Fredericks

Futureat Stake!
An Important Message from Stand Up Frederick
Written by Kai Hagen of Envision Frederick

2012

IMPORTANT: Upcoming public hearings on massive zoning changes (your participation matters!)
by Envision Frederick County on Wednesday, January 4, 2012 at 4:05pm The Frederick County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) is currently considering massive zoning changes that would at the very least reverse smart growth zoning decisions made by the prior BOCC in 2010 (after an extremely thorough two and a half year public process). The proposed rezoning of 193 Frederick County properties (mostly farms and forest) could lead to: 17,000 more homes (beyond the current pipeline, which addresses population projections) increased sprawl increased traffic congestion loss of thousands of acres of prime farmland higher taxes to construct public infrastructure and provide services Some of the commissioner feel they are fulfilling a campaign promise with these changes. But that can't justify rushing through a process designed to barely meet minimal legal requirements rather than to reasonably evaluate the costs and other impacts on the residents and taxpayers of our county. What's happening is not only the opposite or good process and proper planning, it's an big and aggressive step toward exactly the sort of expensive and environmentally-irresponsible sprawl that's contrary to everything from changing demographic and market trends to state policy and funding support for critical infrastructure. The approval of many or most of these requests would be yet another in an already long list of gifts to developers, at the expense of the rest of us,, especially when you consider that the county already has enough land zoned for development to meet or exceed the population projects for the next twenty years. The BOCC will make their decisions following hearings to be held in January (see below). It is important to stand up and speak out in opposition to this inadequate and cursory process, and to the rezoning of thousands of acres of land currently zoned for agriculture or resource conservation. Board of County Commissioners Public Hearings All of the hearings will be held in Winchester Hall, 1st Floor Hearing Room, starting at 6:00 pm. Speaker sign-up sheets will be available at 5:00 pm for each hearing. There will be separate speaker sign-up sheets for each planning region. Each speaker, whether it is an applicant or individual citizen, will be allowed 5 minutes. Tuesday, January 10 - Adamstown, Brunswick, Frederick regions

Wednesday, January 18 - Urbana region Tuesday, January 24 - Middletown, Thurmont, Walkersville regions Tuesday, January 31 - New Market region Wednesday, February 1 - snow date Click the links in the first comment below to see maps showing all the requests for zoning changes!

Written by Kai Hagen of Envision Frederick Shared with permission by Valerie Dale of Stand Up Frederick January 9, 2012