Council Takes Up Comprehensive Rezoning

In a meeting that dragged on until the final minutes of Monday night, the County Council heard testimony from more than 50 county residents and business owners concerning county rezoning efforts.

Lasting almost until midnight, the public hearing on comprehensive rezoning for District 1 and District 4 provided a platform for citizens to make their voices heard in front of the council.

The county council is charged with taking up comprehensive rezoning legislation every 10 years, to evaluate and shape growth in the county. This year, the Department of Planning and Zoning went out of its way to provide the public with the most transparent process yet, according to Larry Tom, the department's director.

"We've made great strides to make sure the general public has the same info you [the county council] do," Tom said.

The Office of Planning and Zoning made all rezoning applications available on its Web site and provides county residents with an interactive online map of the rezoning areas. Testimony ranged from people who were denied requests for land-use changes to citizens reiterating support for a specific rezoning application that had been taken up.

But Tom did acknowledge that there were a number of requests that weren't supported by the county.

“There are a lot of changes requested by landowners that weren't adopted,” said Tom.

In the Office of Planning and Zoning's final list, a total of 53 different applications were included in the legislation for District 1 and District 4. Only proposals supported by the county were included in the legislation, however, Monday's public hearing gave denied applicants the chance to plead their case in front of legislators, in hopes of getting their application added as an amendment.

Of the final list, seven directly affected Glen Burnie or Brooklyn Park, ranging from requests to expand and revitalize commercial areas to a rezoning request to allow for the construction of senior citizen and disabled adult housing on Shelly Road. No residents testified on the Glen Burnie applications.

While Monday's meeting lasted several hours, the council voted to hold the bill over until its meeting on April 4, in order to keep the public hearing open. Either way, the council still has a long way to go before the bill comes to a vote.

“We won't be voting on any of this for several weeks,” said Councilman Jamie Benoit (D-4th District) of Crownsville.