Zoning Law

The global power supply company that wants to build a liquefied natural gas terminal at Sparrows Point is challenging the legality of a Baltimore County zoning law that would block the project. The company, AES Sparrows Point LNG, filed suit in federal court, asking a judge to strike down the county's LNG zoning law. In their request for an injunction, lawyers for AES wrote that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has the sole authority to determine whether an LNG facility is constructed and asked the federal court to declare the county's zoning law to be "preempted by federal law and to be of no legal effect."

Four years after the opening of a methadone clinic in Pikesville prompted protests by residents, fines from Baltimore County officials and swift legislation aimed at shutting it down, the two sides are continuing their argument before jurors in a trial nearing its end in federal court. The result of the trial could force a change in Baltimore County and, legal experts and drug treatment advocates say, send a signal to other local governments that they, too, need to modify zoning laws for rehabilitation programs.

Nearly two years after adopting a zoning law regulating adult entertainment stores, Howard County officials have charged the Pack Shack adult bookstore in Ellicott City with three violations. The violation notice renews a nearly nine-year-old struggle in which the county has failed to force the store to move from a prominent spot on U.S. 40 across from the Normandy Shopping Center. The notice gives the store's operators until July 15 to correct the violations, but if history is any guide, the process could involve months, if not years, of legal appeals and hearings.

A Catonsville civic group has asked Baltimore County officials for changes in zoning laws that would shut down a members-only, adult social club in the area. County officials say that Club Tabu, near North Rolling Road and U.S. 40, appears to be operating within the county's zoning laws. On its Web site, the club bills itself as a "Private, Members-Only social club catering to mature, open-minded adults." Membership is available to couples and single females only, the club Web site says.

Carroll County will continue to grow at a phenomenal rate and the cost of residential construction is rising so fast - more than 26 percent last year - that many families can no longer afford to live there, according to a housing study released yesterday. The study, which shows the county has grown by nearly 30,000 houses in the past 25 years, points to a pressing need for affordable housing. It includes several recommendations for encouraging construction of smaller, less-costly houses, including zoning for higher density and enacting a work force housing ordinance.

It doesn't seem as if 1.25 acres of land - smaller than a typical Safeway - are enough to quarrel over, especially when you have more than 160,000 of them, but they are at the center of a debate that will decide whether large property owners receive or lose millions of dollars. Although the dispute technically centers on a single property owner, officials on both sides acknowledge that the implications are broader, as they almost always are with zoning issues. "There are other people out there," said E. Alexander Adams, an attorney representing the property owner.

A Howard task force is seeking to reconcile the increasing need for senior housing with the county's growth limits by recommending measures like zoning changes, incentives for homeowners and developers, and a change in attitude toward senior developments. The task force completed a draft of the Senior Housing Master Plan this week and hopes to present the final plan to the County Council by September. The draft calls for an increase in the number of senior homes allowed under the growth limit, more moderately priced housing, a decrease in the size of property allowed to be developed, tax credits for builders and other incentives to encourage senior housing development.

The Howard County Planning Board voted last night to recommend County Council support for amended regulations to restrict where adult bookstores can open and operate. The new law would require that adult-oriented businesses be a minimum of 1,000 feet apart and at least 300 feet from homes, schools, churches, parks and residential areas. It also would change the procedure for those businesses to be licensed. The three members voted unanimously to support the legislation after little discussion.

Howard County planning officials have rejected pleas by church members to more tightly restrict adult bookstore locations in a proposed zoning law. The county Planning Board did not vote on the revised proposal at a meeting yesterday, but it is scheduled to make a recommendation June 9. The issue could then move to the County Council in July. County officials made one minor change to the proposed ordinance, cutting from a year to a month the time businesses would have to comply with new regulations.

Rose Madison, who has lived in the same place for 41 years, must start over soon at age 64. The land is being pulled from underneath her house. It is an increasingly common story in Maryland, where mobile-home parks are being converted to more immediately profitable developments, from stores to upscale subdivisions. Manufactured housing is very often the most affordable way to live in this expensive state, but there are fewer and fewer places to put it. Rising land values encourage different uses.