Friday, May 24, 2013
The Baltimore County Council lowers open space waiver fees charged to developers but gives more money to a group that protects open space in urban areas.
Developers will pay a little less to side-step open space requirements for residential projects but a group that helps protect open spaces in urban areas of the county will get a bigger cut under a bill passed by the Baltimore County Council. The council Thursday approved the bill that lowers the county's open space waiver fees. As part of the bill, the council also approved an amendment sponsored by Councilmen Quirk and David Marks that will give NeighborSpace of Baltimore County 20 percent of the fees collected. Six of the seven councilmen voted in favor of the bill. Council Chairman Tom Quirk voted against the measure. Prior to the passage of the bill Thursday, NeighborSpace could receive up to 10 percent of the waiver fees collected …
Thursday, May 23, 2013
The timing of a bill that reduces fees for developers comes as an August deadline looms for more than a dozen projects.
The Baltimore County Council Thursday is scheduled to vote on a bill that would lower the rates charged to developers who would rather pay a fee in lieu of setting aside a portion of a proposed development as open space. Michael Harrison, a lobbyist for the Home Builders Association of Maryland, said his group asked for the rates to be updated last November—the first such change in seven years. "The fees were set at the peak of the market and developers could afford those prices," Harrison said, adding that later it became apparent that a number of developers were in danger of losing their ability to move forward because they had not yet paid the waiver fees. If the council adopts the new fee schedule, developers would pay rates equivalent…
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
The State Highway Administration and County Department of Public Works will undertake improvements to the intersection of Harford Road and Joppa Road.
Improvements to one Carney-area intersection will move forward regardless of whether or not the development of a CVS/pharmacy slated for the southwest corner of Harford and Joppa Roads comes to fruition. David Buck, a spokesman for the State Highway Administration, said that an intersection improvement project to "improve the flow of traffic through what is, it goes without saying, an extremely congested intersection," is underway. Currently the SHA is in a design and engineering phase, which Buck said is expected to be complete by the end of 2014. "We're not far enough along in the process to define exactly what those improvements would be," Buck said, but explained that they could include a through lane on southbound Harford Road and a …
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Councilman John Olszewski Sr. has previously abstained from votes because of his employment with an area contractor.
Councilman John Olszewski Sr. Tuesday said a failure to report a contracting job he has held for the past two years was "an oversight." Olszewski, a four-term Democrat from Dundalk, works for Mason and Son Contracting. Financial disclosure forms filed March 27 do not list the contractor as an employer. The contractor is also not listed in disclosures filed last spring for the 2011 calendar year. The disclosure form asks councilmembers to disclose any job for which they earned income outside their position with the county. "I thought that meant something else," said Olszewski, who works about 34 hours a week for the contractor. "I'm going to look into that and if I need to file an amended report I will." Olszewski has abstained from votes …
Thursday, April 25, 2013
A 2012 college teaching position held by Councilman David Marks, while legal, should have triggered an amended financial disclosure report.
Baltimore County Councilman David Marks said Thursday that a 2012 teaching job at a local university should have been part of his required financial disclosures. Marks acknowledged the job and failure to file an amended report last year with the Baltimore County Ethics Commission during an interview. "It was an oversight," Marks, a Perry Hall Republican, said after being asked about the job. The undisclosed teaching job as well as two previously disclosed consulting positions do not appear to violate county law. Marks said the teaching job will appear in disclosure forms that he has already filed that will be made public next month. Following the interview, Marks issued a statement by email: "As soon I was offered a three-month teaching …
Monday, April 15, 2013
The Baltimore County Coucil gives nonprofits a 48 percent discount that will be offset by residential property owners.
UPDATED (8:54 p.m.)—Nonprofits in Baltimore County will pay a lower stormwater management fee courtesy of residential property owners. The Baltimore County Council Monday approved new stormwater management fees by a vote of 5-2. Councilmen Todd Huff and David Marks voted against the amended bill. One of the main amendments adopted by the council reduced the fees that will be charged to nonprofits. Under the proposal submitted by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, nonprofits would have paid $36 dollars for every 2,000 square-feet of impervious surface. The council amended the bill to reduce that fee to $20—a 48 percent discount. To offset the reduction, the council voted to increase residential fees by $3. Under the newly approved bill, …
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
The bill would impose fees on residents, businesses and nonprofits for federally mandated efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.
At least two members of the Baltimore County Council say they would like to delay a vote on proposed stormwater management fees. Vicki Almond and David Marks both said Tuesday they would like to delay the vote for a month. "Considering the enormity of all this and the information that we have I would personally like us to have a little more time to come up with some amendments and really study this even further," said Almond, a Reisterstown Democrat. "I think three weeks really isn't enough to digest all of this," Almond said, speaking of a briefing the council received last month. Almond added that County Executive Kevin Kamenetz developed the new fees without involving the council or holding any public meetings. The council, in its …
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Community leaders say they welcome county regulations that will improve the commercials areas that are the gateways to both neighborhoods.
The Baltimore County Council Monday unanimously approved a bill that seeks to add a more formal review of redevelopment efforts in the Baynesville and Hillendale communities. The bill, sponsored by Councilman David Marks, revises the boundaries of the Loch Raven Commercial Revitalization District borders. The county Design Review Panel is required review nonresidential development plans in the Loch Raven-Baynesville and Loch Raven-Hillendale sections of the revitalization district. "It's a very important area to the county and I do think that over some time it has been neglected, said Bob Kemp, president of the Hillendale Park Community Association. Nick Linehan, a member of the Loch Raven Community Assocation board, said he welcomes the …
Monday, March 18, 2013
County Executive Kevin Kamenetz seeks a reduction in fees charged to developers who want a waiver on open space.
UPDATED (10:07 p.m.)—Protesters will have to stay a little farther away from public and private schools if one Baltimore County Councilman gets his way. County Councilman Todd Huff, a Timonium Republican, introduced a bill Monday night that will require protesters to stay at least 300 feet from the entrance of a public or private elementary, middle or high school. Protests would be prohibited during school hours or within one hour before or after school hours. It would also be illegal to block or prevent the use of public streets, sidewalks or other spaces while protesting. Violators would be subject to a fine of $1,000 or up to a 90-day jail sentence or possibly both. "It's another layer of protecting our kids," Huff said. "That's it, the…
Monday, March 11, 2013
The councilman said a community association would make future open space in the area, which suffered gas contamination, more amenable to a land preservation trust.
Councilman David Marks is recruiting members for a prospective Baynesville community association—in part to spark interest from NeighborSpace to preserve and maintain future open space. In spring, 16 homes in the 1600 blocks of Yakona Road will be razed as part of a settlement following more than 25 years of petroleum contamination from a nearby independently-owned Hess gas station. The demolition will result in a four-acre open space. Marks hopes the formation of a community association would make the open space more amenable to NeighborSpace, a land preservation trust. "In order for NeighborSpace to get interested in the project, they want to know there is neighborhood support behind it," Marks said. Marks is scoping interest along …
John Wilson
7:45 pm on Friday, May 24, 2013
With all due respect Ms. Hopkins, the fee schedule and the legislation originally granting the waiver was tied to the value of land. The decrease in real estate values is not the fault of property owners. The decrease in the open space fee is just simply fair. Property values have dropped significantly. Your representation that the fee decrease results in less money to NeighborSpace is also … more ›