Bel Air Petition Gets 1,051 Signatures For Referendum; Town Rejects It

BEL AIR, MD — A group of concerned citizens who oppose the town of Bel Air’s decision to rezone five properties sparked a meeting of the Bel Air Board of Election Judges on Wednesday. After getting input from the town's attorney, the judges said the residents' petition — which had more than 1,000 signatures on it — lacked the specific language to make it valid.

In early May, the Bel Air Board of Town Commissioners voted to rezone 13 properties, including five properties from a medium-density residential district to a general business gateway district: 45, 53 and 57 East Broadway; and 38 and 44 Gordon Street.

The business gateway district allows for "new downtown residences and uses that attract visitors, such as specialty shops, restaurants, theaters and overnight accommodations" as well as mixed-use developments with retail and residential components.

Residents had until May 23 to appeal the decision after the commissioners approved Ordinance 809-22, and several submitted a petition Monday morning at Town Hall. Signatories said they opposed the rezoning of five properties and wanted the Bel Air Board of Town Commissioners to change the zoning back to medium-density residential.

"I moved to Bel Air because I wanted to live in a place that had small-town charm," said Bart Bodt, who lives on East Broadway and helped organize the signature drive from Friday to Monday.

In addition to setting up a petition-signing table in his driveway in the 300 block of East Broadway, he and about 10 others walked door to door with the petition after dividing up the town into zones.

"What they want to do with it, we do not think is correct for the town of Bel Air, especially in a historical area," Bodt said of the town commissioners. "One of the things we heard as canvassers ... was how much Bel Air has changed and how people really don't like the commercialization that has come to the downtown area."

While the petition contained 1,051 signatures of registered voters, the town’s attorney said it could not be considered a valid means for putting the issue to referendum, speaking before a room of about 30 citizens who attended the Bel Air Town Election Judges meeting on Wednesday.

“The language does not constitute a petition for referendum,” Bel Air Town Counsel Charles B. Keenan said at a meeting Wednesday afternoon at Town Hall.

To be considered valid, the residents had to state that they were opposed to Ordinance 809-22, which authorized the rezoning of 13 properties, including the five in question; and the petition would have had to say that it was a petition about the zoning ordinance, according to Keenan.

"It’s not labeled that way," Keenan said.

Bel Air Election Judges Elaine Millard, Priscilla Jindra and Wendy Ribbans agreed the document was “legally insufficient" to constitute a petition for referendum, since it lacked the required verbiage.

Afterward, Bodt said he and other voters were incensed.

"The general consensus from citizens is that the Town is not listening to their constituents,” Bodt said. “They are listening to developers, and they are merely using a legal escape hatch to distance themselves from this issue."

He added: "We were able to obtain virtually as many signatures on this one issue as [the number of people who] voted in the last entire Town general election, and much more than voted for any single candidate. I would expect Commissioners to care for the citizens, on whose financial back they are riding. To date on this issue, we have not seen that."

Terence Hanley, who was a commissioner for eight years and mayor from 2005 to 2007, took issue with the process the commissioners used to authorize the rezoning in the first place.

"They voted on an ordinance on several properties that aren't contiguous," Hanley said. "Those properties should have been voted on individually. This 100 percent was a backdoor political deal."

Said Hanley: “I’ve seen a lot of things in the county, but ... I’ve never seen voters so disrespected or disregarded in my entire life and in Bel Air especially. To demolish the small-town feel of Bel Air and to award the most intense zoning shows me none of them are fit to be commissioners.”

Commissioner Paula Etting was in a separate category, he said.

"She was intelligent," Hanley said. "She stood up for the people."

Etting was the lone commissioner to vote against the rezoning of the 13 properties.

"We are not done," Hanley said of the residents who want the zoning reversed. "Stay tuned."

Related: Bel Air Petition Sparks Election Board Meeting