Zoning Department

A few weeks after County Executive Charles I. Ecker took office Dec.3, the Department of Planning and Zoning dramatically changed its way of doing business.Warren H. Boyer, president of Glenwood Gardens, had complained to Ecker in a recent letter that the Department of Planning and Zoning was the "most arrogant, unreasonable group of people that I have ever had to deal with."Monday, however, Boyer was saying he was "very impressed" with what he perceives as a new atmosphere within the department now that Ecker has fired director Uri Avin and replaced him with acting directorJoseph W. Rutter Jr. Getting plans through the department is faster and more efficient now, Boyer and other developers say.Not only did Boyer receive a note from Ecker explaining the changes, but William O'Brien, chief of zoning administration and enforcement, sent Boyera letter of apology and visited him for a half-hour chat, Boyer said.

Kimberley Flowers, a former government employee in Washington and Baltimore, has been named deputy director of the Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning. In the $104,187-a-year position, Flowers will serve as an ombudsman among the department, community and other government officials. She began her new job Monday. The position was recommended in February by a transition team for County Executive Ken Ulman, which said that there was a need to establish greater trust with the community.

A Baltimore developer has won permission from a Harford zoning examiner to disturb 3.19 acres of non-tidal wetlands and buffer land to build a 148 apartments in Edgewood.The Henry J. Knott Development Corp. sought the variance of a county zoning law that prohibits developers from disturbing non-tidal wetlands or surrounding buffer zones.A non-tidal wetland area is ground above the high-tide mark of the nearest body of water. The project, on a 19.2 acre tract near the intersection of Route 24 and Hanson Road, would affect a small section of non-tidal wetlands more than 4,000 feet southwest of Otter Point Creek.

The county is declaring as surplus a half-acre of land in one of the heaviest local flood zones, after buying up property to keep flood-threatened land away from private owners to avoid damage and insurance issues. Part of the half-acre lies in the county's Bynum Run floodway, a flow path that carries significant volumes of water during a flood. The county has restrictions that make it virtually impossible to build in the floodway. It also has restrictions on development in the nearby floodplain.

Elvis is watching.His blue eyes on the wall outside Miss Bonnie's Elvis Shrine bar follow you through the East Baltimore neighborhood. The 15-by-12-foot mural of Elvis Presley's face is yet another tribute to "The King" at this curious Fleet Street saloon.But the mural has become part of an ongoing controversy between at least one neighbor of the bar and its owner, Lavonda Hunt, known to everyone as Miss Bonnie.She may have to appear before the city's zoning board to try to persuade its members to let her keep the mural, which was painted by Raphael Pantalone, an art teacher at Canton Middle School.

Developers, engineers, community associations and others can now purchase Harford County orthophoto maps at the Harford County Planning and Zoning Department, 220 S. Main St., in Bel Air.Orthophotos areaerial photographs that have the same scale throughout the image area.The maps sell for $10 each. A total of 523 maps make a complete set of the county. Recently completed, the job of photographing all ofHarford's 448 square miles began in March 1990. Ten percent of the maps will be updated each year.

The County Council will postpone until March a vote on the number of new homes it will allow to be built in the decade beginning in 1996.Council Chairwoman Shane Pendergrass, D-1st District, and Councilman Darrel Drown, R-2nd, said last night at a work session they were opposed to projections provided by the planning and zoning department.The council was to have voted on the measure Feb. 1, but Ms. Pendergrass suggested the vote be postponed until March 1."The problem for me is the southeast [school]

A Towson-area church's sign could cost it a lot of money.The Baltimore County zoning department is expected to issue a citation today assessing a $200-a-day penalty against Brown Memorial Woodbrook Presbyterian Church for erecting a sign that doesn't meet zoning regulations.And by the time the church receives the citation, to be sent by registered mail, it could owe at least $1,800. The penalty is retroactive to Jan. 3, when a zoning inspector followed up on a neighbor's complaint."What we're doing is putting a fire under them," James H. Thompson, director of the county's code enforcement division.

A 33-year-old Annapolis woman died Monday and two others were injured in an accident at the U.S. 50 exit ramp and Cape St. Claire Road, county police said.Carmela Dale Malone, who lived in the 1000 block of Park Circle Drive, was pronounced dead at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center shortly after 5 p.m. Monday, a hospital spokeswoman said. Sarah Nicole Malone, 10, was in fair condition at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. Oliver Glenn Malone III, 18, was treated at the Anne Arundel Medical Center and released, police said.

Elvis is watching.His blue eyes on the wall outside Miss Bonnie's Elvis Shrine bar follow you through the East Baltimore neighborhood. The 15-by-12-foot mural of Elvis Presley's face is yet another tribute to "The King" at this curious Fleet Street saloon.But the mural has become part of an ongoing controversy between at least one neighbor of the bar and its owner, Lavonda Hunt, known to everyone as Miss Bonnie.She may have to appear before the city's zoning board to try to persuade its members to let her keep the mural, which was painted by Raphael Pantalone, an art teacher at Canton Middle School.

An Annapolis city council member's proposal to allow nonprofit organizations to purchase homes or apartments set aside by developers for "work force housing" has spurred a debate over the best way to modify a new city program. Alderwoman Classie Gillis Hoyle has said the amendment would make it easier for residents to ultimately buy homes and would keep moderately priced dwelling units, or MPDUs, on the market for a longer time. "This is an opportunity for a teacher or police officer who might need some extra time to repair their credit or get money together," she said.

Four public meetings are to be held this month and next in public school auditoriums around the county to discuss properties that are part of Harford County's 2005-2006 Comprehensive Zoning Review. Black-and-white signs on each property indicate zoning changes sought by its owner. The meetings begin at 7 p.m. Planning and Zoning Department staff members will be available at 6 p.m. at each meeting to answer questions about proposed zoning changes. Residents who want to speak must sign up before 7 p.m. and will be limited to three minutes each.

Howard County's citizen planners grappled yesterday with the thorny question of whether new commercial zones could be added in the west without chipping away at those communities' rural character. The local Planning Board, a panel of five volunteers, will recommend ways to comprehensively rezone the county - a process that started with professional planners late last year and will end with a County Council vote in December, or thereabouts. Yesterday, the Planning Board began discussing the many proposed changes, some of which came from landowners and some of which were suggested by the Department of Planning and Zoning.

WHEN THE county commissioners stripped the zoning department of enforcement authority last month, they sent another message that they consider zoning laws an impediment to their absolute authority. Transferring enforcement responsibility to the Department of Permits, Inspections and Review preserved the appearance of zoning enforcement. After all, it is a legal requirement. But in reducing the zoning office's power and making the zoning administrator a part-time position, the county commissioners have signaled that they want zoning operations downgraded.

Scofflaws beware: Laws against abandoned vehicles, repair shops in residential neighborhoods and lighted signs will be enforced within 10 days - as opposed to two months - county officials promise. In an attempt to catch up with a backlog of complaints, the county commissioners have shifted responsibility for zoning enforcement to the Department of Permits, Inspections and Review. Under the new system, as many as six inspectors will be looking into reported zoning violations, a job that used to be done by one person.

Scofflaws beware: Laws against abandoned vehicles, repair shops in residential neighborhoods and lighted signs will be enforced within 10 days - as opposed to two months, county officials promise. In an attempt to catch up with a backlog of complaints, the county commissioners have shifted responsibility for zoning enforcement to the Department of Permits, Inspections and Review. Under the new system, as many as six inspectors will be looking into alleged zoning violations, a job that used to be done by one person.

Scofflaws beware: Laws against abandoned vehicles, repair shops in residential neighborhoods and lighted signs will be enforced within 10 days - as opposed to two months - county officials promise. In an attempt to catch up with a backlog of complaints, the county commissioners have shifted responsibility for zoning enforcement to the Department of Permits, Inspections and Review. Under the new system, as many as six inspectors will be looking into reported zoning violations, a job that used to be done by one person.

Scofflaws beware: Laws against abandoned vehicles, repair shops in residential neighborhoods and lighted signs will be enforced within 10 days - as opposed to two months, county officials promise. In an attempt to catch up with a backlog of complaints, the county commissioners have shifted responsibility for zoning enforcement to the Department of Permits, Inspections and Review. Under the new system, as many as six inspectors will be looking into alleged zoning violations, a job that used to be done by one person.

A dispute that has simmered for more than two years in a scenic Annapolis community is coming to a head -- again.The source of contention -- a simple wrought-iron fence.Residents of Shearwater Condominium, a community of 94 apartments facing Spa Creek in Eastport, want to erect a barrier to ward off the outsiders they say take their parking spots and dump trash in their neighborhood. But their neighbors say the proposed 6-foot-high fence will divide the community and obstruct their view of the water.

A story in Monday's Anne Arundel edition of the Sun incorrectly identified the party affiliation of Annapolis Mayor Alfred A. Hopkins. Hopkins is a Democrat.The Sun regrets the error.For more than a decade, through three administrations, Eileen P. Fogarty led an award-winning planning and zoning department through a minefield of issues that changed the face of Annapolis.She left last week to take a similar job in Santa Cruz., Calif., with praise from critics and supporters for her work over the past 13 years.