Politics & Government
Making the Development Process Friendlier
Fifth District councilman David Marks submitted the following as a letter to the editor.
One of the most common complaints from community leaders is that the development process seems inaccessible to the public. That's why several county councilmembers are joining with me to reform an important phase of the development process: the Community Input Meeting.
A Community Input Meeting (CIM) occurs at the beginning of the development process for a new housing project. Under the current law, a CIM must be held in the "vicinity" of a proposed project, or it can be held in Towson if no space is available.
While most developers hold CIMs at convenient locations, there have been several situations where the term "vicinity" is liberally interpreted. Most recently, the CIM for a Carney-based development was scheduled for the Perry Hall library. The developer ignored several better locations for the meeting, such as the Carney-Parkville library or nearby elementary schools.
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I have sponsored legislation that tries to change this. Under the proposed legislation, priority must be given for a Community Input Meeting to be within a certain mile radius of a proposed development. Within the Urban-Rural Demarcation Line—the most urbanized part of Baltimore County—the distance is three miles. Outside the Urban-Rural Demarcation Line, the distance is eight miles.
The distance requirements were determined after an analysis by the County Auditor's staff showed that a school or library was located within a certain distance of every point in the county—three miles within the URDL and eight miles beyond the URDL.
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The legislation also increases the options for where a CIM may be held. Typically, Community Input Meetings are held at schools and libraries. This legislation expands the list of locations to include houses of worship, community centers and other places of assembly.
I am very happy that four of my colleagues are sponsoring this bill, including Councilwoman Cathy Bevins. This is a bipartisan bill that will hopefully make the development process more convenient to all Baltimore County residents.