When Howard County officials rezoned 820 acres in rural Fulton last year to allow a mix of houses, apartments, shops and businesses, opponents decried the change as surrendering to developers.
But at least one property owner in Fulton is rejecting the new and untested zoning category and instead wants separate zoning for his property. That could lead to the piecemeal approach to development that the county has been seeking to avoid.
County planners are reviewing the first set of plans for part of the planned mixed-use area in the west county -- plans that ignore the mixed-use concept and call for further rezoning to allow a dense subdivision of 94 detached houses on 31 acres.
The owner of that segment, Willard Marlow of Comus, decided not to develop the land using the mixed-use concept because of the relatively small size of his parcel and the difficulty of coordinating a larger project with adjacent property owners, said his zoning attorney, Thomas M. Meachum.
"It's very difficult to get owners to all agree to one large plan, especially when some of the owners might not be ready to change the use on their property," Mr. Meachum said.
Currently, the largest owner of the Fulton mixed-use site, Maple Lawn Farms Inc., has not announced any plans to develop its property, about 650 acres west of Mr. Marlow's land.
"I'm anxious to see how [the county Department of Planning & Zoning] reacts to this," said Peter J. Oswald, a Fulton resident who fought the creation of the mixed-use area during the county's comprehensive rezoning process in 1992 and 1993.
Opponents of the Fulton mixed-use area were instrumental in getting Question B -- a charter change subjecting zoning policies to popular vote -- passed by voters in November.
Currently, the entire 820-acre area has dual zoning: an underlying rural residential zoning, which allows only one home per 4 1/4 acres, and an "overlay" zoning of mixed-use. The mixed-use designation can only be used after the Zoning Board approves a development plan for a property.
Mr. Marlow is asking the county Zoning Board, which is made up of the five members of the County Council, to change his underlying zoning to let homes be clustered on small lots. That would let a builder buy the property and build 94 homes and
ignore the mixed-use designation.
Individual property owners developing smaller parcels independently and contributing to suburban sprawl is precisely the approach that the mixed-use zoning was created to discourage, said Joseph W. Rutter Jr., county director of planning and zoning.
"They can do their own separate things, but [in conformity] with the underlying zoning," said Mr. Rutter.
Mr. Rutter said he did not want to comment on the Marlow case before his department makes a recommendation on the rezoning petition.
That recommendation will go to the county Planning Board, which will hold hearings before making its own recommendation. The Zoning Board then will hold additional hearings and decide whether to grant the rezoning.
The process could take several months.