From Howard County Government
“The owner of property abutting a sidewalk in a public right-of-way is responsible for removing snow from the sidewalk within 48 hours after the snow has fallen. In the event of a multi-unit building with more than one occupant, it shall be the duty of the lessor to remove the snow unless the lessor has obligated a tenant who is actually occupying the property to do so. (Howard County Code, Section 18.402(h). This applies to public streets and is applicable to sidewalks adjacent to public property“

A proposed apartment complex at the intersection of Route 100 and Route 103 has some nearby resident concerned about the traffic impact at an already busy interchange.

Nearly 30 community members sat in on a presubmission meeting at the Elkridge Volunteer Fire Department Nov. 19 to hear about a traffic study regarding the potential impact of The Park at Locust Thicket — a proposed 387-unit apartment complex.

The property owners are seeking to develop 15 acres across from Wesley Lane in Elkridge, which are currently vacant.

Ord and his neighbors believe the county and developers of the property need to be cognizant of public safety.

“There’s going to be some potential for real bad accidents at that intersection,” Ord said of a proposed traffic light at Route 103 and Wesley Lane.

Benchmark Engineering Inc., the property consultant, has held three pre-submission meetings over the past year in advance of submitting plans to the county.

The sketch plan submitted to the county — the first plan required for county approval — currently proposes the 387 apartments within nine buildings on 15 acres. A previous version of the plan proposed only 315 units, but in the sketch plan stage of design, building layouts are revised multiple times.

Following an approval of the sketch plan, the property developer will also need to submit preliminary, final and site development plans, which each must be approved by the county.

An environmental concept plan has also been submitted to the county, but has yet to be approved, according to the county planning and zoning department.

Over the course of the three pre-submission meetings, Ord said community participation has increased and the community has become more vocal.

Representatives from now-County Executive Allan Kittleman and County Councilman Calvin Ball’s office were also in attendance Nov. 19.

After learning of the latest traffic proposal to ease congestion at the busy intersection, Ord said no one in the community has “an ounce of faith in what they put up on the screen” for their traffic projections.

“It was good to see them thinking about innovative ways to make the intersection better,” he said. “That’s good, but there is a lot of skepticism.”

One innovative way proposed to alleviate traffic in the area is a dividing interchange, something that would be the second of its kind in the state — the other is in Arundel Mills.

Community members at the Nov. 19 meeting also voiced concerns over potential enrollment increases at Bellows Spring Elementary School — located directly behind the proposed development site.

According to the Howard County Public School System’s website, the school capacity is 762 and the enrollment in prekindergarten through fifth grade is 731.

After Ducketts Lane Elementary School opened in 2013 and alleviated some of the crowding issues at Bellows Spring, Ord said community members are concerned this development project will bring additional crowding concerns to the elementary school.

“We know it’s going to push Bellows back up over capacity again,” Ord said.

Source:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/ellicott-city/ph-ho-cf-elkridge-development-1204-20141209-story.html

Click this link to get the PDF file:

2013 Summer/Autumn 

Topics covered:

• Ice Cream Social
• Construction Update
• School Redistricting News
• Upcoming Events
• Tips and Reminders
• Technology Update

The Cavey property located across from the end of Wesley Lane closest to Route 100 is approximately 25 acres in total. The owners are asking to re-zone approximately 15 of the 25 acres. The 15 acres are currently zoned CCT (a commercial zoning) and they want to change it to R-A-15 (a residential zoning for apartments). The proposed apartments would be called ‘The Park at Locust Thicket’ and would consist of several buildings three or four stories high with a total of approximately 200 one or two bedroom units. The county estimates that the apartments would generate approximately 10 school age children. The entrance to the property would be directly opposite Wesley Lane and the intersection would probably be changed to a traffic circle.

The owners do not currently have plans to develop the remaining 10 acres, which are currently zoned POR (another commercial zoning). This will undoubtedly change as the economy improves.

Assuming the zoning change is approved by the County Council, the earliest they would expect to start construction would be Spring of 2015. This could be delayed by several years depending on the county’s current housing allocations and the overcapacity of the schools/roads in the area.

If you want to see for yourself what the various zones are, use the following link, then click on “Zoning Regulations”. CCT is on page 135, POR is on page 115, and R-A-15 is on page 87. We’re R-SC in case you’re curious.

http://www.co.ho.md.us/Departments.aspx?id=4294968162