County Council keeps Creswell 'study area' in HarfordNEXT after Glassman offers clarification

The Harford County Council agreed Tuesday night to keep the controversial Creswell &quot;study area&quot; in the HarfordNEXT master plan, after County Executive Barry Glassman clarified the study area's purpose and defended it as protection against development.The council also ended up expanding the development envelope by another 28 acres Tuesday, as they reviewed 50 amendments to the master plan and approved many of them. That would mean the county's development envelope would grow by 0.36 percent instead of 0.31 percent, county Director of Administration Billy Boniface said.The council did not, however, vote on the amended HarfordNEXT plan Tuesday, which means the changes are still not official.During a hearing last week, many residents and farming families like the Dallams took issue with the proposed study area, calling it a ruse to allow more development. Those protests only encouraged Glassman to pursue a study of the area, Boniface told the council Tuesday.Glassman's administration submitted an amendment clarifying that a study will be initiated in the area east of the development envelope, between Route 1 and I-95, that will include a comprehensive analysis of the facilities needed to serve it and highlight that &quot;the desired outcome is a landscape that conforms to the rural character of Harford County.&quot;&quot;It is essential that the county maintains the public commitment and investment in the agricultural, environmental, and historic easements within the study area. To that end, the study area will identify strategies for preserving the agricultural, environmental, and historic heritage of the area to ensure the quality of our cultural and natural resources are maintained and explore innovative mechanisms to preserve additional resources as an instrument to minimize future demand for public services and to protect the economic and practical viability of farming,&quot; the amendment reads.The amendments were not made available to the public until after they were approved late Tuesday.Boniface told the council that after last week's hearing, &quot;the county executive sat down and worked with the Department of Planning and Zoning director to help further clarify the purpose of the study area and emphasize the importance of moving forward.&quot;&quot;We feel very comfortable that this helps clarify what the intent of the study area is,&quot; Boniface added. &quot;The county executive is a strong proponent of agriculture.&quot;After some residents claimed that some landowners pulled their applications for Harford County's agricultural preservation program after they heard about the study area, Boniface said he looked into it and found out no applications had been retracted.The county has had discussions for decades with farmers outside the development envelope, &quot;and none of them have ever really considered coming in, for various reasons, but we continue to reach out to these people to try to get them into land preservation,&quot; Boniface said.Councilman Chad Shrodes, who introduced a number of amendments along with other council members, praised Boniface and Glassman for their work on clarifying the study area would emphasize agriculture.Shrodes said he had considered removing the study area, but &quot;I really like this amendment.&quot; The council approved it unanimously.Joppa changesThe council also approved amendments proposed by Councilman Mike Perrone to encourage bike-friendly and pedestrian-friendly crossing at the Route 40 bridge over Gunpowder Falls and promote a youth and senior center for the Joppa area.The council, however, voted down Perrone's request to change areas in Joppa zoned for medium density to low density, which are mostly based along the stretch of Joppa Farm Road and an area just east of Route 40, between Joppa and Joppa Farm roads.Perrone said he supports HarfordNEXT's emphasis on mixed-use development and form-based zoning, which focuses more on the appearance of development and tends to be more pedestrian-friendly, but he worried about rushing to pave the area and creating a situation where &quot;Joppa may end up getting stuck with plain old townhouses.&quot; He said he hoped to wait until the county could attract the &quot;neo-urban, streetscape&quot; development it wants for much of the Route 40 corridor, so the area could have commercial or retail development first.Councilman Pat Vincenti introduced amendments adding the Route 543 corridor as an area to be studied for improving traffic along with Route 22 and partner with the state to develop a comprehensive traffic plan to alleviate congestion with special emphasis on the Route 22 and Route 543 areas. Those amendments were approved.Councilman Jim McMahan offered to change about 98 acres in the Route 22 area, just west of Harford Community College and roughly between Prospect Mill Road and Route 543, from being designated for low-intensity development to agricultural use only.He said without studying the Route 543 and 22 areas, &quot;it's a bump-out&quot; of the development envelope. That change was also approved by the council.Councilman Joe Woods pushed for a chance to revitalize the area of Fallston Mall by specifying 1.87 acres northeast of the Route 1 and Route 152 intersection as sites of future growth.Councilman Chad Shrodes introduced an amendment to provide all residents with high-speed Internet and communication infrastructure, which he said has been a top concern for his constituents in northern Harford County.Both Woods' and Shrodes' amendments were passed.Shrodes also introduced an amendment to offer incentives to county teachers, first responders and members of the military to buy homes in the Route 40 corridor, which everyone but Perrone supported.Perrone said he thinks teachers or first responders would prefer raises or other forms of compensation, but Shrodes said that may be less realistic.&quot;I think it's small incentives, perks like this, that really make a difference,&quot; Shrodes said.Shrodes also supported changing several areas designated for high-intensity development in greater Bel Air to medium intensity instead. Those areas are primarily around the Forest Hill Airpark, just east of Route 24.That amendment was narrowly passed by the council.Shrodes said the owners of the affected properties in Forest Hill are on board with the change.Another amendment by Shrodes, to only implement tax-increment financing as an incentive for redevelopment, was voted down by the council.An amendment by Woods discouraging development in the Fallston area until the adequate public facility and the sanitation subdistrict sewer capacity studies have been reviewed was approved by the council.

County Council keeps Creswell 'study area' in HarfordNEXT after Glassman offers clarification

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