BALTIMORE REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP Newsletter
May 25, 2001

Land Use and Transportation Issues Around the Region
___________________________________

Welcome to the electronic newsletter on smart growth issues in the
Baltimore region.  See the end for more information about the Baltimore
Regional Partnership and this newsletter.

Website: www.balto-region-partners.org

I N   T H I S   I S S U E

1. IN THE REGION
*Public Meetings Announced for New Regional Transportation Plan
*Options for I-95 North of Baltimore to Be Shown at Meetings
*Region's Officials Launch Vision 2030 at Camden Yards
*Clean Air Subcommittee Makes First Recommendations
*Census Shows More Diverse, but Sprawling Region
*Calendar of Events

2. STATE HOUSE WRAP-UP
*Governor, Assembly Boost Transit Funding
*Community Legacy Grant Applications Available
*Parks and Playgrounds Receive New Funding
*Legislature Moves Variable Pricing Study Forward
*Bike and Pedestrian Safety Measure Passes

3. ACROSS THE NATION
*Report Finds Transit Eases Congestion Burden

4. ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY
*Calendar of Events

5.  BALTIMORE CITY
*Calendar of Events

6. BALTIMORE COUNTY
*Council Adopts New Design Standards for Development
*Homebuilders Unveil New Analysis of County Development Potential
*Calendar of Events

7. CARROLL COUNTY
*Rally Draws 2000 in Opposition to Piney Run Reservoir Plan
*Commissioners Slow Growth in Eldersburg, Mt. Airy
*78 Acres in Watershed Recommended for Rezoning
*Calendar of Events

8. HARFORD COUNTY
*Calendar of Events

9. HOWARD COUNTY
*Calendar of Events
    
____________________________________

1.  I N  T H E  R E G I O N

PUBLIC MEETINGS ANNOUNCED FOR NEW REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLAN

The Baltimore Regional Transportation Board has announced June meetings in
each jurisdiction in the region to present progress so far to citizens on
developing a new long-range transportation plan.  Because of Baltimore's
severe air pollution problem, officials must update their long-range plan
every three years.  The 2001 plan will project transportation projects out
to the year 2025 and must meet air pollution and financial constraints.
So far, the transportation board has released a list of candidate projects
and technical and policy "scoring" for those projects.  Candidate highway
projects include several widenings of the Baltimore beltway, new high
occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on the beltway and I-95 south of Baltimore,
a new interchange for I-83 in northern Baltimore County, widening of Route
32 in western Howard County, and many other road widenings.  Candidate
transit projects include extending the Metro subway from Johns Hopkins
Hospital to Hopkins Bayview and three light rail projects: a downtown
loop, a western line to the Social Security Administration area, and a
northeast line from Hopkins to Whitemarsh.  Bus transit and bicycle and
pedestrian projects are also proposed.

The Baltimore Regional Partnership has been critical of relying too
heavily on overall "scoring" to prioritize projects, since it tends to
isolate consideration of individual projects rather than look at the
regional transportation system as a whole.  The Partnership has suggested
four types of "scenarios" for the Board to explore as it looks at
candidate projects: coordinate land use with transit projects to locate
walkable communities near stops, maximize the use of demand management
strategies such as Maryland's new Commuter Choice tax incentives, explore
"bus rapid transit" as a near-term transit improvement, and use "variable
pricing" techniques on highways -- especially those slated for often
under-utilized HOV lanes.

Public meetings listed under the various local jurisdiction Calendars of
Events below.  Additional information on the 2001 plan and candidate
projects, including maps, available at www.baltometro.org.  Click on
"Transportation Planning," "Baltimore Regional Transportation Plan," and
"2001 BRTP."  Also contact Dan Pontious, Baltimore Regional Partnership,
at danp@balto-region-partners.org.  May 7 Daily Record article on plan
development available at
www.mddailyrecord.com/archives/1_259_finance/businessnews/36816-1.html


OPTIONS FOR I-95 NORTH OF BALTIMORE TO BE SHOWN AT MEETINGS

The Maryland Transportation Authority (MdTA) has announced three public
informational workshops for its I-95 "Master Plan" from the eastern edge
of Baltimore City to the Delaware state line.  Running parallel to the
regional transportation planning process, MdTA is seeking to consider
traffic, freight, transit, environmental, and land use factors in deciding
the future of its section of the east coast highway.  Challenges include
heavy weekday commuter traffic near Baltimore, heavy vacation traffic on
the weekends, substantial truck traffic, and suburban land use patterns
and sprawl nearby that tends to promote auto travel.  Options to be
presented at the meetings vary from a no-build option to adding two lanes
in each direction.  Traffic management techniques considered in some of
the options include expanded transit service in the corridor, variable
pricing of certain lanes, truck-only lanes, and HOV lanes.  None of the
options so far explore land use changes to facilitate transit ridership
and other transportation alternatives, nor do they explore shifting
freight from trucks on I-95 to existing or potential rail alternatives in
the corridor.  The Baltimore region public meetings will be held June 5 in
Baltimore County, June 21 in Perryville, and June 26 in Harford County.
More detail is available under Baltimore County and Harford County
Calendars of Events below.

For more information, contact Dan Pontious, Baltimore Regional
Partnership, at danp@balto-region-partners.org, or Roxane Mukai, Maryland
Transportation Authority, at rmukai@mdtransportationauthority.com.
Additional information also available at
www.mdta.state.md.us/i95mps/i95mps.html


REGION'S OFFICIALS LAUNCH "VISION 2030" AT CAMDEN YARDS

Speaking before nearly 300 prominent citizens at the Camden Yards
Warehouse on May 15, Baltimore County Executive C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger
led the region's other local chief executives in kicking off an ambitious
18-month effort to look at traffic congestion, mobility, and other
economic and quality of life issues the Baltimore area.  "Vision 2030:
Crafting a Guide for Tomorrow" seeks to bring together a broad range of
citizens and interests in the region behind a comprehensive vision of the
future in a way that has never been attempted region-wide in Baltimore.
It is guided by a 35-member Oversight Committee comprised of
businesspeople, environmentalists, education officials, civic leaders,
developers, and a transit rider representative.  The Baltimore
Metropolitan Council has hired a consultant team headed by New York-based
ACP Visioning and Planning to conduct the process, which will include
focus groups, interviews, 3-D visualization of possible regional
"scenarios," public meetings, and a survey. 

A brochure distributed at the kickoff highlighted some of the challenges
in the Baltimore region: land being consumed at twice the rate of
population growth and traffic congestion growing even more rapidly.
Speaking at the kickoff, Donald C. Fry, executive vice president of the
Greater Baltimore Committee and chairman of the Vision 2030 Oversight
Committee, referred to perceived shortcomings of the 1998 regional
transportation plan as one of the motivations behind undertaking Vision
2030.  The Baltimore Regional Partnership has long sought a regional
visioning process and will be participating actively as it moves forward.

For more information, contact Dan Pontious, Baltimore Regional
Partnership, at danp@balto-region-partners.org, or Stoney Fraley, Vision
2030 Project Manager, at sfraley@baltometro.org.  May 16 Sun story
available at www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-md.transport16may16.story.
Information on ACP Visioning and Planning available at
www.acp-planning.org.


CLEAN AIR SUBCOMMITTEE MAKES FIRST RECOMMENDATIONS

Making its first recommendations to the Baltimore Regional Transportation
Board since convening in October 2000, the Emissions Mitigation Strategies
Subcommittee urged the board to maximize the benefit of employer-based
financial incentives for alternative commutes and to pursue land use and
bicycle and pedestrian measures as well.  The transportation panel created
the subcommittee -- comprised of government, private sector, and civic
members -- in July of last year to give the board recommend
transportation-related clean air measures.  Chairman Dan Pontious
presented the subcommittee's recommendations at the board's monthly
meeting May 22.  

The subcommittee urged the region's local jurisdictions to offer their own
employees the option of purchasing transit passes for commuting with
pre-tax dollars, a relatively new option similar to employer-based 401(k)
plans that would save transit commuters money.  The subcommittee also
urged the transportation board to devote financial resources to promoting
the use of the state's Commuter Choice tax incentives by private
employers.  As a potential model the subcommittee listed Montgomery
County's "Fare Share" and "Super Fare Share" programs, which devote
$750,000 this year to matching employer subsidies of transit passes.  In
operation only 6 months longer than state Commuter Choice tax incentives,
about 50 Montgomery County employers participate in that jurisdiction's
program, nearly as many as the 58 employers participating in the state
program.  In other recommendations, the subcommittee urged each
jurisdiction in the region to join Baltimore City and the City of
Westminster in participating in the state Live Near Your Work program.
The subcommittee also recommended supported efforts currently underway to
pursue walkable, transit-oriented communities as clean air measures, and
urged the board to view the in-progress regional bicycle and pedestrian
plan as a potential clean air program as well.

For more information, contact Dan Pontious, Baltimore Regional
Partnership, at danp@balto-region-partners.org.


CENSUS SHOWS MORE DIVERSE, BUT SPRAWLING REGION

The first data released from the 2000 Census show the Baltimore region
becoming more ethnically diverse, but also continuing to experience
long-time trends of sprawl and urban disinvestment.  In terms of
diversity, every jurisdiction in the region gained African American
population except Baltimore City, which lost both white and African
American population as it shrank by nearly 85,000 residents.  Every
jurisdiction added Latino and Asian populations, most notably Howard
County, which is now 7.7 percent Asian and 3 percent Latino.  Outward
migration trends continued, with net population losses in almost all
tracts in Baltimore City, portions of the Route 40 Corridor in Harford
County, Glen Burnie in Anne Arundel County, older portions of Columbia in
Howard County, and Parkville, the Liberty Road Corridor, and Essex in
Baltimore County.  Outer suburban census tracts saw sharp increases in
population, with the strongest population booms in Eldersburg in Carroll
County, Owings Mills in Baltimore County, Forest Hill in Harford County,
Ellicott City and East Columbia in Howard County, and western Anne Arundel
County. In addition, rapid growth occurred in many of the region's most
rural areas, most notably western Howard County and northern Carroll
County.

For more information, contact Adam Gordon, Baltimore Regional Partnership,
at adam@balto-region-partners.org, or Matthew Weinstein, CPHA, at
MatthewW@CPHAbaltimore.org.  May 13 opinion article by CPHA president Al
Barry and executive director Terri Turner available at
www.sunspot.net/news/opinion/oped/bal-pe.census13may13.story.  New census
data also available at www.baltometro.org, under "Census 2000."



CALENDAR OF EVENTS

June 7
*Emissions Mitigation Strategies Subcommittee.  10:00 AM, Baltimore
Metropolitan Council offices, 2700 Lighthouse Point East, Suite 310,
Baltimore (on Boston St. near O'Donnell St., in Canton).  For more
information, contact Dan Pontious, Baltimore Regional Partnership and
chair of the subcommittee, at danp@balto-region-partners.org, or Earl
Long, BMC, at elong@baltometro.org.

June 19
*Baltimore Regional Transportation Board monthly meeting, with elected
officials, 5:30 PM, Baltimore Metropolitan Council offices, 2700
Lighthouse Point East, Suite 310, Baltimore (on Boston St. near O'Donnell
St., in Canton).  For more information, contact Joan Gorsuch, BMC, at
jgorsuch@baltometro.org.

June 22
*Reinventing the Region: A Celebration of Regional Successes, presented by
CPHA's Campaign for Regional Solutions, 5:00 - 8:00 PM, Univ of Baltimore
Business School.  Reception 5:00 - 6:00 PM; Dinner Recognizing Leaders in
Reinventing the Region 6:00 - 8:00 PM.  Invited honorees include Governor
Parris N. Glendening, elected officials, and citizen leaders from across
the Baltimore region.  $20 in advance/$10 CPHA members; at the door
$25/$15 CPHA members.  For more information, call Heidi Paremske at
HeidiP@CPHAbaltimore.org or visit www.CPHARegionalCampaign.org.

June 26
*Baltimore Regional Summit, sponsored by Baltimore Regional Initiative to
Develop Genuine Equality (BRIDGE), a new organization of faith leaders
concerned with regional equity issues. 8:30 AM - 3:00 PM, Univ. of
Baltimore Business School. Featured speakers include national experts on
regional equity issues and development trends Myron Orfield, David Rusk,
and john powell. $30 for non-BRIDGE members/$20 for BRIDGE members,
including conference materials, light breakfast, and lunch. For more
information, contact Anne Reed at DcnAReed@home.com.

_____________________________________

2.  S T A T E  H O U S E  W R A P - U P

GOVERNOR, ASSEMBLY BOOST TRANSIT FUNDING

An ambitious $750 million, six-year initiative by Governor Parris N.
Glendening to bolster funding for transit across Maryland survived mostly
intact at a projected $502 million when the General Assembly adjourned
April 9.  Transit advocates across the state had lobbied aggressively
during the legislative session and many attended the first statewide rally
for transit ever in Annapolis on March 12th.  The new funding will enable
several improvements to transit service in the Baltimore region: Metro
subway service on Sundays, a 19% reduction in monthly and weekly transit
passes, additional bus service in Baltimore City and the suburban
counties, additional neighborhood shuttles modeled on the Hamden "shuttle
bug," and a 36-month exemption for new transit service from the state's 40
percent "farebox recovery" requirement.  That requirement, still one of
the highest in the country despite being lowered from 50 percent by the
2000 General Assembly, mandates that transit service recover 40 percent of
its costs through passenger fares.  It tends to hinder new service, which
must have time to build ridership to meet the requirement. 

Legislators established funding for the initiative through SB 200 and HB
309, measures that will shift uninsured motorist penalty fees, security
interest filing fees, special license tag fees, and the entire sales and
use tax for short term vehicle rentals to the state's Transportation Trust
Fund. The new program budgets an additional $45.6 million for transit in
the state's fiscal year beginning July 1 and about $90 million for each of
the following five fiscal years.  CPHA's Transportation Committee and the
Transit Riders League of Metropolitan Baltimore are meeting with Mass
Transit Administrator Ron Freeland to discuss the initiative's
implementation.

For more information, please contact Amy Menzer, CPHA, at
AmyM@CPHABaltimore.org.


COMMUNITY LEGACY GRANT APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE

The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development recently
posted application guidelines on their website for a new revitalization
program created by the 2001 Maryland General Assembly.  Senate Bill 202
established the Governor's Community Legacy program to help communities
develop comprehensive plans and implement projects targeted at enhancing
community quality of life.  The legislature also appropriated $10 million
for community plans and projects in the state's upcoming fiscal year.  The
funds will be awarded in a competitive grant process, and applications are
due July 24.  Many smart growth advocates lobbied for this legislation,
which closely mirrored recommended policy from CPHA's October 2000 Rally
for the Region.

Draft program regulations and application forms are available at
www.dhcd.state.md.us/revit/legacy/index.htm.  For more information,
contact Matthew Weinstein, CPHA, at MatthewW@CPHABaltimore.org, or Dru
Schmidt-Perkins, 1000 Friends of Maryland, at dru@friendsofmd.org.


PARKS AND PLAYGROUNDS RECEIVE NEW FUNDING

Trimming Governor Parris N. Glendening's request of $15 million over each
of three years to bolster community parks and playgrounds, the General
Assembly this year approved $11 million for the 2002 fiscal year.
Nonetheless, park advocates and local officials were very pleased with the
result, which will help revitalize many communities in need of such
amenities.  The General Assembly provided specific funding for four park
projects, including three in the Baltimore region, leaving $9.7 million to
be awarded to local jurisdictions and private entities for projects on a
competitive merit basis.  The General Assembly has requested that
eligibility and project criteria be developed and provided to the General
Assembly for a 45 day review period prior to going into effect.

For more information, contact Guy Hager, Parks and People Foundation, at
guy.hager@parksandpeople.org.


LEGISLATURE MOVES VARIABLE PRICING STUDY FORWARD

Despite a delay in the Maryland Department of Transportation's Variable
Pricing Study following criticism from some Washington-area state
legislators, the Maryland General Assembly has reiterated its support for
the measure as an important transportation tool.  After a show of support
for the study from citizens and other DC-area elected officials, the
General Assembly requested that MDOT complete the current study, seek
additional support from the Federal Highway Administration's Value Pricing
Program, and include variable pricing strategies in metropolitan and
statewide transportation planning to boost transportation efficiency and
equity, expand travel choices, and reduce emissions. The budget committees
requested a briefing later this year to address unresolved implementation
issues prior to establishment of a variable pricing program in the State
Highway Administration.

A separate bill, HB 934, proposed to open Maryland's High Occupancy
Vehicle (HOV) lanes to natural gas vehicles, failed in committee after a
hearing raised concerns that it would reduce HOV time-savings and reduce
opportunities for High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes.

For more information, contact Michael Replogle, Environmental Defense, at
mreplogle@environmentaldefense.org, or Scot Spencer, Environmental
Defense, at sspencer@environmentaldefense.org.


BIKE AND PEDESTRIAN SAFETY MEASURE PASSES

With leadership from Delegates Joan Pitkin (Prince George's County) and
William Bronrott (Montgomery) and Senator Brian Frosh (Montgomery), the
General Assembly passed House Bill 717 and Senate Bill 420, designed to
enhance bicycle and pedestrian programs in Maryland.  The identical bills
were a compromise from more ambitious bills introduced by bike and
pedestrian advocates, but they do augment and provide additional resources
for the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee.  They also establish a
pilot "Safe Routes to School" program, which seeks to remove cars from the
road and give children valuable exercise at the same time by reviving the
old tradition of kids biking and walking to school.  Such programs are
gaining momentum across the country and focus primarily on establishing
routes to school where children are safe from traffic today's more
auto-oriented communities.  HB 717/SB 420 instruct the Bike and Pedestrian
Advisory Committee to initiate pilot Safe Routes to School programs in two
county-level jurisdictions, and it instructs the Maryland Department of
Transportation to implement the "action plan" by September 1, 2002.

More information available at www.onelesscar.org, or by contacting Paul
Lebow, One Less Car, at info@onelesscar.org.  Text of HB 717/SB 420
available at http://mlis.state.md.us/2001rs/billfile/HB0717.htm.  Scroll
down and click on "Enrolled" bill text for final version.

_____________________________________

3.  A C R O S S  T H E  N A T I O N

REPORT FINDS TRANSIT EASES CONGESTION BURDEN

A report released May 7 by the Surface Transportation Policy Project
(STPP) indicates that transportation alternatives such as transit can
significantly relieve the burden of traffic congestion on a region's
citizens, a feat not matched by road building.  The report built on the
periodic evaluation of congestion in 68 metropolitan areas conducted by
the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) and released the same day.  The
STPP report found that, despite the fact that the 68 regions as a whole
built roads at a rate faster than population growth, congestion continued
to increase.  Moreover, the 23 metro areas with the lowest rate of road
building over the 1990s, including Baltimore, experienced no more rush
hour congestion in 1999 than the 23 areas with the highest rate of road
building.  In contrast, factoring in the percentage of the population in
each metro area that doesn't drive, and thus is not as affected by
congestion as those in their cars, results in a far different ranking than
TTI's congestion index.  The report shows that St. Louis and Baltimore
have similar congestion levels as calculated by TTI, ranking 24th and 26th
worst respectively.  With much less transit service, however, St. Louis
rises to 18th worst in STPP's "congestion burden index," while Baltimore
falls to 41st.  The Washington, DC area, with more congestion but also
more transit service than Baltimore, experiences an even sharper drop,
from 4th worst congestion in the TTI ranking, to 36th worst congestion
burden as measured by STPP.  The report urges metropolitan regions to
focus on employing land use and transportation measures that provide
citizens transportation choices, rather than relying on increased road
capacity to address traffic congestion.

For more information, see the STPP web site at www.transact.org, and the
Texas Transportation Institute 2001 Urban Mobility Study at
http://mobility.tamu.edu/.

_____________________________________

4.  A N N E  A R U N D E L  C O U N T Y

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

June 18
*Public Meeting on 2001 Transportation Plan, 6:30 PM, Anne Arundel County
Offices, 1st Floor Canteen, 2662 Riva Road, Annapolis.  Maps and other
visual aids will be on view at 6:30, with presentations by local and
regional officials at 7:00.  For more information, contact Regina Aris,
Baltimore Metropolitan Council, at raris@baltometro.org.

_____________________________________

5.  B A L T I M O R E  C I T Y

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

June 20
*Public Meeting on 2001 Transportation Plan, 6:30 PM, Baltimore
Metropolitan Council offices, 2700 Lighthouse Point East, Suite 310,
Baltimore (on Boston St. near O'Donnell St., in Canton).  Maps and other
visual aids will be on view at 6:30, with presentations by local and
regional officials at 7:00.  For more information, contact Regina Aris,
Baltimore Metropolitan Council, at raris@baltometro.org.

_____________________________________

6.  B A L T I M O R E  C O U N T Y

COUNCIL ADOPTS NEW DESIGN STANDARDS FOR DEVELOPMENT

On May 21, the Baltimore County Council voted 6-1 to approve new standards
to make new residential developments throughout the county include more
connections to existing development, fewer cul-de-sacs, and more open
space.  These standards were originally designed to weave new developments
in an area of White Marsh now under a building moratorium into a single
neighborhood instead of a collection of separate communties inaccessible
to each other except by automobile. County Council member Kevin Kamenetz
introduced, and got passed, an amendment to extend the regulations
county-wide. This county-wide extension took even county planners by
surprise, who had hoped to eventually develop a county-wide code but had
not thought that such a code would be approved so quickly.  By requiring
multiple street connections between new communities and existing
communities, the new standards would allow residents to walk to neighbors'
homes in other subdivisions instead of driving. The regulations would also
make houses with fronts not facing the street a rarity in an attempt to
create a pedestrian-friendly streetscape. Cul-de-sacs would be permitted
only when topography prevents construction of a through street.

For more information, contact Adam Gordon, Baltimore Regional Partnership,
at adam@balto-region-partners.org. May 24 Sun article available at
www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-md.design24may24.story.


HOMEBUILDERS UNVEIL NEW ANALYSIS OF COUNTY DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL

A study released on May 23 at the Homebuilders Association of Maryland's
Fourth Annual Maryland Conference on Growth indicates a limited supply of
land available for residential development in Baltimore County. According
to the report, only 15,047 more "buildable lots" remain in Baltimore
County's urban growth area, a number far below the county's own
projections of 28,000 to 32,000 such lots and the state's projections of
70,000.  Homebuilder representatives expressed concern, calling their
calculated capacity only six or seven more years of building at the late
1990s building rate in the county of between 2,000 and 2,500 houses per
year.  They said that historic building capacity restrictions in Baltimore
County, such as the downzoning of White Marsh-Honeygo, have driven them to
build further out in Carroll, Harford  and other rural counties.  Other
speakers at the conference raised issues of methodology that could lead to
different estimates of development capacity, such as calculation of
redevelopment patterns, inclusion or exclusion of small lots, and
inclusion or exclusion of likely development outside the county's urban
area.  While not endorsing the report's findings, conference participants
such as Baltimore County planning director Arnold F. "Pat" Keller, 1000
Friends of Maryland executive director Dru Schmidt-Perkins, and Chesapeake
Bay Foundation Maryland executive director Theresa Pierno, agreed that it
was a useful step in analyzing land supply in the region and the state and
expressed interest in further collaboration on the issue.

For more information, contact Adam Gordon, Baltimore Regional Partnership,
at adam@balto-region-partners.org, or John Kortecamp, Homebuilders
Association of Maryland, at john@homebuilders.org.  May 24 Sun story
available at www.sunspot.net/business/bal-bz.growth24may24.story


CALENDAR OF EVENTS

June 5
*I-95 Master Plan Public Informational Workshop, 5:30-8:30 PM, Middle
River Middle School, 800 Middle River Rd., Baltimore County.  Workshop
will employ an "open house" format.  Several information boards will be
displayed with people to answer questions at each board and generally .
For more information, contact Roxane Mukai, Maryland Transportation
Authority, at rmukai@mdtransportationauthority.com, or go to
www.mdta.state.md.us/i95mps/i95mps-pw-newsletter.htm.


June 21
*Public Meeting on 2001 Transportation Plan, 6:30 PM, Baltimore County
Court House, Room 205, 400 Washington Ave.,  Towson.  Maps and other
visual aids will be on view at 6:30, with presentations by local and
regional officials at 7:00.  For more information, contact Regina Aris,
Baltimore Metropolitan Council, at raris@baltometro.org.

_____________________________________

7.  C A R R O L L  C O U N T Y

RALLY DRAWS 2,000 IN OPPOSITION TO PINEY RUN RESERVOIR PLAN

A May 6 rally sponsored by the Freedom Area Citizens Committee drew about
2,000 South Carroll residents to oppose development of Piney Run Lake as a
reservoir. County Commissioners Donald Dell and Robin Bartlett Frazier
want to convert the popular park into a water supply serving the growing
Eldersburg-Sykesville area of the county. County Commissioner Julia Gouge
opposes the plan, and served as keynote speaker at the event, bringing
along copies of her alternative plan for water provision in South Carroll.
Dell and Frazier declined to attend the event.  At the event Gouge stated
that the best way for the county to ensure a steady water supply in the
future and protect sensitive lands would be to sign the region's Reservoir
Protection Agreement. Dell and Frazier have opposed signing the pact
because they say it would unduly limit the County by prohibiting rezoning
of watershed lands for development.  Indeed, the County is moving forward
with rezonings of such land for industrial uses (see separate story in
this issue.)  Dell and Frazier had agreed two months ago to hold a public
hearing on the Piney Run plant, but are now reconsidering that commitment
because they believe the decision has already been made.

For more information, contact Adam Gordon, Baltimore Regional Partnership,
at adam@balto-region-partners.org or Nimrod Davis, Freedom Area Citizens'
Committee, at nimrod@carr.org. For May 24 Baltimore Sun article, see
www.sunspot.net/news/local/carroll/bal-ca.waver24may24.story.


COMMISSIONERS SLOW GROWTH IN ELDERSBURG, MT. AIRY

Carroll County's Board of Commissioners voted 2-1 in March to issue no
further permits for new housing construction through 2004 in the
Eldersburg-Sykesville area, the County's fastest growing community. The
Board had previously voted not to issue further permits through 2003 and
to allow 150 new permits in 2004. Neither the March vote nor the prior
vote, however, stops development of approximately 350 residential lots in
the area that have secured building permits but not yet been constructed.
The County currently faces a shortage of water in the area.  County
Commissioners Donald Dell and Robin Bartlett Frazier hope to address this
shortage by constructing a $13 million water-treatment plant that would
make water from Piney Run Reservoir available for household use, and had
hoped to have the plant online by 2004. But that timeline now seems
unlikely, largely because the plant faces strong citizen opposition on
environmental grounds and requires state approval that to this point has
not been easily forthcoming (see related article in this issue.) Dell
joined Commissioner Julia Walsh Gouge, who opposes construction of the
Piney Run plant and instead favors development of wells in the area for
further water supply, in voting to not issue the 150 additional permits.
The Board's only dissenting vote was cast by Frazier, who argued that the
plant would in fact be online by 2004.

The Board also voted on May 10 to limit development in the unincorporated
area surrounding Mount Airy to 50 new homes per year due to overcrowding
in Mount Airy Elementary School. The school has a capacity of 675
students, but is projected to reach 1,000 students by 2007 at the current
pace of development.

For more information, contact Adam Gordon, Baltimore Regional Partnership,
at adam@balto-region-partners.org or Nimrod Davis, Freedom Area Citizens'
Committee, at nimrod@carr.org. For more information on the Mount Airy
decision, see May 11 Baltimore Sun article at
www.sunspot.net/news/local/carroll/bal-ca.board11may11.story


78 ACRES IN WATERSHED RECOMMENDED FOR REZONING

The Carroll County Planning Department has recommended in a review of
proposed rezonings of agriculturally and residentially zoned properties
for commercial and industrial use that 78 acres in the Liberty Reservoir
watershed be rezoned. The proposed rezonings, 78% of the total acreage the
Planning Department has recommended, are opposed by Baltimore City and
Baltimore County because officials from these jurisdictions fear that
industrial runoff could pollute the region's drinking water supply. But
Carroll County officials argue that the rezonings are needed to bolster
the County's industrial tax base. The County's industrial land is assessed
at 12 percent of its total tax base, the third-lowest proportion in the
state.  Recommendations by the Planning Department for a total 100 acres
of rezoning, both within and outside the reservoir watershed, are less
than the Department of Economic Development's proposal to rezone 192
acres. The rezoning process comes out of a call by the County's Board of
Commissioners last summer for landowners to request rezonings of their
properties. Landowners submitted requests totaling 928 acres.

For more information, contact Adam Gordon, Baltimore Regional Partnership,
at adam@balto-region-partners.org, or Neil Ridgely, Finksburg Area
Planning Council, at brooksbend@erols.com.


CALENDAR OF EVENTS

June 25
*Public Meeting on 2001 Transportation Plan, 6:30 PM, Carroll County
Office Building, Room 003, 225 North Center St., Westminster.  For more
information, contact Regina Aris, Baltimore Metropolitan Council, at
raris@baltometro.org.

_____________________________________

8.  H A R F O R D  C O U N T Y

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

June 21
*I-95 Master Plan Public Informational Workshop (Cecil County), 5:30-8:30
PM, Perryville High School, 1696 Perryville Rd., Perryville.  Workshop
will employ an "open house" format.  Several information boards will be
displayed with people to answer questions at each board and generally .
For more information, contact Roxane Mukai, Maryland Transportation
Authority, at rmukai@mdtransportationauthority.com, or go to
www.mdta.state.md.us/i95mps/i95mps-pw-newsletter.htm

June 26
*I-95 Master Plan Public Informational Workshop, 5:30-8:30 PM, Edgewood
Middle School, 2311 Willoughby Beach Rd., Edgewood.  Workshop will employ
an "open house" format.  Several information boards will be displayed with
people to answer questions at each board and generally .  For more
information, contact Roxane Mukai, Maryland Transportation Authority, at
rmukai@mdtransportationauthority.com, or go to
www.mdta.state.md.us/i95mps/i95mps-pw-newsletter.htm.  (Harford County
meeting was just recently scheduled and my not yet be listed on MdTA web
site.)

June 27
*Public Meeting on 2001 Transportation Plan, 6:30 PM, Harford County
Council Chambers, 212 South Bond St., Bel Air.  Maps and other visual aids
will be on view at 6:30, with presentations by local and regional
officials at 7:00.  For more information, contact Regina Aris, Baltimore
Metropolitan Council, at raris@baltometro.org.

_____________________________________

9.  H O W A R D  C O U N T Y

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

June 26
*Public Meeting on 2001 Transportation Plan, 7:00 PM, Tyson Room, George
Howard Building, 3430 Court House Dr., Ellicott City.  Meeting will be
part of regular Howard County Public Transportation Board meeting.  Maps
and other visual aids will be on view at 6:30, with the meeting beginning
at 7:00.  For more information, contact Regina Aris, Baltimore
Metropolitan Council, at raris@baltometro.org.


______________________________________________

ABOUT THE BALTIMORE REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP AND NEWSLETTER

The Baltimore Regional Partnership is an alliance of five civic,
environmental, and anti-sprawl groups: 1000 Friends of Maryland
(www.friendsofmd.org), Baltimore Urban League (www.bul.org), Chesapeake
Bay Foundation (www.savethebay.cbf.org), Citizens Planning and Housing
Association (www.CPHARegionalCampaign.org), and Environmental Defense
(www.environmentaldefense.org).

This newsletter explores current issues, recent and upcoming events, and
ongoing deliberations that affect the region's quality of life through
transportation, economic development, and land use policy and planning.

We hope to link citizens in the region who are working to fight sprawl,
promote clean and efficient transportation, protect valuable farm and
forest lands, and revitalize urban areas, older suburbs, and historic
towns.

Has this newsletter been forwarded to you, and you would like to receive
it yourself?  Visit our web site at
www.balto-region-partners.org/news.htm to sign up and to view past issues.

Send us information, too.  Let us know about your work on land use and
transportation decisions that are affecting the Baltimore region.

Email information to Adam Gordon at adam@balto-region-partners.org.  Visit
the Baltimore Regional Partnership website at:
www.balto-region-partners.org.