Commissioners clamp down

on Adamstown Region growth

 

by Robert Slavin

Staff Writer

 

T'he Frederick Board of County Commissioners rolled back the short and long-term growth possibilities in several areas of the Adamstown Region on Monday.

 

The commissioners pulled in the growth boundary substantially for Point of Rocks.  The growth area is where commissioners envision industrial, residential and commercial development.  Now that the area has been defined, the commissioners conceive of the area as fixed forever.

 

The northeastern side of the growth boundary was reduced from the Frederick County Planning Commission's recommendation.  The board has set the boundary as being the northeastern. edge of the Canal Run planned unit development currently under construction.  Frederick County Chief of Comprehensive Zoning Ed Gorski estimated after the meeting that the commissioners had reduced the growth area by about a third.

 

Frederick County Commissioner  John "Lennie" Thompson said county staff had told the commissioners that Once all the anticipated residential building on Point of Rocks is completed, there will no be any spare sewage capacity left for additional building.  Frederick County Comissioner Jan Gardener said that Mike Marschner, director of Frederick County Division of Utilities and Solid Waste Management, has said that it would be difficult to expand the sewage discharge permit for discharging sewage to the Potomac River in order to accommodate growth beyond that already planned.  Gardener and Thompson said these situations were two reasons to pull in the growth boundary.

 

     The commissioners voted 3-2 in favor of pulling the growth boundary in., with Frederick County Comissioners Rick Weldon and Terry Rhoderick dissenting.

 

                      After the vote, Adamstown resident Jim Mackintosh told the county commissioners that he found their decision "surprising".  He pointed out that the land removed from the growth area was on a slope that allowed for easy sewage flow to the Point Of Rocks wastewater treatment plant.  He also said that the commissioners would not know the true sewage treatment capacity of the plant until a study was done.

 

Gardner responded that she wanted to preserve the small town character of Point of Rocks by making sure that its population does not get too large.

 

In actions with more immediate effects, the commissioners downzoned several large plots of land that had been zoned low-density residential around Buckeystown to agricultural.  Among these were a 61-acre-property south of Michaels Mill Road, a 38-acre property south of the same road just east of Buckeystown Pike, and a 14 acre property to the northwest of the intersection of Michaels MillRoad and Fingerboard Road.  All three votes were 4-1 with Rhoderick dissenting on all of them.

 

The commissioners also voted 3-2 to change the planning designation of the 14--acre Property from low den-, sity residential to agricultural/rural.  Rhodenck and Weldon dissented

 

Another Property of 10 acres near Buckeystown, east of Buckeystown Pike and north of Michaels Mill Road was downzoned from limited industrial to resource conservation.  Weldon and Rhoderick dissented in a 3-2 vote on this zoning change.  Weldon said he thought both resource conservation and light industrial zonings were wrong for it.  Rhoderick suggested that a part of it be zoned residential.

 

The commissioners also voted 5-0 to downzone the 170-acre Jorgensen property near Buckeystown from three unit per acre residential (R-3) to agriculture.  Most people know, this property as the Hedge Apple Farm.  There are currently a few business buildings on this plot but most of the land is used for agriculture.  Under the change the existing businesses will still be allowed to operate.

 

The commissioners also voted 4-1 to hold a public hearing reintroducing the Buckeystown bypass into the Adamstown Region Plan.  Thompson dissented about having the byass discussed at the hearing.  The Eearing will be held at 1 p.m. Sept. 26 at Winchester Hall.

 

The bypass is a long considered road that would split off from Buckeystown Pike both north and south of Buckeystown and go through mainly agricultural land-to the west of Buckeystown.  The purpose of the bypass would be to draw traffic away from Buckeystown Pike.  Some residents there say the traffic is noisy and dangerous.

 

Commissioners voted 4-1 that the bypass to be considered for inclusion in the plan be a denied access road.  Rhoden'ck dissented.  If the bypass was a denied access road, traffic could only enter the bypass at its intersections with Buckeystown Pike.

 

The Adamstown Region Plan will guide county policy on the land for the next seven years for zorung and planning issues.

 

The county defines the Adamstown Region as the area south of Ballenger Creek, west of the Monocacy River, north of the Potomac River and east of the Catoctin Mountain Ridge.