Carroll County's outgoing board of commissioners -- Elmer C. Lippy, Julia W. Gouge and Donald I. Dell -- never articulated a clear and understandable land use policy. While they spoke about preserving the county's rural qualities, many of their actions accelerated residential development and degraded agricultural and conservation-zoned land. It is, therefore, ironic that in its last official act, this board last week staked out a clear position on zoning.
By unanimously rejecting a request that would have more than doubled the number of houses built on Belt Farm in South Carroll, the board affirmed the wisdom of Carroll's master plan. The developer's complaint that county requirements to hook the subdivision into the public water and sewer system made the original zoning uneconomical didn't sway the board. Instead, the commissioners stuck to the position that the plan's original designation for that parcel was appropriate.
Carroll Developers, the contractors for the proposed subdivision, hoped to sway the commissioners with two arguments: The water and sewer requirements had been changed, and the price of the county requirements was substantial. Originally, Carroll Developers was going to build 90 houses on three-acre lots that would have their own water and septic systems. In 1992, the county included the proposed subdivision in its five-year water and sewer plan, requiring all the new houses to connect to these systems. Moreover, the county wanted the lines extended to an elementary school proposed to be built nearby. Developers said these requirements would add $2.5 million in costs that they could not recoup unless they could build 240 houses.
Even though Mrs. Gouge and Mr. Dell did not think prospective homeowners should be forced to connect to the sewer and water systems as state regulations require, they voted against the rezoning request. It is encouraging that the developers' financial return was not a consideration in their deliberations.
The new board of commissioners that took office yesterday -- W. Benjamin Brown, Richard T. Yates and Mr. Dell -- will have to make similar decisions on land use. If they keep their focus on controlling residential development and maintaining Carroll's rural lifestyle, they will arrive at the same conclusion that this board finally did.