are expected to have until Feb. 26 to submit closing arguments and their responses.