County planners and leaders from different municipalities will meet this afternoon to begin sorting through data that might help the Carroll commissioners revise their growth-control policies.

The meeting will not be open to the public or press, however, a fact that has raised the ire of county activists.

The gathering does not fall under state open meetings laws because no public body will be represented by a voting majority and no formal decisions will be made, said County Attorney Kimberly Millender.

But if the decision to keep the meeting closed doesn't violate the letter of the law, it violates the spirit, said commissioner candidate Neil Ridgely of Finksburg.

"This is just the sort of meeting that is of vital interest to tens of thousands of Carroll Countians," he said. "Parents, firefighters, teachers and anyone who has ever been stuck in traffic will be interested in how this problem is resolved. As every interested citizen obviously cannot attend the meeting, their eyes and ears in these matters are the press."

Others agreed.

"I don't know what law would demand that this meeting be closed," said Hampstead Town Manager Ken Decker, who will attend.

Staff meetings are never public and today's gathering is nothing more than a large-scale staff meeting, countered Planning Director Jeanne Joiner. "Any recommendation that comes out of the meeting will be presented to the commissioners in a public forum."

The commissioners have spent the past several months discussing possible revisions to laws that they agree have not sufficiently limited residential growth.

They and planning staffers have agreed that the county must create a more comprehensive database of planned growth. They hope the municipalities will help this effort.