Zoning Process

Saying they are fed up with zoning loopholes and being shut out of the development process, some Baltimore County community leaders are calling for changes in the county's planning and land-use laws.The group last night released Project 98, a 111-page document demanding improvements in the county's comprehensive planning, zoning and development review process; stronger regulations to assure that projects are compatible with surrounding neighborhoods; a tougher adequate public facilities law; and better public access to meetings and information.

The County Commissioners will wait at least 10 days before voting on a proposed ordinance that would strip the Board of Zoning Appeals of its role in Carroll's subdivision process.The commissioners chose not to vote on the proposed ordinance after a brief public hearing yesterday at which one attorney testified. The commissioners agreed to "keep the record open for 10 days" to receive additional comments.Commissioners W. Benjamin Brown and Richard T. Yates are seeking the ordinance because the appeals board has frequently approved subdivision plans that have been rejected by the county Planning and Zoning Commission.

Howard County Council Democrats have submitted a package of four zoning bills they say will help residents participate more effectively in land-use changes and make Zoning Board cases less contentious through the use of voluntary mediation in some cases. But the package is getting a cool reception from some in an election year when development resentment is a major issue and two council members are vying for the county executive's job. "I believe that because it's an election year doesn't mean I should stop doing my job," said Councilman Ken Ulman, a west Columbia Democrat and a co-sponsor who is running for county executive.

Crafting plans to remake the ailing Wilde Lake Village Center and winning approval for them will "take every bit of two years" before any actual work can begin, according to Geoffrey Glazer, vice president of Kimco Realty, the center's owner. In the meantime, he said, the still-developing overhaul of Columbia's nearby Town Center area into an urbanized downtown is making it virtually impossible to attract new merchants to the town's oldest — and now partially empty — village center, roughly a mile away.

The City Council is seriously considering amending a zoning bill that could affect the private Calvert School's plans to demolish an adjacent North Baltimore apartment complex and replace it with two large playing fields and a middle school. Sheila Dixon, council president, said yesterday that there is support for the bill as proposed, which would require a public review process when a primary or secondary school plans to raze a residential building of 50 or more units. But, Dixon said, she and others believe the bill would be strengthened by changing the language and bringing it to the floor for a vote March 19. The main change, Dixon and 1st District Councilwoman Lois Garey said, would be to focus on land disturbed rather than dwellings destroyed.

People in Bowleys Quarters say Milton Rehbein is easy to like. He's a native of the tight-knit shore community in eastern Baltimore County. And he put in or rebuilt just about everyone's pier or bulkhead. But his plan to turn the old family marina into upscale condominiums has divided a waterfront hamlet still coming to terms with change in the aftermath of a punishing tropical storm. How strong are feelings running in Bowleys Quarters? The local community association has endorsed the proposal - and opponents say they will push to impeach the group's president at what is expected to be a stormy meeting tonight.

For the first time in more than a decade, Baltimore County's land use and zoning policies seem to be under serious scrutiny. The decisions of the County Council over the coming weeks - and how the community responds to those decisions - could result in significant changes in Baltimore County's comprehensive zoning process and even reshape the balance of power among Baltimore County's elected officials. As a former state delegate and former member of the Baltimore County Planning Board, I know that when communities feel shut out of the political process, their blocked energy needs to be expended in other ways, frequently with negative results for incumbent politicians.

County's hearing officer plans to explain his roleEver wonder just what the county's administrative hearing officer does?Robert Wilcox, the hearing officer, will explain his role in the zoning process tomorrow at a meeting of the Severn River Association.The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Lobby Conference Room of the Tawes State Office Building on Taylor Avenue in Annapolis. Information: 267-8647 or 757-2866.

Zoning laws have become a powerful way to reduce the number of liquor stores in cities, but too few government officials use them, Johns Hopkins University public health researchers said in a new report. Researchers from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have created a guide to advise governments of the regulatory power they have to combat alcohol abuse. They hope the report, published in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease, will bring more attention to the issue.