After months of discussing ways to stem residential growth in the county, the Carroll commissioners moved forward yesterday on a proposal that would bar new applications to build subdivisions of more than three houses until 2009.

The commissioners asked county planners to research the effect of such a policy and return with a formal proposal, which would be subject to at least one public hearing before a vote.

Commissioners Julia Walsh Gouge and Donald I. Dell said the proposal would be the quickest way to reach the county's goal of limiting residential growth to 1,000 new building permits per year.

Gouge emphasized that the proposal would slow, not halt, development. "This is not a moratorium," she said. "We're still allowing building."

The proposal would have no effect on development within the county's eight municipalities or on subdivisions of three homes or fewer. The proposal also would not stop construction of homes in subdivisions that have been approved in the county. County planners say 2,025 such homes are in the pipeline for completion by 2007.

Gouge and Dell supported the idea over the objections of staff members. The commissioners might encounter fewer objections by accepting at least a small number of new subdivision plans every year, said Ralph Green, director of permits, inspections and review.

Green suggested allowing 100 new homes a year. "I think you'd still be sending a very strong message that you want to control growth," he said. "But allowing zero plans, in the staff's opinion, just won't work."

Green noted that much of northern Carroll is not crowded and perhaps shouldn't be restricted by laws designed to keep growth in South Carroll from overwhelming basic services such as schools, sewer and water.

Commissioner Robin Bartlett Frazier also said she was uncomfortable cutting off all new proposals.

The commissioners have spent the past several months weighing proposals from the planning staff to fix a growth policy that they acknowledge has not accomplished its original goals. The county set a goal in 1997 of limiting residential growth to 6,000 new building permits in six years. But staff projections show the number will be closer to 7,000 by the end of fiscal 2003.

One problem, county planners have said, is that the 6,000-permit ceiling was passed as a guideline, not a hard limit. County staffers also have struggled to account for residential growth in the municipalities and among subdivisions of three or fewer homes. With such data missing, they've never had a complete picture of growth around the county.

The commissioners say they're intent on toughening laws and filling information gaps, but they disagree on methods. Still, they voted yesterday for two changes that might slow the growth of individual subdivisions.

The commissioners said that individual subdivisions should be limited to 25 building permits a year instead of the current 50, and subdivisions in areas particularly strained by growth should be limited to 15 building permits a year instead of the current 25.