Marks Aims To Lower Development Potential For Cromwell Valley

Developers looking to build on 66 acres of land in the Cromwell Valley will find themselves unable to do so if one county councilman has his way.

Councilman David Marks announced Thursday his intention to seek downzoning of a 66 acre swath as part of the county's quanrennial Comprehensive Zoning Map Process.

To see a map of the affected properties, check out the .pdf attached to this article.

The land, Marks said in a statement, includes property owned by Baltimore City, a homeowner's association, and private property owners north of Satyr Hill Road, east of Littlewood Road and south of Cromwell Bridge Road.

Many of the proposed properties are located near the .

, Marks told the Cromwood-Conventry Community Association he could not change the zoning on the controversial development, but that he would work to lower development potential in the neighborhood.

"I will raise an issue this CZMP cycle that will allow for the zoning of these properties to go as low as DR1—that's the lowest zoning you can get," Marks said at the meeting.

Marks was not immediately available for to comment on whether or not the current proposal was related to the February meeting.

The land proposed for downzoning is currently zoned for residential development of either 3.5 or 5.5 units per acre. Under Marks' proposal, 41 acres would be zoned for open space and the remaining 25 would have their development potential lowered to one residential unit per acre.

In a statement, Marks wrote that it was the largest single downzoning proposal in the Parkville area in Baltimore County history.

"I am taking action to lower the development potential of an area that should have been downzoned years ago," he wrote.

The county council will vote on zoning recommendations later this month at an Aug. 28 session.