Category Archives: Issues

General issues category

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 RC6 is necessary to maintain the existing character and livability of the community.  As stated in the Citizens Guide to Planning and Zoning, in the Introduction, Rural Zones section, 3% of the county is zoned RC6, as of 2006, which certainly provides considerable opportunities for developers to conduct their business in the locations in the county so designated for growth and development.

What you can do

If the zoning of the property were to be changed to RC6 (rural conservation and residential) 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.

Forest Restoration at Oregon Ridge Park

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The FRCA understands that the County will be cutting down a limited number of trees within the western boundary of the Oregon Ridge Park.

A few months ago, Don Outen of DEPS spoke at the Oregon Ridge Nature Center in connection with the development of a Small Watershed Action Plan for the watershed that includes the Park. In a dynamic and enlightening presentation, Mr Outen explained that more than a 100 years ago, before there was a Park, the area was completely logged. As a result, the succeeding generation of trees started growing more or less simultaneously and are now approaching maturity.

A detailed study of the forest system at Oregon Ridge has revealed that the trees are greatly overcrowded in places and, with additional pressure from deer, are not regenerating. As a result, the forest is under stress and will be subject to waves of mortality, such as the recent loss of 18 acres due to a Gypsy moth infestation. The existing oak-dominated forest is an important resource for habitat and water quality, but without regeneration the forest will continue to decline.

A small 25 acre area of the 895 acre Park will be thinned just enough to stimulate regeneration of oak. Many of the trees to be removed are not healthy, and it is hoped that their removal will allow the continued growth of older high-quality trees as well as the growth of seedlings for the future.

CZMP: Hunt Valley Presbyterian Church seeks change in zoning

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Hunt Valley Presbyterian Church at 13015 Beaver Dam Road, Hunt Valley, MD 21030  has filed an issue to downzone its property from RC-4 to RC-3.  The church’s request is designated as issue 3-038 in the 3rd councilmanic district in the 2012 CZMP.

The church has informed its neighbors, via a letter, of its plan for growth.  Community members who attended the meeting with church representatives informed the FRCA of the church’s intention to double the size of the building on the 26.57 acre church property, potentially adding 15,000 square feet and additional parking.

Some neighbors have contacted the FRCA and expressed their concerns with the church’s plans to expand, recalling the original conflict with the community when the church was constructed in 1998.

 

Chestnut Ridge / Sater’s Lane Baptist Church

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In January the FRCA was notified of proposed changes at the Chestnut Ridge Baptist Church on Saters’s Lane, north of Maryvale. Specifically, Baptist Family and Children’s Services Inc, a non profit entity, wants to buy the Baptist Church built in 1995 on Saters’s Lane and use its office space, while the congregation continued to meet in the sanctuary.

The proposal seemed innocuous enough, but would require a special exception. To obtain a special exception a landowner must file a Petition with the County and have a hearing before the County Zoning Officer. After reviewing the matter, FRCA Director Dan Meenan suggested questions about the proposed use; and the answers were alarming, e.g., the proposed use would have 14 full-time and 2 half-time employees.

So, the FRCA Board decided to notify nearby residents. The hearing was set for April 24. The FRCA sent out its notice about April 16. Within days, substantial community opposition emerged, including Bob Chertkof, President of the Clearings Community Association; the community met and decided to hire counsel. By April 21, Azrael Franz, Esquire, had been retained, and Dan Meenan had sent another notice to the community stating additional information he had discovered.

On April 24th, W. Franz and about 20 local residents appeared at the hearing which went well for the community as testimony revealed that the Church congregation is small and barely surviving financially, while Baptist Family is large and currently operates from its headquarters in Columbia, NM, for which it pays rent of $175,000/year. Robert H. Gerstmyer, Executive Director of Baptist Family, testified that it wants to relocate from Columbia to Saters Lane. Mr. Gerstmyer is also a member of the Chestnut Ridge Baptist Church and would soon be its new part-time pastor, as the current full-time pastor is resigning due to the diminishing congregation.

On May 20, the County Hearing Officer issued his Opinion in which he found that Baptist Family is a charitable organization and not a religious entity. Thus, if the property were transferred to Baptist Family, the property would cease to be owned by a religious institution; and therein was the “fatal flaw to the Petitioners’ special hearing request.”

Specifically, the Hearing Officer found that the Development Plan now in force mandates that the church building is to be used for church services and church-related activities by church members and guests [which restriction] was specifically negotiated and placed on the Development Plan by the residents and neighbors … in 1994 [because they] were very concerned at that time that the church property would be utilized by some other business entity ….

In essence, [if the Petition were granted,] the subject property would be converted into an office building with a subsidiary lease to the … Church to hold services on Sundays for a small number of its members. This property is zoned RC 5 and such a transition to office use is not permitted within that zone. For these reasons, the Petitioners’ special hearing request must be denied.

Baptist Family has not, however, abandoned its quest, and the community is in negotiations with its counsel.

The FRCA will keep you posted.

Maryvale Appeals

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Maryvale exists on a narrow ridge between steep slopes and stream valleys. In 1994-95 the Catholic sisters who owned the school subdivided the property, sold the useable acreage for development and profit, and, in order to get County permission to do so, promised to cap the school’s enrollment at 300 students. But Maryvale soon expanded to almost 400 students and a few years ago began an aggressive building campaign. Its construction should have been constrained by County land use laws, but County Zoning authorities brushed those laws aside to grant Maryvale permission to do everything and anything it requested. The FRCA appealed those decisions to the Circuit Court, which affirmed some outright and remanded others to the County to pass the time and allow it to offer new rationales for its irrational rulings. So, the FRCA has appealed the Circuit Court Rulings. In the meantime, well aware of its special status under law, Maryvale’s construction is underway along with the unavoidable environmental destruction caused by heavy construction on steep slopes above stream valleys.