Zoning Board

If Michael Reeves, an Eldersburg developer, has any sense of propriety, he should send Carroll's Board of Zoning Appeals a card acknowledging the gift it gave him last Thursday. While he is at it, Mr. Reeves should also send a thank you note to the county taxpayers who will pay to correct the problems the zoning board created.Rather than make Mr. Reeves pay for road improvements to Homedale Road that every other developer in the county would have to make, the good members of the zoning board are allowing him to develop 16 acres off Klees Mill Road in Sykesville that will be served by a one-lane, gravel road.

Bolton Hill community leaders pleaded with Baltimore zoning officials Tuesday to prevent a fraternal lodge from holding late-night parties, saying that the raucous gatherings are destroying the character of the neighborhood. City Councilman William H. Cole IV, who represents the area, clutched a sheaf of fliers for Hiram Grand Lodge events that featured scantily clad women, promises of "top shelf liquor" and names such as "Love & Lust Pre-Valentine's Day event. " "We're asking you to end these activities because it's killing a great neighborhood," said Cole.

Something has to be done to end the scandalous situation that allows the Howard County Council to sit also as the local zoning board.The sharing of these roles by one governing body might not have been so troublesome in the slower-paced Howard of the 1950s and early '60s. However, it increasingly invites conflicts of interest as the jurisdiction continues to experience the rapid development set in motion three decades ago.In recent General Assembly sessions, the Howard delegation has attempted to take a small step toward righting this situation.

New zoning approved Wednesday night for Howard County's oldest shopping center would allow a mixture of apartments, offices and stores to replace the partly empty Normandy Center on U.S. 40 in Ellicott City. Over neighborhood objections, the county zoning board, composed of the five County Council members, unanimously approved a zoning change that will allow the dense development. Before the panel could issue that approval, members had to rule that the County Council had erred by denying "traditional neighborhood zoning" for the property during comprehensive rezoning in 2004.

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 voted to adopt one "environmental" zoning district but summarily rejected a denser one last night in its second work session on comprehensive rezoning of the eastern county.The two new "residential-environmental development" (R-ED) zoning categories were proposed by county planners for comprehensive rezoning of the eastern county. The two districts are proposed to replace traditional half-acre and quarter-acre residential lot zoning on about 4,790 acres, most of it along the Patapsco River from Woodstock to Elkridge.

The Howard County Zoning Board has agreed to allow a local cable channel to televise several of the hearings that start tonight on a proposal for a controversial Columbia-style village on a 522-acre site in North Laurel.The five-member board, which consists of the County Council, approved the request last week at the behest of the Howard County Citizens Association, which has been following the proposal since it was announced last year. It's the first time since 1994 that the board has approved televised hearings.

A Zoning Board hearing that had been scheduled for 8 p.m. today on a proposed rezoning to let Laurel Race Course move its 1,000-horse stables from Anne Arundel County to Howard County has been canceled.The earliest the case could be heard is December, when the new County Council members, who also make up the Zoning Board, take office after the Nov. 8 elections.The creation of a new zoning category for a 70-acre tract would allow parking adjacent to the site of a proposed $160 million football stadium in Anne Arundel County.

The Howard County delegation voted unanimously yesterday to approve an amended version of an ethics bill introduced by state Sen. Martin G. Madden, R-13, that would require financial disclosures from some of those appearing before the county's zoning board.A version of that bill, which aims at ensuring fair and unbiased land zoning decisions, was approved by the delegation last year and cleared both chambers. But it was later vetoed by then-Gov. William Donald Schaefer, who objected that it was too narrow in scope.

The Carroll County Board of Zoning Appeals has given a Frizzellburg-area couple permission to open an antique shop in a house at 1909 Old Taneytown Road.James and Laura Turner of 1940 Old Taneytown Road plan to open a shop in the building on a part-time basis, but said they may expand to full-time hours.In its decision, the zoning board noted that the building had been used for commercial purposes in the past and that a shop would not negatively affect neighbors.FIRE* Union Bridge: Union Bridge, New Windsor, Hampstead and Taneytown were dispatched to a building fire in the 100 block of Main St. in Union Bridge at 2:01 a.m. yesterday.

Howard County's first suburban shopping center got a weak recommendation for rezoning by the county planning board Thursday night, a move that could help pave the way for a major redevelopment into a new-generation mixed-use project. If the county zoning board agrees with the 3-2 planning board vote, the 25-acre Normandy Shopping Center, a 1961 precursor of suburban commercialism along U.S. 40 in Ellicott City, would be reborn with about 200 apartments, stores and offices in a "main street" configuration in the next few years.

A development team planning to turn an industrial site in a corner of Little Italy into a high-end, seven-story boutique hotel won city zoning approval this week, although neighborhood residents appear divided on the project. The group, called Hotelco LLC, consists of Samuel Polakoff of Rockville-based Cormony Development and Josh Neiman of Hybrid Development Group in Baltimore, and is hoping to consolidate six properties in the 400 block of S. Central Ave. for the construction of a hotel and restaurant just a few blocks from the upscale Harbor East area.

Kenneth A. Savage has been preaching for nearly a decade inside a double-wide rowhouse on East Lombard Street in Highlandtown. The pastor of Holy Truth Temple of Deliverance House of Praise says he's reached out to the corner boys who set up their drug shop on nearby narrow Mount Pleasant Avenue and welcomed the homeless to help them find housing. Kevin L. Bernhard has been working for years to improve his neighborhood, too. The president of the Highlandtown Community Association has canvassed door-to-door with police to inform residents about crime problems and helped to clean up litter.

Courtney Watson won her Howard County Council seat with a 988-vote margin four years ago as Democrats were rising in popularity nationally. Now, with that public favor seemingly waning and a prominent Republican like Robert L. Flanagan opposing her, can she prevail again in a district that has elected officials from both major parties? Watson, a former school board member who is also vice president of a commercial insurance firm, said she's confident running on her record. Watson, whose District 1 covers Ellicott City and Elkridge, said she's proved herself an independent Democrat willing to buck County Executive Ken Ulman and the council's other three Democrats.

With an eye toward potential customers from expanding federal agencies nearby, developers proposing a mixed-use community near the Dorsey Marc train station in Elkridge got final approval for their plan from a split Howard County Zoning Board. The board voted 3-2 to approve a specific plan for Oxford Square, the proposed residential/commercial project on 122 acres across Route 100 from the train station. The site is vacant land once expected to hold a Coca Cola bottling plant. "It's been a long process, but I believe it's the best zoning, and I hope to prove that over the next 15 years," said David P. Scheffenacker Jr., president of Preston Partners, the developer.

The city's zoning board told a father-and-son team of magicians Tuesday to produce more details on the acts they plan to offer at their bar before deciding whether to approve their application for a live entertainment license. Ken and Spencer Horsman, the owners of Illusions Magic Bar, are the first Federal Hill business owners to appear before the board to request the license under a program recently created by Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake to invigorate the city's nightlife.

The county Zoning Board has voted to rezone part of a Cooksville farm on Route 97 for a small convenience center and a gasoline station.The ruling will grant the Brice Ridgely family the county's first rural business zoning, a category created by the the board in 1992.The decision on the 13.9-acre parcel, which is now zoned rural conservation, will become final after Zoning Board members sign a written decision.The zoning change was allowed because it is "a business that is directly related to agriculture," said Councilman Charles C. Feaga, a Republican who represents west county.

Despite neighbors' opposition, a plan to build 325 homes clustered on a portion of historic Doughoregan Manor was unanimously approved Thursday by the Howard County Planning Board. "It's one more step," said Joseph Rutter, the former county planning director who is guiding the project through the county's rezoning system for the descendants of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Some Carroll descendants still live in the mansion on the 892-acre Ellicott City property - once a Colonial estate of more than 10,000 acres.