Harford County Executive Barry Glassman and his top planning aides say they want county residents to take a broad look at a new comprehensive master plan for the county's future and not concentrate solely on three, what they call, relatively minor alterations proposed for the county's designated growth area, known as the development envelope.
Glassman submitted his final version of a new master plan to the County Council Tuesday night. It still calls for expanded development opportunities in Fallston, Forest Hill and the Creswell area southeast of Bel Air.
The 176-page plan, which Glassman is calling "HarfordNext – A Master Plan for the Next Generation," takes a comprehensive approach to community needs such as recreation, sustainability, economic growth, environmental stewardship, agricultural and historic preservation, public health, transportation and technological connectivity, all aspects the county executive says he hopes residents will pay attention to when they consider the plan.
"Our ultimate goal is to maintain and enhance Harford County's quality of life. HarfordNext represents a bold and imaginative vision that will make our community stronger and prosperous for generations," Glassman wrote in a letter to citizens as the first page to plan's introduction.
HarfordNext has been introduced to the County Council as Bill 16-016. A public hearing will be held June 7 beginning at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at 210 S. Bond, St., in Bel Air.
Starting Wednesday, the full final plan, as well as a series of changes made from the original draft, can be viewed at www.harfordcountymd.gov/660/HarfordNEXT.
A community planning component, which divides the county into seven community planning areas, has been drawing the most interest since a first draft of the plan was released in January and made available for residents to post comments online.
Within individual communities there are some general areas noted for future study for potential residential or other growth, including utilities, what Glassman described in a briefing with The Aegis Tuesday afternoon "as a 30,000-square-foot flyover," one he said he hopes will continue to stimulate public discussion and to provide the county with flexibility to respond to market forces.
He and Planning Director Bradley Killian said these study areas will be one of the keys to the plan's success going forward, because while the county can't afford to sit still, it must "grow with a purpose,' which is one of HarfordNext's over-arching themes.
Regional 'competition'
Glassman said there has been some "pushback" from the public since a draft of HarfordNext was released in early February because the plan doesn't strictly constrain future growth, either inside or outside the development envelope, but he added: "Doing nothing is not an option. We have to look at the envelope; we have to offer a better product, not be cheaper."
"We are in competition with other suburban counties," Killian said. "We need to be a quality place where people want to live to attract jobs and economic growth."
Planners have calculated there already are an estimated 21,500 housing units that could conceivably be built based on zoning and preliminary plans. Glassman proposed what he says was a modest, but necessary, expansion of the boundaries of the 55,000-acre development envelope, a designated growth area that for more than three decades has paralleled the Route 24 corridor from Forest Hill to Bel Air to Edgewood and the Route 40 corridor from Joppatowne to Aberdeen to Havre de Grace.
Critics, however, say Glassman's proposals to extend the envelope boundary to the northwest quadrant of the Route 23/24 intersection at Forest Hill, the southwest quadrant of the Route 152/147 intersection in Fallston and to a property on the west side of Route 136 south of Cedar Lane Regional Park are tantamount to falling dominoes that would lead to further pressures from developers to extend those limits farther in the future.
For each change proposed by HarfordNext, the affected areas would be eligible for the extension of water and sewer services and for potential higher intensity zoning changes under a countywide comprehensive zoning review that will follow next year, once the new master plan is enacted.
Glassman said the envelope extensions cover about 150 acres, zoned either agricultural or low intensity residential, less than .3 percent. He said the Fallston and Creswell changes are driven mainly by environmental concerns: both areas have private septic system problems.
"The myopic focus on such a small part is unfortunate," said Killian, who added the plan has many more future implications for public works, roads, schools, libraries and parks.
Community fight
The Fallston extension has already provoked a community fight. Opponents have organized a petition drive against the change and although their leaders met with Glassman last week, he did not alter the final plan.
In response to the protest, the principal landowner affected, Fallston-based developer Michael Euler Sr., filed a lawsuit last Wednesday against the two Fallston women behind the petition, Beth Poggioli and Stephanie Flasch, on the grounds it makes false allegations about his intentions. Summons have been issued for the defendants; however, no hearing dates have been set, according to online court records as of Tuesday afternoon.
Regardless of those proposed envelope expansions, the other changes could be made after HarfordNext is approved, anyway. Under state law, counties have to update their master land use plans at least every 10 years, but Killian noted they can amend them at any time.
Glassman cautioned, however, that any such changes will be contingent on the very factors HarfordNext has been set up to promote public dialogue about, such as adequate roads, water supply, recreational facilities and environmental protection.
"Our goal has been to get folks to show up on both sides of the issue," Glassman said, and based on his own assessment Tuesday, he appears to be succeeding.
"The no-growth group sees it [the plan] as too visionary, as very progressive; the development industry thinks it's too conservative," he said. "I want everyone to think of it as where we need to go."