Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens has approved permits for a 196,000- square-foot commercial and residential development within the Parole Growth Management Area, action that some residents say violates a promise she made to hold off on building permits until design standards for the area had been set.
The firm that is building the development - which includes two restaurants, two one-story office buildings, a three-story office building, a bank, and 28 townhouses - is MIE Industries, the president of which has been a steadfast adviser and generous supporter of Owens during the past four years.
Edward A. St. John and his wife, Kathleen M. St. John, contributed $4,600 to Owens' successful re-election bid.
County officials said yesterday that St. John received building permits for his Riva Road project at the end of October, within days of the Nov. 5 election.
His crews started work at the 28.6-acre site immediately. Early yesterday, men in bulldozers moved masses of soggy soil. Stacks of bricks stood near building footprints.
"My understanding was that they were going to try to hold back these permits until the design standards were set," John Fischer, co-chairman of the Parole Growth Management Area committee, said yesterday.
Fischer said his citizens' committee has not met since June, and that members have not heard back from the county regarding a draft document of design standards for the Parole Growth Management Area, a 1,600-acre swath of land that includes the MIE property, as well as shuttered Parole Plaza.
Council members must approve the standards - action which also hasn't occurred.
Owens, who criticized her GOP predecessor for accepting campaign contributions from developers, received about one-fourth of her campaign contributions during the past four years from developers or individuals with development ties.
Chris Swatta, a member of the Parole citizens' committee, which has been meeting off and on for a decade, said he wasn't surprised that the Owens administration, in his view, had backpedaled on a development project.
"I haven't even seen the MIE plans," said Swatta. "The committee asked for the plans and never got them. ... All I can say is that the county's Planning and Zoning Office is on Riva Road, and I hope they choke on the traffic."
Owens, a Democrat from Millersville, has supported other projects despite community opposition, such as the redevelopment of the former David Taylor Research Center near Annapolis.
St. John and county officials defended the decision.
"This was the toughest project I have ever done in my life," said St. John, who said getting the permits was a difficult and lengthy process.
"It was frustrating, there is no question about it," he said.
He dismissed any connection between his campaign contributions and the permits.
Land Use Officer Robert L. Walker said St. John went through the same channels as other builders. "The mere fact that someone may know someone in county government has no bearing," he said.
Matt Diehl, a spokesman for Owens, who was out of town yesterday and unavailable for comment, said she didn't break any promise.
He said a written statement released a year ago, when Owens vetoed legislation to set design standards, made clear her intentions regarding building permits.
Owens' November 2001 statement reads: "Any concern that building permits for the Parole Shopping Center will be issued before the final design standards are adopted can be put to rest. ... No building permits will be issued."
"In no way is the county executive going back on her word," said Diehl. "She has not approved any building permits at the shopping center. That is the commitment she made when she vetoed the design standards a year ago."
But committee members said they believed Owens was referring to the entire Parole Growth Management Area, including the MIE land, not just the 34-acre Parole Plaza.
"She is going to interpret what she wrote however she wants," Swatta said.
County officials decided long ago to spotlight the Parole area for economic revitalization. They never imagined that it would take more than a decade to launch the $250 million project, but politics, personalities and economic factors complicated matters.
In September last year, Owens signed a complex development agreement with Parole Plaza owner Carl Freedman of Cherry Hill, N.J. - action that upset council members who worried that the legal document would allow Freedman to skirt design standards.
A month later, Owens vetoed legislation to set design standards within the Parole Growth Management Area.
At the time, she said she did so because the committee had yet to finish its work. She said she was committed to the project and to making sure that it matched the vision set forth by the advisory committee.
Last month, the Owens administration was surprised to learn that Freedman was poised to sell the property to Jacoby Development Inc. of Atlanta. Sale of the property has not been finalized, as officials with Jacoby are still completing a thorough review of the property and the agreement previously signed by Freedman and Owens.
St. John said that construction extras, including higher-quality bricks, expensive upgrades to the storm water management system and a costly extension of Harry S. Truman Parkway, cost about $5 million.
While St. John said his relationship with the county executive didn't help him win permits, he said that it can prove helpful to know people in high places in county government.
As for contributions, he said, "The only thing I expect in return is if we feel that someone in one of the departments is being unreasonable, I expect to be able to walk into the office of one of the department heads and talk about my complaint." St. John said he did so "once every week."
Without the help of high-ranking county officials - including Planning Officer Denis D. Canavan - St. John estimated that the Riva Road project would have taken "10 more years" to complete. As it is, he expects to finish the project by autumn of 2004.