Zoning Approval

Developer David Cordish wasted no time after overcoming perhaps his biggest obstacle to building a slots emporium at Arundel Mills mall - winning zoning approval Monday night from a County Council that had avoided voting on it for 10 months. He said he filed paperwork Tuesday to begin the permitting process for the 4,750-machine facility and plans to start construction by the fall with the hope of opening a year later. "Now we go to work," Cordish said, speaking from his office at Baltimore's Power Plant, one of his company's projects.

Ask fox hunters what appeals to them about the sport, and they rhapsodize about the sight of hounds racing across an open field, the bite of the fall air and the delight of a full gallop. One thing's for sure: Dealing with building inspectors and zoning officers isn't supposed to be part of the deal. But that's what the Howard County-Iron Bridge Hounds, a 70-year-old fox-hunting club, has been doing the past few months. The club has briefly run afoul of Howard County officials by building a clubhouse without required approvals - a clubhouse that, despite the inclusion of a full bar and kitchen, the group initially described as no more than a renovated stable loft for farming.

A humanitarian agency with plans to lease an abandoned state hospital in Marriottsville will face an uphill battle with the Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission.Harvest International Inc., which expects to begin a 15-year lease Wednesday, plans to renovate Henryton Hospital -- 18 aging buildings on 50 acres -- into an international aid center.Without local zoning approval and appropriate licensing for its programs, the organization will not be able to move forward with an ambitious $5.6 million project, which initially would include a food bank, homeless shelter and job-training program for recovering substance-abusers.

As developers of Essex International Speedway weigh proposed restrictions on the project, a crucial highway link has been delayed again -- a move that could affect their decision on whether to build the racetrack.A regulatory snag over planning for a $65 million extension of White Marsh Boulevard will push design of the road back by at least five months, say Baltimore County officials, who last week proposed other restrictions on the speedway."Delay is a big issue, on that or other elements," Middle River Racing Association project manager Christopher Lencheski said.

A humanitarian agency with plans to lease an abandoned state hospital in Marriottsville will face an uphill battle with the Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission.Harvest International Inc., which expects to begin a 15-year lease Wednesday, plans to renovate Henryton Hospital -- 18 aging buildings on 50 acres -- into an international aid center.Without local zoning approval and appropriate licensing for its programs, the organization will not be able to move forward with an ambitious $5.6 million project, which initially would include a food bank, homeless shelter and job-training program for recovering substance abusers.

Ask fox hunters what appeals to them about the sport, and they rhapsodize about the sight of hounds racing across an open field, the bite of the fall air and the delight of a full gallop. One thing's for sure: Dealing with building inspectors and zoning officers isn't supposed to be part of the deal. But that's what the Howard County-Iron Bridge Hounds, a 70-year-old fox-hunting club, has been doing the past few months. The club has briefly run afoul of Howard County officials by building a clubhouse without required approvals - a clubhouse that, despite the inclusion of a full bar and kitchen, the group initially described as no more than a renovated stable loft for farming.

Eldersburg Marketplace, a proposed $35 million shopping center that has pitted developers against homeowners, won unanimous approval yesterday from the Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission. In letters and at formal hearings, residents and nearby business owners expressed strong opposition to what they regarded as a poorly planned development. But at yesterday's meeting, there was only one voice of dissent. "I would urge you to consider the impact this shopping center will have on water and traffic," said Jeff Slack.

A plan to remake Howard County's oldest shopping center into a mixed community of apartments, shops and offices reached a key stage Thursday night as the county zoning board began hearing the case of the half-century-old Normandy Shopping Center on U.S. 40. Cultivated as a Moxley family farm in 1893, Normandy was the first commercial development of its kind west of the Patapsco River, testified David Moxley, who told the board that three generations of...

A Howard County couple won zoning approval this week to hold events on their Woodbine horse farm, despite neighbors' concerns over traffic, noise and creeping commercialization. Maxine and Robert Walker can hold up to 25 events, including weddings, birthday parties and other outdoor events on a 10-acre portion of Harwood Farm, which is surrounded by land protected by agricultural preservation laws, off Jennings Chapel Road. The county Board of Appeals approved the conditional use, which also allows the Walkers to have up to 150 people attending with additional requirements to limit traffic, provide access for the disabled and follow an alcohol policy.

A Howard County councilman wants to ease zoning approval for small residential and commercial wind turbines. There are now two wind turbines in the county. One is outside a recently opened Ellicott City apartment house for limited-income renters that was built for the county's Housing Commission. A second is on a farm in the western part of the county, according to Joshua Feldmark, director of the county's Office of Environmental Sustainability. Feldmark said County Executive Ken Ulman expects to support the proposal by Councilman Calvin Ball, an East Columbia Democrat.