The owner of a large wooded tract on Marley Neck wants to rezone the parcel for a planned townhouse development and has support from neighbors who say surrounding industries threaten their community.
Jane Pumphrey Nes envisions putting townhouses, single-family dwellings and some back-to-back units on 112.57 acres along Marley Neck Boulevard near Tanyard Cove Road.
Ms. Nes is a descendant of the Pumphreys whose history dates back to the 1600s in the county. At one time, the family owned most of Marley Neck Peninsula.
The property along Marley Neck, owned by Tanyard Springs Ltd., is now zoned for industrial use and abuts a tract of industrial land owned by Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. Ms. Nes wants the zoning for her property changed to high-density residential to create a buffer between the Solley community and BGE's fly ash landfill.
She also needs a variance to give her more time for the implementation and completion of a special exception and variance on the property, which would be called Tanyard Springs.
A zoning hearing scheduled for 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at the Arundel Center in Annapolis before Robert C. Wilcox, the county administrative hearing officer, has been postponed because of a challenge from BGE to the development.
Last July, the Coalition of Communities Against Fly Ash managed to get county legislation passed regulating the utility's operation, including noise levels near residences and a requirement for a 200-foot setback from residences.
The setback requirement would affect a large piece of BGE property next to the southwest side of Ms. Nes' proposed development, said Becki Kurdle, vice president for planning at BGE's subsidiary Constellation Real Estate Group.
Last night, Ms. Nes and the developer and builder of her property told 25 residents at a Solley Civic Association meeting that her attorney, Harry C. Blumenthal, would try to work out an agreement with the utility.
"What we are going to try and do is work out these differences so they can have the use of their property and I can have the use of mine," Ms. Nes said.
Some residents said they would prefer a lower-density project, but are supporting Ms. Nes because they fear such operations as BGE's fly ash operation and Browning-Ferris Industries' leaking hazardous-waste landfill may further encroach on their community, threatening property values.
"We want these houses built. Our community is diminishing all the time and we need new homes here and we need people for our churches," said Casper Hackmann, 72, who grew up in the community and is chairman of the board of the Solley Civic Association. "We [are having] a new school built here and if we don't get a development up we will probably have the whole perimeter around here filled with fly ash."
Mr. Hackmann lives about 225 feet across the road from BGE's fly ash operation. He is also a member of the Coalition of Communities and Citizens Against Fly Ash.
The developer for the Tanyard Springs project is Stephen Donnelly of The Circle Companies in Glen Burnie. The main builder is Regency Homes Corp. of Annapolis, whose president, Robert T. Kleinpaste, said another builder may join the project.
It could take about four years before actual building of the project would begin, Mr. Donnelly and Mr. Kleinpaste said. Ms. Nes said the high-density for the project would be necessary because the upfront costs on the project are enormous, approaching about $6 million.
A pump station could cost around $1.5 million.