Zoning Ordinance

The Hampstead Town Council will consider revamping its zoning ordinance at its regular meeting Monday, Town Manager John A. Riley said yesterday."We're going to look to overhaul the whole thing," he said.Mr. Riley said the council would consider whether the Planning Commission should continue to have the responsibility of deciding whether a market exists for a proposed business."It takes away free enterprise, if you want to look at it like that," he said.Mr. Riley questioned whether the commission should have to consider market surveys during the zoning process.

The Baltimore City Council and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake have enacted a zoning ordinance that will allow a former Catholic school in Southwest Baltimore to be converted into a convalescent home for homeless people. Project PLASE (People Lacking Ample Shelter and Employment), a 30-year-old nonprofit based in Charles North, has offered more than $1 million for the former St. Joseph's Monastery school buildings in the 3500 block of Old Frederick Road. The school was closed by the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 2010.

Carroll builders would be allowed to place temporary sale offices in developments during construction under a proposal endorsed by the county's planning commission.The Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended that the zoning ordinance be revised to allow builders to place temporary, modular sales offices in subdivisions of 15 lots or more for up to two years. Sales offices could remain longer with county approval.Currently, developers are allowed to use model homes as sales offices.

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.

A touch of city living -- the urban mix of homes and shops -- may be coming to suburban Howard County.Howard planners are drafting new "mixed-use" zoning that would allow homes in close proximity to office and commercial buildings, in developments as small as 25 acres. Large-scale projects could even mix houses and manufacturing facilities.Jennifer Huff, a county planner, said mixed-use zones exist in Anne Arundel, Montgomery and Prince George's counties and in the city of Gaithersburg, but "there is nothing comparable to what we are considering in Howard County."

A committee charged with reviewing Carroll County's zoning ordinance dropped plans last night to overhaul the entire law in favor of updating only the sections regulating light industrial and commercial use.After struggling in recent months to define the scope of the review, the six-member committee agreed that a full scale update of zoning laws would be too complicated.The committee will focus on sections in the zoning ordinance defining light industrial and commercial sites.The goal of the committee's update is to identify potential industrial sites that will attract business to the county.

Using more than $1 million from Maryland's tobacco settlement funds, Carroll County has created a screening and prevention program aimed at reducing deaths from colon cancer and has launched an anti-smoking campaign to cut cigarette use, particularly among minors. "We are on track to qualify for the maximum amounts," Sen. Larry E. Haines, leader of Carroll's legislative delegation, said yesterday in a meeting with the county commissioners and health officials. The county received $335,000 in fiscal 2001, which ends this week, and expects at least $374,000 to continue the fight against colon cancer this year.

Whether you're the builder of a 200-home development or a two-story addition to the back of the house, chances are you're going to come in contact with the county's voluminous zoning ordinance.The hundreds of pages in that 26-year-old document are the bible of planners, zoning officials, developers and weekend carpenters, regulating where, when and how buildings, businesses or other structures can be built.While the zoning ordinance has been around since 1965, a pair of committees has been looking at ways to simplify it for the last six years.

The owners of a country inn in Middleburg have asked county officials to amend the zoning ordinance to allow them to provide catering and facilities for banquets, weddings and other social events.Charles M. Preston, a Westminster attorney who represents the owners of the Bowling Brook Country Inn, requested the amendment, said Solveig Smith, Carroll's zoning administrator. The 19th-century manor house is located on 225 acres off Middleburg Road in Middleburg.Under existing law, country inns and bed and breakfasts can serve meals only to overnight customers, Ms. Smith said.

The Hampstead Town Council last night unanimously approved revamping the town's zoning ordinances, which have not undergone a major update since 1972.Town Manager John A. Riley responded to criticism that the town was changing the ordinance to accommodate the developers of the Oakmont Green Retail Center."The town is not changing the ordinance for Oakmont, we're changing it because Oakmont brought to light a lot of inconsistencies in the zoning ordinance," he said.The former zoning ordinance was a copy of the county zoning ordinance.

The Carroll County commissioners unanimously voted yesterday to allow the installation of small wind turbines. The amendment to the zoning ordinance, believed to be the first of its kind in Maryland, limits properties to no more than two "small wind energy systems" each consisting of a single tower not to exceed 150 feet in height, County Attorney Kim Millender said. County officials said they began pursuing the policy when several residents called toward the end of last year and inquired about installing them.

A Glen Burnie charter school's plans to open next month may be in jeopardy after the Anne Arundel County Council passed a zoning ordinance restricting charter schools in residential neighborhoods. The legislation, which will take effect once County Executive Janet S. Owens signs it, permits charter schools as a "conditional use" on residentially zoned land. To open there, schools must meet certain requirements, such as resting on a lot 3 acres or larger. But organizers of Chesapeake Science Point, a math, science and technology charter, have begun renovations of a building leased from the Glen Burnie Korean Presbyterian Church in order to meet county and school system requirements.

Westminster's plans to annex and rezone the Roop's Mill property - for a subdivision with up to 200 homes - has taken a major step forward with the county commissioners' approval of a zoning waiver. The commissioners' decision to grant the waiver expedites the development process for Westminster. Without the waiver, the city would have had to wait five years to rezone all of the property for residential use. The three-member board's action occurred a month after two commissioners raised concerns about how development on the 93-acre site would affect efforts to control growth.

After months of contentious debate, the Carroll commissioners passed a significantly amended zoning ordinance yesterday that will allow landowners to transfer development rights to agricultural areas. However, the revisions require developers to cluster the lots to preserve as much agricultural land as possible - a change that appeased the ordinance's opponents, including the state. The board voted 2-0 with Commissioner Julia Walsh Gouge abstaining. Her colleagues refused her request to defer the vote until the revised ordinance could be posted on the county's Web site.

Intelligent planning essential for growth The idea that Carroll County is, in fact, located in the State of Maryland is an essential concept that, we as citizens of the county, must imposed upon all of the elected officials of the county. Uncontrolled growth will render the County the same fate of those counties that surround us. I do not hold the position of no growth; I do not hold the position of slow growth. I do hold the position of intelligent growth. In order for Carroll County citizens to protect those assets, we must recognize the fact that no politician ever won a war, built a city, provided for the needs of its citizens in an effective manner, without the consent of the people, the support of the people and the participation of the people.

A simple solution to Gouge's worries In response to the letter to the editor ("County Zoning Plan's future is cause for worry," Nov. 11), from Commissioner Julia Gouge, there are clearly some facts Mrs. Gouge seemed to overlook. There are currently 191,000 acres of agriculturally zoned land in Carroll County and 54,000 acres of conservation zone land (of which 12,000 acres are currently governmentally owned). Under the county's current subdivision regulations and zoning ordinance, including recent amendments, 95 percent, or 181,450 of the agricultural acres, are non-buildable.

TANEYTOWN - In an unusually short meeting Monday night, this growth-strained city's planning and zoning commission recommended the approval of a single, small downtown project.Used to agendas crammed with hundred-unit housing projects or complicated property disputes, the commission faced one item Monday. That lone item centered around the building of a duplex on a vacant lot at 336 E. Baltimore St. The commission recommended an approval of the building request.Since a duplex is an exception to the zoning ordinance, however, a formal hearing in front of the board of zoning appeals is slated for 7:30 p.m. Nov. 21.

In last Sunday's "Shurshots," the suggestion was made that when the County Commissioners rewrite the zoning ordinance, they create an arbitration panel to hear cases in which either the county or the property owner wants to appeal a Board of Zoning Appeals ruling.Two points were not clear:* In many cases, instead of going to court, both sides could go to this "People's Court" panel; they would have to agree not to appealfurther.* So as not to be influenced by the desire to be reappointed, panel members would be appointed for one term; that term would last four years.

County Zoning Plan's future is cause for worry Much has recently been written and discussed in the press concerning the Zoning Ordinance Review Committee's first phase of amendments to the Carroll County Zoning Ordinance that were adopted by two of the three County Commissioners on Sept. 17. While the Phase I amendments addressed a number of issues, including time extensions for nonconforming uses, Declaratory Rulings by the Zoning Administrator, and outdoor storage of unlicensed vehicles, the provisions that have generated the most controversy are those dealing with clustering of residential lots in the Agricultural and Conservation Districts.