Timonium Concerns: Smart Meters, Mays Chapel & Redevelopment

Greater Timonium Community Council president Eric Rockel believes BGE smart meters, the elementary school in Mays Chapel and a change in the county’s redevelopment law should be at the top of area residents’ concerns.
 
The council will discuss each issue, as well as welcome lawmakers state Sen. James Brochin and Dels. Dana Stein and Susan Aumann for a legislative recap at Wednesday night's meeting.

Smart Meters

By now you’ve probably heard that BGE will be rolling out a new “smart meter,” which signals back to the utility company with information regarding your home energy usage.

“Of course, BGE says the meters are perfectly harmless in terms of health affects or as a surveillance tool, Rockel said. “But there are people who say these radio frequencies can be dangerous to someone’s health and there’s also the aspect of people feeling like it’s Big Brother watching over what you do and at what times of day.”

Rockel has scheduled a meeting with BGE representatives for October. The electric companies implementing the smart meter are considering offering opt-out policies—but not for free, .

Mays Chapel Elementary School

The divisive plot of land in is back on the docket.

“Previously, the school board experts had said the school would consume about 12 acres of the site,” Rockel said. “They released the preliminary drawings of the things last month and it turns out 16.5 acres, not 12. It’s what I expected.

"It’s consistent with that they did over at Vincent Farms Elementary, which this school in many ways is modeled from,” he continued.

There are further murmurs that school construction opponents may still have an ace up their sleeves. Stay with Patch for updates.

Redevelopment

Finally, Rockel said he will impart this thoughts about the passage of amendments to the county's redevelopment law, particular concerning planned unit development.

He cited Patch associate regional editor Bryan P. Sears's story "" specifically as the source. 

“The legislation as now written, has some good points and some bad points,” Rockel said. 

His biggest concern is “they said that a hearing officer can rely on either the comments of the planning department, a master plan or community plan when making a decision on these developments.

"I thought really it would be incumbent on the  hearing officer to consider all three of those. ... The way the law is written, if the planning department gets a favorable review of the plan, even though the plan may be in contradiction to certain elements of the master plan, the hearing officer has and out to say ‘I agree just on the planning department’s comments.’”

Meeting starts at 7 p.m. at the Cockeysville Library.