County to conduct Mays Chapel Elementary Ground Breaking on 04/26/13

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Ground Breaking for School

The County has scheduled a ground breaking ceremony for the proposed Mays Chapel Elementary School at 12250 Roundwood Road, Timonium 21093 on Friday, April 26, 2013 at 10:30 AM.  County Executive Kevin Kamenetz will be in attendance according to his public schedule.

Community Opposition to the School

According to community leaders, the opposition to the building of the new elementary school on the site of the existing Mays Chapel Park is overwhelming.  The Save Mays Chapel Park organization has been involved in opposing the building of the school at the Mays Chapel Park location for nearly two years.

Significantly Better Alternatives Are Available

Representatives of the surrounding communities have been vocal in presenting more cost effective alternatives to the placement of a school outside of the area where overcrowding exists, necessitating the busing of students and unnecessary rezoning.  Expansion of the buildings at the existing overcrowded elementary schools is eminently feasible on the existing properties, is much less expensive for the taxpayers, and addresses the actual problem of overcrowding at the specific location where the additional capacity is needed.

Heavy-handed Approach by County Government

The County government in its various forms has taken what many residents consider an authoritarian approach to the entire project operating without the transparency that the citizens expect and at times failing to follow the clearly defined laws and regulations that govern such activities.  Information is circulating in the community that the County does not have the required permits to conduct the construction activities which have been scheduled.

School Not a Foregone Conclusion

There continues to be significant opposition to the school construction from a passionate group of citizens committed to retaining the park in its current form and shining a light on the common sense, less costly, more community friendly alternatives that have been proposed but have been disregarded by County Executive Kamenetz and the School Board.

The community groups have indicated their willingness to pursue their efforts to oppose the school and  expose what they believe are improper actions counter to the benefit of the local communities, as well as Baltimore County and Maryland tax payers.

 

 

New Community Interest page added

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At the request of a community and Falls Road Community Association member, a new page has been added to the website to provide information about efforts of note that the community might benefit from being aware.

The page is accessible from the Action menu on the Community Interest menu option.

 

FRCA Annual Dinner – 10/23/12

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Invitation

You are cordially invited to the Falls Road Community Association annual dinner on Tuesday, October 23, 2012, at the Oregon Ridge Lodge.  The meeting will begin at 6:00 PM and will include dinner, wine, and beer for only $10.00 per person.

Come and hear about important events in the community and join us in recognizing Council Chairwoman Vicki Almond for her unwavering support in protecting the former Chestnut Ridge Country Club property during the 2012 CZMP.

Agenda

The dinner will be followed by a meeting including updates from the Board of Directors and a recognition of Ms. Almond for her hard work on behalf of the citizens.

Ms. Almond will also be speaking, updating the community on issues of importance in the local political arena.

Questions and issues of importance to the members of the community association will be addressed as well.

RSVP to the Dinner

To reserve your place at the dinner, please send $10.00 per person along with your name, address, and phone number to:

Mrs. Carol Kakel

12006 Boxer Hill Road

Cockeysville, MD 21030

Please make checks payable to “The FRCA”.

For more information, please call Martha Lessner at (410) 804-2080.

Please RSVP by October 15th.


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Vicki Almond saves former Chestnut Ridge Country Club property!

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Almond and Council Approve Downzoning of CRCC Property

From the office of Council Chairwoman Almond:

Baltimore County Council Chairwoman Vicki Almond, along with the rest of Council APPROVE downzoning of the property formerly owned by Chestnut Ridge Country Club from RC5 to RC7.

 

The RC7 designation allows for much less dense development than would have otherwise been permitted under RC5. After extensive research into the environmental concerns related to this property, along with the vast amount of community input received by my office, the decision became clear. I would like to express my sincerest gratitude for your input and suggestions along the way.

 

Sincerely,

 

Vicki Almond

Baltimore County Council

2nd District

Please contact Council Chairwoman Almond to express your thanks and gratitude for the time and careful consideration invested by her and her staff to understand the salient issues of the property, listen to the concerns of the community and her constituents, and make a decision that is nothing more than applying the longstanding zoning regulations which Baltimore County has adopted as law, but unfortunately does not always adhere to.

Please attend the CZMP vote on Chestnut Ridge CC – August 28, 2012

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The Falls Road Community Association

Cordially invites you

To Witness a Potential Miracle

At 6 p.m. on Tuesday, August 28, 2012

In the Council Chambers in the Old Courthouse

At 400 Washington Avenue in Towson!

 

More than 600 residents of our area have contacted our Councilwoman Vicki Almond via petitions, letters, emails, meetings, and calls encouraging her to preserve the integrity of the Chestnut Ridge Country Club (CRCC) property by rezoning it to RC7.

Because of this extraordinary effort our community is counteracting the influence of well_financed interests that seek to develop the CRCC property at a density that would do irreparable damage to the property’s extended ecosystem and change the character of the Falls Road Corridor for the worse and forever.

We Have Made Good Progress, but this Battle Is Far from Over. 

Ms Almond knows the Club property is environmentally valuable and vulnerable, and she wants to preserve it.  Ms Almond is well aware of the damage our community will sustain if the housing density on Club property is maximized, and she wants to spare us that damage.  In sum, Ms Almond wants to serve us, her constituents, she wants to vote to change the zoning of the Club property to RC7 as a resource preservation zone.

Ms. Almond’s final decision is only a few days away – and we cannot let up.  Pressure on Ms Almond to back off and let the land be destroyed is enormous.  Thus, it will take a miracle for Ms Almond to retain her political independence and do what should be done.

Make it happen….       Do your part……..

Contact Vicki Almond Again!

Visit www.SAVEFALLSROAD.org on the web

Or directly at council2@baltimorecountymd.gov:

telephone:  410-887-3385        fax:   410-887-5791

So, please join us waiting for a miracle at 6 p.m., on Tuesday, August 28, 2012

in the County Council Chambers in the Old Courthouse in Towson.

Residents urge Councilwoman Almond for RC7 status for the Chestnut Ridge Country Club

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Presidents’s Message: Residents Contact Councilwoman Almond in support of RC7 zoning for the Chestnut Ridge Country Club property

With a stroke of her pen, on August 28, 2012 our County Council representative and President  Vicki Almond can preserve more land in District 2 than Dutch Ruppersberger, Jim Smith and Kevin Kamenetz combined multiplied by 1000. The 232 acres that were Chestnut Ridge Country Club abound in streams, ponds, springs and wetlands. By zoning that land RC7, which is plainly the proper classification, Ms Almond can preserve most of that subwatershed, spare our roads 40-60 houses of traffic, spare our water table 40-60 wells to compete with ours, give Dipping Pond Run a chance to survive, and possibly save the Falls Road community. With that same act, Ms Almond would become our first Council representative to place the well-being of her constituents above loyalty to the politicians in Towson and their developer financiers. Below are samples of the 500+ messages from constituents to Ms. Almond via www.savefallsroad.org. 

Harold Burns, President

Contact Councilwoman Almond

Please contact Councilwoman Vicki Almond to express your support for rezoning the former Chestnut Ridge Country Club Property to RC-7 to reduce the building density, reduce the impact on existing wells in the area, reduce traffic congestion, and preserve the character of the community.

E-mail: Council2@BaltimoreCountyMD.gov

Councilwoman Vicki Almond

Old Court House

400 Washington Ave.

Towson, MD, 21204

Letters from the community

07/11/12 – Dear Councilperson Almond,

The prospective development of the property formerly owned by the Chestnut Ridge Country Club (CRCC) raises great concerns for those of us who live in the Falls Road corridor. We believe the property zoning is RC-7 because we have had issues with our well, along with several of our neighbors. Depletion of the water table with any more development will hurt the entire Falls Road corridor. Our entire neighborhood (Springhill Farm) is against further development in this area. It is almost impossible to drive down Falls Road in the morning and the traffic at Falls and Padonia/Broadway is always backed up. Sincerely, Rusty & Michelle

 

06/27/12 – Councilman Almond,

We have been living at this address for about eight years. Our water flow has diminished greatly in those years. I blame the lower flow of water on the amount of recent development in the Falls Road area. Pretty soon at this rate, we will be out of water for our homes!!!! I am requesting a down zoning to RC-7. Sincerely, Susan K.

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Baltimore Sun article: Neighbors fight to preserve golf club land

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The Baltimore Sun published an informative article on Sunday, July 8, 2012 regarding the community efforts to downzone (reduce the housing density) of the development on the Chestnut Ridge Country Club property, citing environmental impacts as well as the quality of life issues that will occur if the present zoning remains.

The article details considerable community support for having Councilwoman Vicki Almond  downzone the property to RC-7 (approximately 10 houses permitted on the property) through the quadrennial CZMP process.

Contact Councilwoman Vicki Almond to express your thoughts on the matter: (410) 887-3885 or council2@baltimorecountymd.gov.

SaveFallsRoad.org launched to preserve the Chestnut Country Club property

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The issue

Recently, the Chestnut Ridge Country Club folded and a developer bought the mortgage and took title to the land.  The developer potentially can place up to 100 homes on this land and destroy the environmental buffer that protects the last trout stream in the Jones Falls Watershed and its surrounding wooded valley that protects a unique watershed and ecosystem.  Intense development of this land means up to another 200 vehicles crowding falls road, creating traffic gridlock at its failing intersections and placing additional financial stress on the county budget.  Intense development will generate up to 100 new wells, putting your own wells at risk.  The bulldozing of this land for another 100 houses will destroy the rural nature of our community and your property values!

Map of Chestnut Ridge Country Club property and number of homes

Too many homes for the Chestnut Ridge Country Club property

The County Council is presently considering the down-zoning of the 232 acres from RC-5  (rural residential) to RC-7 (resource  preservation) as part of the comprehensive zoning map process that takes place every four years.  In December 2011, Councilperson Vicki Almond, your Council member in the Second District, introducedComprehensive Zoning Map process issue #2-031 to address the appropriateness of the existing RC-5 zoning in light of the sale of the Chestnut Ridge Country Club.   According to the County Code, the purpose and intent of RC-7 is resource preservation, more specifically to protect and preserve valuable cultural, historical, recreational and environmental resources through a low-density rural zone.

Take action

There is only one way to have the property zoned RC-7.  That is to have the District 2 Councilperson, Ms. Vicki Almond, make the request through the CZMP process at the end of the summer.

What will impact her making her decision is hearing from you.

Please go to SaveFallsRoad.org, educate yourself on the issue, and contact Ms. Almond (there’s an easy link to send her an e-mail), and keep going back to SaveFallsRoad.org and TheFRCA.org to follow the progress, get updates, and participate in having your community the retain the character that attracted us in the first place.

Proposed Columbia Gas Expansion Will Have Significant Impact To Area

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Background

Earlier this year, several households in the community received letters from Columbia Gas Transmission regarding possible planned work involving existing gas easements on our properties. Many of us did not initially pay a great deal of attention since the rights of way are well known and we have come to expect a certain amount of maintenance and disruption from time to time. However it turns out this is a much more expansive project than was indicated by the letter.

Much to our dismay, during several outreach meetings held by the company, we discovered that Columbia Gas is in the early stages of Federal Energy Regulation Commission (FERC) approval for permanently doubling the width of the existing easement from 25 feet to 50 feet over the course of 21.3 miles from Owings Mills to Fallston in order to lay a new 26 inch diameter pipeline. This is a $150M extension as part of a massive multi-billion dollar interstate project to increase pipeline redundancy from the Gulf States to the Northeast. Their plan states that construction would disturb about 300 acres of land for this portion of the project. Preliminary work would start late fall 2012, with heavy construction running from late spring through October 2013. The proposed plan, which is in the pre-filing stage at the FERC can be found under Docket No. PF12-6-000 at www.ferc.gov.

A very useful summary can be found at the Federal Register including specific directions for how to file a comment or concern.  Please note that the filing period ends on May 16, 2012.

Impact to the Falls Road Corridor

The path of the pipeline goes directly through many private residential and public properties in the Falls Road community: from  Greenspring, across Falls Road just south of Ridge Road, through Oregon Ridge Park, and through Hayfields before continuing  Northeast toward Harford County.  Not only does Columbia Gas propose permanently doubling the size of the easements, but the following impacts are expected:

  • Temporary easements along most of the pipeline in addition to the new permanent easements in order to build temporary roads and stage and store construction equipment, with a total width of up to 125 feet during construction.
  • Possible blasting through granite in residential neighborhoods.
  • Dawn to dusk construction, 6 days per week.
  • Possible destruction of existing homes, septic systems, wells, pools, sheds, and other structures to make way for the pipeline.
  • Extensive clear cutting and destruction of mature trees on the temporary easements and new permanent easements.

Community Input

Given that this is an interstate project subject to federal regulations, Columbia Gas is required to go through a certain number of reviews before final approval is given by the FERC. The project is currently in the scoping stage, which formally ends on May 16, 2012. There will be two meetings held by FERC representatives soliciting community input on environmental concerns:

  • May 8, 2012 7:00 PM EDT, Oregon Ridge Lodge, 13401 Beaver Dam Rd, Cockeysville 21030
  • May 9, 2012 7:00 PM EDT, Youth’s Benefit Elementary School Cafeteria, 1901 Fallston Rd., Fallston 21047

Those interested should review the plan available online under Docket No. PF12-6-000 at www.ferc.gov, and plan to attend one of the meetings.  It is vitally import that the FERC sees community responsiveness first hand.

Consequences of Inaction

The likely consequences of a lack of community responsiveness to this project are long term and severe. If the FERC approves the project, then Columbia Gas will be granted eminent domain. Once that happens the community will have no recourse, and they will be able to condemn properties deemed uncooperative. We all have invested too much in maintaining the pristine nature of our local environment to stand by while the federal government and an out of state company plows through our countryside at will. Please show your support by attending one of the meetings above and contacting your local, state, and federal representatives to voice your concerns.

Take Action

If anyone would like more information on local opposition to the Columbia Gas pipeline expansion, please contact Rich Scheper at rascheper@comcast.net, 410-561-1290.

Online Resources

To search the FERC document database for this docket, including official documents from Columbia Gas, FERC, and public input:

  1. Go to the Documents and Filings general search page on the FERC site.
  2. Change the Date Range to be from 1/1/2012 to the current date.
  3. Enter the Docket Number: PF12-6
  4. Submit your search request.

To submit comments or concerns:

  1. Go to the Documents and Filings eComment page.
  2. Follow the process to create an account and file a comment.
  3. Your comment will be included in the official record.

 

Chestnut Ridge Country Club sold, CZMP rezoning in progress

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Background

For many years Chestnut Ridge Country Club (CRCC) has been a golf, tennis, and swimming club on 232 acres of the most beautiful land in Baltimore County.The Club is off Falls Road just south of Broadway, near the highest point of the entire Jones Falls watershed. Indeed, the property has 5 ponds and is drained by three unnamed tributaries that flow into Dipping Pond Run.

Between 1989 and 1993 the Club engaged in a pattern of illegal actions which caused catastrophic harm to the Run. Prior to the Club’s acts, MD DNR had identified the Run as boasting the last self- sustaining population of brook trout in the Jones Falls watershed. After a series of legal confrontations with the community, the Club’s behavior improved.

Club purchased by developer

Last year, the Club was unable to make payments on its considerable debt which was recently purchased by a company controlled by a developer, Armando Cignarale.

At the request of the Valleys Planning Council and the FRCA, Council member and now Chair Vicki Almond, representing the second councilmanic district, has raised the Club property as an issue in the County 2012 Comprehensive Zoning Map Process as issue 2-031. As a result, at the first Council meeting of September 2012 Councilmember Almond can, with the advice and consent of the other Council members, set the zoning of the Club property howsoever she desires.

Currently the property is zoned entirely RC5 (rural residential). Thus, under County law a developer would be permitted theoretically to build 155 houses. Because of the property is so extraordinarily environmentally sensitive with at least five ponds, three steams, numerous steep slopes and wetlands, it seems doubtful that the County would permit even close to that number of lots.

Impact to the community and environment

Imagine if there were even another 100 households added to our community. How long would it take to drive from the traffic light at Broadway/Padonia and Falls to the Beltway at 8 am on a weekday?  What might it be like to drive from that same intersection east on Padonia to York Road during the evening rush hour?

Consider the devastating impact to the streams, fish, and the rest of the environment from numerous construction sites exposing bare earth and dumping silt into the streams.  How much sediment will flow down those steep slopes and straight into Dipping Pond Run to the Jones Falls to the Harbor to the Bay?

Preserving the character of Chestnut Ridge

It is the position of many of the community residents and therefore, that of the FRCA, that changing the zoning designation to RC7 is necessary to maintain the existing character and livability of the community.  Details about the RC7 zoning classification can be found in the Citizens Guide to Planning and Zoning, in the Introduction, Rural Zones section.

What you can do

If the zoning of the property were to be changed to RC7 (resource preservation) in recognition of its extremely sensitive environment, the maximum number of lots permitted would be a fraction of those that will in fact be created if the property remains RC5 (rural residential).

To provide input regarding your community, to the one person who will be making this decision, Councilman Almond, please contact her at 410-887-3385 or council2@baltimorecountymd.gov.

Additionally, the FRCA will be pursuing its mission to monitor the progress of this issue and disseminate information to the residents of the community, enabling them to make their voices heard in matters that affect the quality of our lives in this part of Baltimore County.

Please attend our next meeting, the date and time of which will be posted in the near future.