As part of a move to increase security, parking meters will be removed from directly in front of the Carroll County Courthouse Annex this week, and Westminster city workers plan to remove a stand of pine trees behind the building.

Circuit Judge Raymond E. Beck Sr., Carroll's administrative judge, asked the city for the changes in a letter to the mayor and council dated Feb. 18. He noted plans for a new Maryland District Court building that will increase the size of the court complex in the area of Willis, Court and Ralph streets, and Greenwood Avenue.

Parking also will be eliminated on a one-way alley beside the annex, except one spot for a county maintenance vehicle, said Thomas B. Beyard, Westminster's director of planning and public works.

"The request was really three-fold, and security was the overriding issue for these changes," he said. "The first thing was to remove the meters directly in front of the courthouse -- about eight or nine -- and to replace them with 'No Stopping or Standing' signs."

Vehicles will be towed during business hours.

The few alley spaces to be eliminated beside the building were used by the county Board of Education before it moved, Beyard said. The alley now will have a "No Parking, Stopping or Standing" sign and will be designated as a tow-away zone.

"Any loss of parking is bad," said Larry W. Shipley, the clerk of the Circuit Court, "but better security for the courthouse is great,"

The third request was to remove the row of pine trees between the rear of the annex building and an unmetered parking lot, which "were going to come down anyway," said Beyard. The Westminster Common Council approved the changes on March 8.

A new court building in the 100 block of N. Court St. is expected to be finished in two years. The District Court, along with the parole and probation and the public defender's offices, will move from the annex's first floor to the new building.

Pub Date: 3/22/99