Pathways plan causing confusion for residents, officials

By Charles Schelle
cschelle@patuxent.com
Posted 6/23/09

Carroll County’s comprehensive master plan draft, called Pathways, is causing some confusion for both residents and elected officials.

The biggest issues about the plan include lack of explanations about the proposed rezoning of some residential land, especially in Taylorsville, to an employment campus classification as well as land rezoned
south of I-70 in Mount Airy for industrial and commercial use.

Del. Susan Krebs (R-9B) of Eldersburg said at a June 18 Freedom Area Citizens’ Council meeting that most people looking at the printed maps would not know that some land is rezoned. Instead, they would have to know that they should view the document online and zoom.

“Unless you stare at the maps in here and get a magnifying glass, you don’t know that many of the re-districtings are happening,” she said. “These little blue marks mean a lot, and there’s nothing in this document explaining these things have turned blue and they’re major, major rezoning changes.”

The two rezoning changes catching fire are both turning about 1,700 acres of residential land in Taylorsville’s routes 26 and 27 intersection to employment campus land and another being land south of I-70 in Mount Airy at the headwaters of the Patapsco River.

Regardless of the plan’s version — electronic or printed — neither explains in detail the reasoning behind the changes.

“There’s no explanation in this document why (the county) rezoned 1,700 acres in Taylorsville,” Krebs said. “You shouldn’t have to go to the county to understand what’s going on. People are not getting good answers.”

Bobbi Moser, Carroll County comprehensive planner, said at the meeting that the county has made available the Pathways Assistance Center in the county office to have questions answered and explain any uncertainty about the draft plan.

Residents at the meeting, including Ross Dangel of Eldersburg said that he has received conflicting answers to the same question by staff available at community meetings and at the center and also said the plan contains a "lot of fluff."

Krebs said she had a similar experience, calling the process a “fiasco so far.”

“There were planners to came to the Mount Airy and Eldersburg libraries a month ago and were suppose to answer questions,” she said. “The planners at the Eldersburg Library were not from the area; they had no idea to the questions they were asked. And you stood in line to ask a question about the map, they did not give you the proposal and you had to look it up online first.”

Krebs said it’s time for the county to step back and answer the unresolved questions correctly.

Read the June 28 edition of The Carroll Eagle for more on how land was selected to be rezoned and what your property rights are for the proposed rezoning and land use designations in Pathways.

Pathways resources
View information and studies about Pathways at www.carrollpathways.org.
Residents with questions about Pathways can call the Pathways hotline at 877-349-8309 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Residents can also visit the Pathways Assistance Center at Room 205 in the County Office Building, 225 N. Center St., Westminster from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Staff will be available to provide assistance and answer any questions related to the draft Pathways Plan document, the proposed zoning text, and the proposed zoning maps.