Eldersburg 20/20 has inaugural meeting
October 1, 2009
Eric Villard

BDG Entrepreneur Factory hosted the first ever Eldersburg 20/20 Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. with Delegate Susan Krebs (R – District 9) present to discuss the Carroll County Comprehensive Plan.

The “inaugural meeting,” as owner of the Entrepreneur Factory Doug Howard called it, saw a small attendance but was big on ideas. Delegate Krebs stressed the need for residents to have an active voice in their communities, a voice she hoped the Eldersburg 20/20, coupled with other local organizations such as the Freedom Area Citizens’ Council, could provide.

“A plan is only as good as it can be implemented,” she spoke of the Pathways plan. “If I look at all the good ideas, only a few have been implemented.”

Take an active role

Being such a controversial issue, Krebs mentioned that Pathways would be a good place for residents to start taking a more active role in Eldersburg. While the plan itself proposes no direct changes to the area, changes to zoning definitions could affect specific areas in the town. It was up to the residents to become educated about this, Krebs said.

“You can’t wait until it happens,” she stressed.

She brought up examples of the resident unrest that resulted from the new apartments down Ridge Rd. and the new Liberty Exchange business park planned for Liberty Rd. Residents act with surprise when changes like these are proposed, but paying careful mind to zoning changes and other specific changes made through Pathways and other like projects can prepare residents for what it to come, or perhaps help them combat undesirable alterations.

Krebs seemed distressed at the amount of involvement she saw from county residents when it came to major issues such as Pathways. “They have more people at [Sykesville] town council meetings than we have at commissioner meetings,” she mentioned.

Having little community involvement could be particularly damaging for Eldersburg. Krebs explained that the town was ripe for development because of its water and sewer capacity.

“You can’t not grow, but we need to grow with reasonability and predictability,” she said.

Those two words could be hard to come by, considering Eldersburg lacks its own local government to oversee its inevitable expansion. This is why it is particularly important for Eldersburg residents to get involved through such groups as the Eldersburg 20/20.

The think tank

Eldersburg 20/20 hopes to be the main vein of knowledge when it comes to issues affecting the Eldersburg community. The first big issue the group is tackling is the Pathways plan, but Howard mentioned that there are other issues, such as the county incinerator, that could also be discussed.

He expressed hope that the group would evolve beyond simply airing grievances about undesired changes to the community, instead having members becoming educated on the specifics of such changes and taking it up whoever planned them. Howard mentioned that in the next few meetings he expected to form work groups that would look at the Pathways plan in depth and discuss it. The ultimate goal seems to be having this collective of minds take a logical approach to problems facing Eldersburg.

Doug Howard is also the owner of BDG Entrepreneurial Services and executive director of the Carroll Area Transit System (CATS). The next two meetings of the Eldersburg 20/20 are scheduled for Oct. 26 and Nov. 30 at the Entrepreneur Factory. For more information about the Eldersburg 20/20, contact Howard at 443-538-4862.