The parameters for a new high-density zoning district in Howard County should be flexible enough to accommodate buildings longer than 300 feet, the Howard County Planning Board decided Thursday.
The recommendation would expand the possibilities for residential developments built in the R-APT district, a category created by the County Council during the most recent comprehensive zoning process, in the summer of 2013. Apartments built in the district can have densities of up to 35 units per acre.
The zoning change was requested by Michael Buch, who hopes to build luxury apartments on the west side of Route 29, between the Cherry Tree Shopping Center and the east side of the Maple Lawn community in Fulton.
In a petition to the county's Department of Planning and Zoning, Buch's attorney says the developer ran into a dead-end while trying to design a structured parking garage for the planned apartment complex.
"It is 'nearly impossible' to do this with a maximum building length of 300 feet," according to the petition.
Current zoning law for the R-APT district limits building length to 120 feet, but permits the planning and zoning director to approve building lengths of up to 300 feet in special cases.
Thursday's recommendation from the Planning Board would eliminate the maximum length restriction, with the suggestion that any building exceeding 300 feet in length has to be mitigated for visual impact.The board also suggested the council take a fresh look at the regulation during the next comprehensive zoning process.
Currently, there are only two properties zoned R-APT in the county; the second site is on the north side of Route 108, to the northeast of the intersection with Columbia Road, according to a technical staff report.
The council's goal in creating the higher-density zone was to "establish certain sites adjoining arterial highways and in appropriate transitional locations... to allow an opportunity for higher density residential development that would help support nearby retail and service uses," the report says.
In order for the change to become part of zoning law, it will have to be approved by the County Council.
Planning Board members also voted Thursday to approve a preliminary sketch plan for The Preserve at River Hill, an eight-house subdivision in Clarksville.