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Politics & Government

Broadneck Leaders Criticize Comprehensive Rezoning Process

The county's Charter Review Committee met Monday to hear from the public.

Leaders from two Broadneck-area councils called for reform in the comprehensive rezoning process during a county Charter Review Committee meeting Monday.

The committee has been meeting regularly for nearly a year, but has only held a handful of public hearings. Less than a dozen residents testified Monday, but among them were two leaders in Broadneck-area citizens groups, including the Arnold Preservation Council and the Broadneck Council of Communities.

At the outset of the meeting, committee chairwoman Jana Carey outlined what they had been charged to review by the Anne Arundel County Council. The list included 14 items, ranging from “review the efficacy and timing of the comprehensive rezoning process” to “evaluate the removal of line-item veto authority of the county executive,” and to “evaluate alternative processes for filling vacancies on the County Council.”

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But they are also open to newer ideas from the public. That’s what Monday's hearing was part of, Carey said.

Pat Lynch, the president of the Broadneck Council of Communities, said better notification was needed for the county's decennial comprehensive rezoning process. She said many residents missed out on opposing rezoning proposals because they found out either too late, or not at all.

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Lynch hosted a town hall meeting with 5th District County Councilman Dick Ladd to publicize the rezoning proposals in August.

“We do not understand how anything as important as rezoning could be allowed to come into county government when neighborhoods were not notified,” Lynch said.  “We had a huge roomful of very angry people who came in and accosted Dick.”

Lynch said she wanted to see the process repeated every five years instead of every 10.

“Having it every 10 years has been an exhausting experience for many of us,” Lynch said.

The county’s Office of Planning and Zoning staff must review each and every application for rezoning during this process, and cramming 10 years’ worth of work into a few short months is inefficient, Lynch argued.

Committee member Joshua Greene asked Lynch how she felt about the idea of a regional County Planning Commission, which would oversee planning issues alongside the county’s Office of Planning and Zoning. These members could be appointed regionally, and have their hands on the pulse of planning in each community.

“What would you think about a commission with a regional community basis? For instance a Broadneck Planning Commission,” Greene said.

Lynch said she would be in favor of it. 

Ann Fligsten, a former president of the Arnold Preservation Council, who now heads up the Growth Action Network, argued in favor of the county executive retaining line-item veto power. Fligsten said it kept the balance of power in county government in check.

County Executive John Leopold vetoed items in all three portions of this year’s comprehensive rezoning bill. But the number of vetoes grew fewer with each iteration of the bill. Fligsten said this was evidence of a learning process by several of the newer councilmen.

“I think having the line-item veto in this case really did help out, and I would argue that it should stay,” she said. “For the comprehensive rezoning process, it gave another opportunity to step back and think, ‘Do we really want to do this?’”

The Charter Review Committee is scheduled to meet again at 7 p.m. Feb. 27 in County Council chambers.

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