NEWS
By Larry Carson, The Baltimore Sun | January 24, 2011
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.
NEWS
By Yeganeh June Torbati, The Baltimore Sun | November 25, 2010
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.
NEWS
By Jessica Anderson, The Baltimore Sun | November 22, 2010
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.
NEWS
By Larry Carson, The Baltimore Sun | August 22, 2010
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.
NEWS
By Larry Carson, The Baltimore Sun | July 18, 2010
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.
NEWS
By Julie Scharper, The Baltimore Sun | May 25, 2010
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.