Zoning Approval

The Baltimore City Council and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake have enacted a zoning ordinance that will allow a former Catholic school in Southwest Baltimore to be converted into a convalescent home for homeless people. Project PLASE (People Lacking Ample Shelter and Employment), a 30-year-old nonprofit based in Charles North, has offered more than $1 million for the former St. Joseph's Monastery school buildings in the 3500 block of Old Frederick Road. The school was closed by the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 2010.

Baltimore County officials expect tax credit incentives to spur redevelopment and job creation at the newly designated Federal Center in Woodlawn. The 395-acre, industrially zoned parcel near the Beltway and Dogwood Road has won state approval as an enterprise zone, making its development eligible for substantial savings on state and county property taxes. A qualifying company that makes a $5 million investment could realize a tax savings of nearly $375,000 over 10 years, according to a county release.

A university-sponsored research park that could bring 2,000 jobs to the Catonsville area -- a project considered a cornerstone of Baltimore County's economic development plan -- won a key approval yesterday, clearing the way for construction to start this summer.The county zoning commissioner's ruling came amid a battle that has gone on six years between some area residents and the University of Maryland Baltimore County, which wants to put 12 buildings on the 93-acre tract. University officials have lined up a drug development company as the first tenant in the research park.

At its Monday night meeting, the Hampstead Planning and Zoning Commission approved the site plan for renovations to the Exxon service station on Route 30.Commission Chairman Arthur Moler said yesterday that the commission members' main concern with the site had been the size and number of proposed signs."

The Hampstead Board of Zoning Appeals denied approval of the proposed Oakmont Green retail center last night, saying that the proposed development does not meet town zoning requirements."

An Eldersburg developer will ask the county Board of Appeals this month for permission to put a 14-screen movie theater, three restaurants and three retail buildings in a planned business center near Routes 26 and 32 in south Carroll.Bernard G. Robbins of Talles-Robbins Eldersburg Development Co. -- the contract purchaser of 36.11 acres adjoining Londontown Boulevard and Route 32 -- wants the board to grant him permission to develop the property as a conditional use on land zoned for industry.

Despite earlier opposition from hundreds of South Carroll residents, the Carroll Board of Zoning Appeals yesterday approved a variance to allow a cellular phone company to build a controversial 200-foot telecommunications tower in Sykesville."

The city zoning board cleared the way yesterday for completion of the $250,000 city-financed rehabilitation of two Little Italy rowhouses.Housing officials had ordered work stopped on both houses in late February after discovering that one lacked required approval for the four apartments that were being constructed there.The houses are owned by Pascal Rose Development LLC, a corporation formed by Rosa Aquia, the 73-year-old mother of Gia Blattermann, a former zoning board member with close ties to Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke.

The Howard County Zoning Board gave the owners of Columbia Palace 9 Cinemas a zoning change Wednesday night that would allow them to use part of their land for other retail businesses.In a 4-0 vote, the board, which is made up of County Council members, allowed 3.4 acres of the 11.1-acre lot at Route 108 and Centre Park Drive in Long Reach village to be changed from a light manufacturing designation to local business.The new designation will allow more options for the types of retail businesses that can occupy a 2,900-square-foot building the Columbia Palace Limited Partnership plans to erect on the lot.No tenant or use has been chosen for that space.

The redevelopment of the U.S. 1 corridor in Howard County is due a boost from federal approval of $18.4 million in Recovery Zone Facility Bonds for Howard projects east of Interstate 95. Part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the approval allows the county to choose projects whose developers can use proceeds of a bond sale tax-free, thus lowering construction costs, according to county finance director Sharon F. Greisz. The program gives counties and municipalities with more than 100,000 residents the authority to issue tax-exempt bonds in order to finance Recovery Zone facilities; it is not a direct funding program that allocates public dollars.