Carroll County, Maryland Government Offices in Westminster

Every meeting counts. Thursday morning, July 6, beginning at 10 AM in Room 311 of the Carroll County office building at 225 North Center St. in Westminster, the Board of Commissioners will receive a briefing on a zoning “text amendment” affecting B-NR zoned properties and their neighborhoods around the County.

• Without any impact analysis…

• In advance of a new Comprehensive Plan that hasn’t been approved…

• Based on a limited study funded by the owner of one of these properties…

• Without regard for the effects on people living nearby…

…the Board of Commissioners is being asked to increase maximum store sizes on hundreds of B-NR properties countywide fivefold from 10,000 SF to 50,000 SF – large enough to accommodate “big box stores.”

It’s a change that will dramatically increase the values of many B-NR properties around the county. More to the point, it will make millions of dollars for the one B-NR property owner whose attorneys asked the County for the text amendment.

This one owner will make millions at the expense of neighborhood residents who have collectively invested much more in their properties than he has in his.

And why is the County considering doing all this?  To allow the owner of 1503 Liberty Road in Eldersburg to make millions of dollars on this one property.  And it all starts with the sale of 4.7 acres to a grocery store chain that’s going to build a seventh full-size grocery store that the community of Eldersburg doesn’t need, doesn’t want and – according to an independent market study – can’t afford to support.

So what do you think? To let us know, all you need to do is leave a comment below.

Please tell your neighbors and do your best to attend Thursday’s meeting of the Board of Commissioners in Westminster.

Thanks!