Growth Action Network Head Urges Support for Leopold's Veto

Ann Fligsten, Arnold resident and Coordinator for the Growth Action Network of Anne Arundel County, is urging local residents to contact County Council members by the end of today in support of sustaining County Executive John Leopold's recent veto of four rezoning amendments.

Here are her thoughts sent in a recent email to local residents.

"For those of you who have been following the rezoning process in District 1 and 4, the County Executive vetoed  four amendments to the zoning bill (#12-11).

This rezoning process had many flaws that mainly stemmed from the amendment process to the rezoning bill that was handled by the County Council. The Council established a deadline for rezoning requests, but did not follow it, allowing amendments after the deadline the Council set.

Also, while hearings on the amendments were held--only a very few of the proposed amendments did not pass--even a last minute amendment that the affected community knew nothing about passed 7/0. This is the one veto that should happen because Councilman Daryl Jones asked the County Executive to veto his own amendment.

The Council seems to believe that they have a blank slate when it comes to rezoning and have not relied on the General Development Plan or the relevant Small Area Plans. State law requires that rezoning is consistent with these plans--members of the County Council did not inquire into this area. The Council needs five votes to override any veto by the County Executive and some of the following amendments may be overridden.  

Please contact all members of the County Council and ask that the four vetoed items be sustained. Also, forward this appeal to your community associations for their e-mails as well. At the recent Coordinating Council meeting, the consensus was that we should support the County Executive's vetoes. This is the citizens' only safeguard (aside from a lawsuit) when the Council makes a mistake. All of the amendments vetoed by the County Executive were opposed by the Planning and Zoning Office.

The County Executive has vetoed four of the most troublesome amendments:

1. Amendment #32. This is the amendment I know most about because I contacted neighbors in the Arundel Hills community that knew nothing about this proposed rezoning. I only located them one week before the May 16 "hearing" and a number contacted Daryl Jones and complained about the damage the access driveway to a parcel behind their homes would do to their community.

About 15  residents showed up at the May 16 "hearing," but members of the Council had publicly stated that regardless of the hearing, they would make no changes to the bill. That is why I call it a "hearing." Councilman Jones has assured Arundel Hills residents that he will seek a veto of this terrible amendment. The amendment was introduced and voted on 7/0  at the previous County Council meeting (May 2) to take the parcel from R5 to R10. May 2 was the first time anyone in the public had seen the amendment.

2.  Amendment #21- A Mobile Home Park on 90 acres that went from R-5 to R-10. Mobile homes are part of the scarce affordable housing that we have. Allowing density that could support up to 900 apartments or town houses will ultimately lead to the displacement of the current residents. Also this community gets its water from Baltimore City and such a dense development may use up all remaining allocation for Anne Arundel County.

3.Amendment # 18- Blobs Park from MXDE to WI when there is much R1 around it. This is another "spot zoning" that is incompatible with mixed zoning that contains residential uses.

4. Amendment #5- Taking a property zoned for limited residential development (RLD) to R-1 in a flood plain in close proximity to the Patuxent River, allowing more dense development.

You may send your comments on this issue to members of the County Council at their websites on the County Council webpage.

The Council has agreed to a number of other steps to make the rezoning process more transsparent and effective. The first step is to support Leopold's vetoes."

Editor's Note:  The Growth Action Network is a coalition of individuals who work to monitor growth and development in Anne Arundel County. For more information, go to GrowthAction.net.