Carroll planning board threatened with jail (judge rules vs their vote)

[Lori Price CLG]

Carroll planning board threatened with jail

Judge says panel must approve 254 townhouses

Despite a shortage of water and a petition signed by 600 residents, a judge has ordered the Carroll County (Maryland) zoning commission to reverse itself and immediately approve a 254-townhouse project in a badly congested region of the county.

The Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission must approve the Eldersburg project or its members -- including a county commissioner -- could be jailed for contempt, according to Carroll Circuit Judge Michael M. Galloway.

The planning commission denied the project last year, citing inadequate facilities in South Carroll, whose population has nearly tripled since 1980. Residents also submitted to the court a petition with more than 600 signatures opposing the project.

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Lori Price

[Mairead]

1. One wonders how much the developers paid for that decision (nt)

[blindpig]

2. Damned judicial activist. n/t

[happyslug]

3. I hate to blow your bubble, but sounds like anti-Low Income not pro-deve.

Townhouses implies lower priced homes compared to the Mc-Mansions being built. Many of these new suburbs do NOT want Townhouses for the taxes from the Town houses barely provide for the Services such town houses residents need. Such Suburbs like their Mc Mansions for the tax revenue from them exceed the cost of providing services (Police, Fire, School, water, Sewerage etc) to the people who buys the Mc Mansion. Given this dislike for "Cheap Housing", most suburbs use their Zoning Laws to keep out such "Cheap Housing". The most aggrieved group tend to be low income housing, but since most low income people have no money they rarely contest such exclusionary Zoning. On the other hand many people who can not afford a stand alone home can often afford a Townhouse in the same area. It is these people who has the money to buy the Townhouses and for whom these "Cheap Homes" are being built for.

The problem with the Suburbs is under the Federal Constitution Zoning to be constitutional must be for ALL CLASSES OF PEOPLE. Zoning is NOT to keep people out, but to better balance the various groups. It looks like this Suburb has allocated Water to other projects WHILE THIS PROJECT WAS IN THE WORKS. Now it is claiming no water, whose fault is that? (I give you a hint, it is the local Suburban Government NOT the developer).

The Courts have long ruled you must ZONE for everyone, not just the people you want in your community. That seems to be why the Judge Ordered this Suburb to permit this townhouse to go in. Now the Community could stop ALL DEVELOPMENT, if it wanted to. That would be legal but once they permitted ANY DEVELOPMENT, they would also have to permit this development.