Zoning Code

Kathy and James Galli have made some modest upgrades to their no-frills marina and boat-repair business in the decade that they've owned the property along the Severn River, mostly replacing outdated rigging and fixing broken equipment. They might want to do more with the waterfront location someday — perhaps a restaurant or bar would be a draw — but such an addition seems out of reach for now. Like many of Anne Arundel County's marinas, Severna Park Yacht Basin is in a residential area, and it is allowed to operate there only because it dates to the 1930s, two decades before county zoning laws went into effect.

For years, Baltimore officials felt they could do little more than throw up their hands in frustration over the archipelago of small liquor stores that blight many of the city's poorest neighborhoods. Local residents complain the businesses are magnets for crime whose patrons are unruly and a threat to public safety, while public health officials cite the strong correlation between a range of serious health disorders and the number of liquor stores in a community. The ineffectiveness of the state-controlled city liquor board, as documented in a recent audit, only makes matters worse.

In a simple greenhouse fashioned from sheets of paint-spattered plastic, Larisa Bishop is learning to love vegetables. The Heritage High School freshman guides visitors past rows of fuschia- and yellow-stalked chard, curly kale and feathery carrot tops. She bends over a line of beets the size of tennis balls, explaining that she prefers these fresh ones to their canned counterparts. "I never used to eat my vegetables," said Larisa, 14. "They look pretty in the grocery store, but they don't taste like anything.

By now, it should be fairly clear to Baltimoreans that the old mill buildings along the Jones Falls make great offices, apartments and restaurants. It shouldn't take months or years of wrangling and an act of the City Council to get permission to convert one to those new uses. Nor is it a new idea to build a deck on the rooftop of your rowhouse. It shouldn't take advanced knowledge of the city bureaucracy to figure out whether you can build one or what size it can be. And Baltimore's Metro and light rail aren't exactly new; isn't it about time that we decided that new businesses built to take advantage of those transit lines get a break on the number of parking spaces they're required to provide?

After two years of work, the Harford County Council unanimously approved last night an overhaul of its decades-old zoning code. The council approved the revisions by a 7-0 vote; there was little discussion. The nearly 800-page code, which included 159 amendments, was revised to help the county get a handle on rapid development, including the growth expected as a result of the military base realignment and closure process. "It allows us to plan and control development and growth," said Harford County Executive David R. Craig, who attended the meeting to sign the code afterward.

Anne Arundel County lawmakers will reconsider a 2-year-old decision tonight that bars private schools and churches from locating in commercial centers.County Councilman Tom Redmond wants his colleagues to allow "private education institutions" to rent or buy space in shopping centers and office complexes along county highways. Currently, the zoning code permits private schools only in residential communities."We need quality education in this county and I think private schools can offer that," said Mr. Redmond, a Democrat from Pasadena.

For at least five years, Anne Arundel homeowners have been battling zoning applications for cellular communications towers in their neighborhoods. And county officials say they have been making decisions without much help from the county code.Now, county planners are drafting regulations that they hope will reconcile the needs of the fast-growing mobile communications industry with community concerns over the prospect of a 300-foot tower rising out of the landscape next door."Technology has surpassed our zoning code," said Steven Cover, who became the county's planning chief in January.

On Ritchie Highway in Brooklyn Park, the days of the great ape may be numbered.For six years the gorilla has reigned at Ritchie Car Wash, waving customers in, standing as a distinct landmark amid the bewildering forest of signs that is Ritchie Highway.But now comes the county zoning officer with a zoological beef: That's no gorilla, that's a portable sign, illegal under the Anne Arundel zoning code.And so the clock ticks. By Sept. 10, car wash owner Tom Fine must remove his gorilla from the sidewalk or face fines and possible criminal prosecution.

The Anne Arundel County planning department released yesterday a comprehensive series of proposed revisions to the county zoning code that would condense the code and standardize definitions, planning officials said. Officials expect to submit a similarly comprehensive revision of county subdivision rules in the spring. The zoning code was last fully revised in 1971. "It is my hope that this new legislation will make the zoning process more clear to the citizens and development community," said County Executive Janet S. Owens in a statement.

County Executive Janet S. Owens has offered to create a task force to study noise restrictions in West County to help thousands of residents living in developments surrounded by industrial and commercial activities, and to help the County Council move forward on updating the county's commercial zoning code.The task force would create a county noise ordinance or other legislation separate from the commercial zoning code, and would decide who should enforce the law. In exchange, the County Council likely would delete any reference to noise restrictions in the zoning bill, according to chairman Daniel E. Klosterman Jr.County administrators, testifying before the County Council Monday night, offered Owens' proposal for forming the task force next month.

Kathy and James Galli have made some modest upgrades to their no-frills marina and boat-repair business in the decade that they've owned the property along the Severn River, mostly replacing outdated rigging and fixing broken equipment. They might want to do more with the waterfront location someday — perhaps a restaurant or bar would be a draw — but such an addition seems out of reach for now. Like many of Anne Arundel County's marinas, Severna Park Yacht Basin is in a residential area, and it is allowed to operate there only because it dates to the 1930s, two decades before county zoning laws went into effect.

Downtown should not only go green, it should be the center of a vibrant city-wide open space network. In suggesting Baltimore should have a leading edge central park that connects surrounding neighborhoods and business areas, Tom Wilcox ("Downtown should go green," Dec. 7) has acknowledged the elephant in the room. The recreation of downtown has greatly improved the economic health of the city. Now it's time to make it an exciting, cheerful and physically healthy place to work, live, visit and play.

Baltimore County's citizen sign crusader is on the case. Rolling down Eastern Boulevard in his 1994 Volvo, Mike Pierce swings into the parking lot next to Essex Liquors to point out the latest turn in one of his continuing battles against visual clutter. Orange paint had been used weeks ago to cover offending signs painted on the wall, but the wall has since sprouted many signs printed on rectangular plastic sheets: Yuengling, Pabst, Bud Light, Corona, Smirnoff. "The code says 'paper or soft material,' " says Pierce, who settled in Baltimore County when he moved to Maryland in 1995, and now lives in Kingsville.

In a simple greenhouse fashioned from sheets of paint-spattered plastic, Larisa Bishop is learning to love vegetables. The Heritage High School freshman guides visitors past rows of fuschia- and yellow-stalked chard, curly kale and feathery carrot tops. She bends over a line of beets the size of tennis balls, explaining that she prefers these fresh ones to their canned counterparts. "I never used to eat my vegetables," said Larisa, 14. "They look pretty in the grocery store, but they don't taste like anything.

Baltimore's downtown would include designated districts that are defined by unique building structures, and regulations would prohibit blocking views of the city's iconic structures under a proposed vision for future development. City planners offered preliminary ideas on Thursday for new rules and guidelines to replace downtown's zoning regulations, which haven't been updated in nearly 40 years. The new zoning also would prohibit any new surface parking lots. The proposals will be incorporated into a new zoning code for the entire city through the Transform Baltimore initiative.

Baltimore's downtown would include designated districts that are defined by unique building structures, and regulations would prohibit blocking views of the city's iconic structures under a proposed vision for future development. City planners offered preliminary ideas on Thursday for new rules and guidelines to replace downtown's zoning regulations, which haven't been updated in nearly 40 years. The new zoning also would prohibit any new surface parking lots. The proposals will be incorporated into a new zoning code for the entire city through the Transform Baltimore initiative.

In the next 11 months, the newly appointed work group that will undertake revising the county's rezoning code will tackle a 4-inch-thick document that has not been significantly altered in 25 years. The panel of 24 people, all Harford residents, will work with county officials and planners, with assistance from a consultant, to rewrite the document that determines how land is used throughout the county. County Executive David R. Craig has said he wants the zoning code updated to bring regulations in line with modern design standards.

A heavily amended zoning code appears likely to win the Harford County Council's approval Tuesday when it is scheduled for a vote. The seven-member panel added 136 amendments to the 800-page draft that was nearly two years in the writing and the subject of numerous workshops and public hearings. It was early Wednesday before the council had voted on all the changes. "The code is likely to pass because all of us understand the need to move forward on the issues," said Council President Billy Boniface.

Light breezes and low elevations make Baltimore County uninviting territory for big wind farms, but the terrain could be more promising for residents hoping to trim electric bills and their "carbon footprint" with a home turbine. The outlook could hinge on deliberations going on now, as the county revises the zoning code to cover such projects. Meanwhile, one homeowner's plan for the county's first electricity-generating wind turbine remains on hold as neighbors who say they support alternative energy have lined up against it. "We know this is coming," said Barry Antonelli, who has permission to put up a 120-foot turbine on his 97-acre farm in the Phoenix area, but is awaiting resolution of his neighbors' appeal, which in turn depends on how the new regulations take shape.

It's time to put up a fight. Baltimore is right to defend its existing zoning code against a Department of Justice lawsuit concerning the placement of group homes in residential neighborhoods. The suit, filed last week in the U.S. District Court, seeks an unspecified amount of money for three organizations and seeks to compel the city to allow residential treatment facilities housing up to eight addicts in any neighborhood. It would invalidate sections of the city zoning code that require City Council approval for the placement of such facilities.