Zoning Regulations

Ellicott City business and property owners asked the Howard County Council last night to reject a proposed 12-unit apartment building for low-income senior citizens in the city's historic district, voicing concern that the project could disrupt the decor of the district and hurt local businesses.Columbia developer D. A. McDaniels Inc. has asked the council to amend county zoning regulations to allow the construction of the apartment building, known as the Tiber-Hudson project.Usually, a developer would have to go through the county's zoning process and seek a special exception if a project does not meet zoning regulations.

While acknowledging a tattoo artist's impressive background and impeccable credentials, a Baltimore County zoning official denied his petition yesterday to open a tattoo parlor in Towson.Vincent A. Myers, president of LVT Dermagrafix Inc. and owner of Little Vinnie's Tattoos in Westminster, had sought to open a tattoo parlor and body-piercing business in the 400 block of York Road in the heart of Towson.Because such a use is not listed in county zoning regulations, Mr. Myers' attorney, Michael P. Tanczyn, filed a petition for a hearing, which was held Oct. 25 by Zoning Commissioner Lawrence E. Schmidt.

As a zoning official heard a proposal for a tattoo parlor in Towson yesterday, tattoo artist Vincent Myers stressed his worldwide reputation and self-imposed code of conduct, but opponents said the business could hurt the area's image.Mr. Myers, who hopes to open a shop on the second floor of 416 York Road, said he won't tattoo anyone under age 18 without the consent of a parent or guardian. He said he also won't tattoo anyone he suspects of being under the influence of alcohol or drugs.But a handful of opponents at the hearing expressed concerns that a tattoo parlor is not an appropriate business for Towson.

ROCK HALL -- It's always something in this self-styled "Pearl of the Chesapeake."Civic squabbling seems constant in this hamlet hung from Kent County's western tip that is home to 1,574 people and six miniature horses that have spawned the latest controversy."

The Howard County Planning Board has recommended that a North Laurel man be allowed to continue operating his 52-year-old contracting business out of his home.Robert E. Higdon persuaded the board Wednesday night that his general contracting and home improvement company has been in operation at his home in the 10800 block of Scaggsville Road for more than 50 years."I've owned the property since 1943 and I've been in the contracting business all my life," said Mr. Higdon, 78.The Department of Planning and Zoning had challenged Mr. Higdon to prove that his business was in existence before 1948 -- the year Howard County adopted zoning regulations and classified his property as residential.

An article in yesterday's edition of The Sun for Howard County incorrectly reported the date that the County Council is scheduled to vote on proposed zoning regulations governing communications towers. The vote is scheduled for July 3.The Sun regrets the error.Nextel Communications Inc., one of the smaller cellular telephone companies, is leading the way in Howard County in trying to help curb the proliferation of communications towers.Last week, the New Jersey-based company became the first to respond to county planners' urging to put such structures on county property and build them strong enough to hold other antennas.

J. Carroll Holzer has trampled through Baltimore County's garden of zoning and development regulations for more than 12 years, earning his living as a lawyer and growing a reputation for kicking dirt in the faces of developers and bureaucrats.He loses many more cases than he wins, but clients don't seem to mind because Mr. Holzer has chosen a specialty that few attorneys want to touch -- representing community groups in land use battles."It gives me a sense of completeness to take a case no one else wants, knowing all the while you're fighting an uphill battle," he says.

County planners proposed last night new zoning regulations aimed at discouraging cellular telephone companies from putting up towers or antenna poles in residential areas.With the boom in cellular telephone use, the towers have proliferated in Howard County, but 16-year-old zoning regulations have not kept up, planners told the county Planning Board."There's no incentive to not locate in a residential district," said William O'Brien, the county's zoning chief.The new regulations would tighten limits on the structures in residential districts and ease them in areas zoned for industrial and commercial uses.

The most frequent reasons for neighbor disputes are trees, fences, boundaries, easements and noise, says Cora Jordan, author of "Neighbor Law," a self-help guidebook.The law offers protection from disturbing activities. Whether it's a zoning ordinance, community association regulation or subdivision rule, almost anything that a neighbor does that provokes anger or annoyance can be rectified.The simplest way to deal with a neighbor problem is by friendly negotiation and face-to-face communication.

County residents annoyed by their neighbors' junk cars will have a legal weapon under new regulations approved by the county Zoning Board last week.County Council members, sitting as the Zoning Board, voted 3-1 Thursday to remove language from zoning regulations that allowed storage of at least one unregistered vehicle on a residential lot.The new regulations, which become final when signed in the next several weeks, will bring the rest of the county in...