Zoning Commission

The Sykesville Planning and Zoning Commission, which last month was unable to conduct business for lack of a quorum, is losing its chairman. Dennis Karr is resigning because of job pressures.Frequent travel is forcing Mr. Karr to miss commission meetings, said Jonathan Herman, council liaison to the seven-member panel."His job won't allow him the time to be here," said Mr. Herman. "Dennis has been dedicated to this position for several years."Mr. Herman will act as temporary chairman. Ann Marie Osinga will serve as vice chairwoman.

The Aberdeen planning commission has recommended single-family dwellings for a development that had originally sought to build more than 1,600 homes and condominiums. Several members of the city's Planning and Zoning commission said the petition to build the dwellings on 497 acres, which would be annexed by Aberdeen, was too dense. Christopher Michaels, management director of the project called Glengarry, said last week it was unclear what the property owners would pursue next. "I don't mean to sound ambiguous," he said.

Two seats on the Hampstead planning and zoning commission will become available at the end of the year.Commission member Terry Becker's term ends at the end of this month and she does not want to be reappointed, Mayor C. Clinton Becker told the council Mondy. The person appointed to this seat will serve until 1998.Vankim Vaishnav resigned for personal reasons. The commission needs to fill his seat until December 1995.Applicants should send a letter and resume to the mayor at the town office on Carroll Street.

A Uniontown dog kennel still has a few more hoops to jump through before getting approval to expand its business to handle up to 200 canines. Earlier this month, the Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission raised questions about Camp Yuppie Puppy's request to construct a kennel in the 3400 block of Uniontown Road, where the dog boarding and grooming business has operated since 1994. County officials told kennel co-owner William Quinn that he would need to provide more details about the project and account for discrepancies between plans he supplied to the commission recently and those presented in 2004 to the county Board of Zoning Appeals.

The chairwoman of the Sykesville Planning and Zoning Commission will cite a conflict of interest and announce her resignation at the conclusion of the meeting tonight."

Mount Airy Planning and Zoning Commission will meet at 7: 30 p.m. Monday in the Town Hall, 110 S. Main St.The agenda includes proposals for three new businesses: an ice-cream shop at Foodrite Shopping Center, a Lube and Tune at Twin Arch shopping center and mini-warehouses at Twin Arch Industrial Park.Also to be discussed are the preliminary plans for Beck's subdivision and a special exception recommendation for a professional office, proposed sign ordinance changes and a microbrewery.Information: 795-6012.

The Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission decided yesterday to update the comprehensive plan for the area surrounding Westminster, a plan that was last reviewed 13 years ago.The decision means that members of the commission will meet with residents of the area and members of the city planning commission to review the Westminster and Environs Comprehensive Plan of 1985.The meeting is expected to be held in February. It typically takes about 18 months to update a comprehensive plan, said Barbara C. Moser, the county's comprehensive planner.

The Planning and Zoning Commission approved a site plan Monday for anew industrial park off Route 30, while raising concerns about a "natural" buffer to hide the park from view of residents of the nearby Robert's Field development.The developer, Charles C. Harwood of Pembroke Development in Owings Mills, Baltimore County, must present a more detailed plan before the project can go forward. No date has been set for Harwood to submit a preliminary plan to the commission.The buffer could be either trees or a hill, said Councilman Arthur C. Moler, the commission chairman.

The Mount Airy Planning and Zoning Commission will continue its review of the site plan for expanding a 20-year-old shopping center on Route 27 today.After a nearly four-hour meeting last month that included a lengthy presentation on traffic issues, two items, both concerning the Mount Airy Shopping Center, remain unsettled.The developer has presented plans for expanding the center by about 38,000 square feet, including enlarging the Safeway Supermarket, the anchor store. The plan also includes adding an 85,000-square-foot discount store, such as Wal-Mart, on 14 acres behind the grocery.

Public meetingMount Airy planning: Mount Airy Planning and Zoning Commission will meet at 7: 30 p.m. today at Town Hall, 110 S. Main St. Information: 410-795-6012.Pub Date: 7/27/98

Neuman speaks out on ethics complaint Yesterday I received a letter from the Town of Mount Airy Ethics Commission releasing me from any confidentiality on the allegations pertaining to me. Up until this formal release from the Ethics Commission, I have been powerless to defend myself against these vicious leaks of this allegation before the Ethics Commission has concluded their work. I would like to offer you my statement on the allegation being considered by the Ethics Commission. I believe this complaint, now leaked to the press, is a low mudslinging attempt to discredit and gag me in my duties as a Town of Mount Airy Planning & Zoning commission member and now as a candidate for Town Council.

Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin Robbins, Eldersburg Location: South side of Liberty Road, east of Marvin Avenue Owner: Sunbeam Investors, Westminster Developer: Same Engineer: BL Cos., Linthicum Zoning: Business Description: A proposed 1,920-square-foot building with a drive-through on a 0.67-acre site. Access will be from Marvin Avenue, with no entry from Liberty Road. The property is near a planned major street, Ridenour Way. Status: The Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission has reviewed a concept site plan and recommended changes in the signs, lighting and roof lines and construction of a sidewalk.

TOMORROW Westminster Common Council -- meets at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 1838 Emerald Hill Lane. 410-848-9000. Sykesville Town Council -- meets at 7 p.m. in the Town House meeting room at 7547 Main St. 410-795-6390. Union Bridge Town Council -- meets at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 104 W. Locust St. 410-775-2711. Mount Airy Planning and Zoning Commission -- meets at 7:30 p.m. in the lower-level meeting room of the Mount Airy Volunteer Fire Company, 702 N. Main St. The agenda includes proposed changes to the Fields of Nottingham, special exception use for meal assembly in an industrial zone, and streetscape and downtown design guidelines.

Public meetingsSykesville planning: The Sykesville Planning and Zoning Commission will meet at 7 p.m. today in the Town House meeting room at 7547 Main St. Information: 410-795-6390.

In a story in yesterday's Carroll County section of The Sun, the chronology for certain events in Hampstead was incorrect. The town Planning and Zoning Commission gave preliminary approval to 220 homes in North Carroll Farms on Aug. 29. A resolution was introduced Sept. 13 in the Town Council to test the municipal adequate facilities clause in court. The confrontation between William Drummond and James Springer occurred at the Sept. 26 meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission.