The Harford County Council on Tuesday made its first attempt at blocking the move of Wal-Mart from Abingdon to a Plumtree Road site, passing a resolution urging the State Highway Administration to deny a key point of access to the prospective site.
The Council in a 5-2 vote passed the non-binding resolution calling on the SHA to deny access from Route 924 to the Plumtree Road location. Council members Dick Slutzky and Mary Ann Lisanti voted against the measure.
Debate over the resolution was “spirited,” according to Slutzky, who said the move would set a bad precedent of council involvement to retroactively affect what he called a zoning issue. Full discussion by the Council can be found here.
Wal-Mart plans three access points to the prospective Plumtree Supercenter: one from Blue Spruce Rd, one from Plumtree Rd, and a main entrance at Bright Oaks Drive and Route 924. The council’s resolution seeks to prevent the latter access point.
A review by SHA is part of the development process, which moved forward last month with the submittal of a traffic study conducted on the area. A meeting of the county’s Development Advisory Committee is planned for Oct. 17 at 9 a.m. in the council chambers at 212 S. Bond St. The DAC meeting was moved to the chambers from its usual location to accommodate a large expected public turnout.
Slutzky said he and other council members received a petition in their mailboxes including approximately 1,200 signatures supporting the new Wal-Mart, with no indication of its origin. Slutzky said he looked through the signature lines, some of which were not complete, and some showed addresses outside of Harford County.
The full resolution follows:
At least two of the members of the County Council did the right thing. The other five are showing that Harford County is not business friendly.
So Lisanti, what is your agenda? What office are you running for now? Why do you always run your mouth and talk just to talk?
People of District F; people that attend the Abingdon Community Council meetings; and the people of the southern end of Harford County that may consider voting for this Obama/O’Malley socialist; spend-it-all we’ll tax more; EMPTY SEAT on the Harford County Council watch her, hear what empty words she speaks then thin about how you will vote next time. Take the time to look at her socialist voting record. Look at her attendance at local events. See how many time she has been to the Abingdon Community Council Meetings (2 times in 2 years). Ask her why the Walmart people knew all about the resolution in advance and had a letter the same day at the council office in opposition to the resolution as stated at the meeting. You should also take time to look at her campaign finance report at https://campaignfinancemd.us use the campaign name: Lisanti, Mary Ann Friends Of. Look how many time big developers show up on her account. It is astonishing compared to the others. Also I think it is time to look at each council member’s expense reports. Years past, Ms. Lisanti has always been the highest of all the Council Members. Has anyone seen this year’s Ocean City trip to MACO report yet?
Lisanti, maybe if you showed up to an Abingdon Community Council Meeting once in a while you would know how your community feels and maybe you would support the members of your community for once instead of your own agenda.
Maybe wall-mart knew of the resolution because they looked at the agenda for the meeting which is public knowledge in advance. Second I live in Abingdon. The Abingdon Community Council does not speak for all members of the Abingdon Community. I would be happy to see Wal-Mart move and expand into Bel Air. Third it is the hieght of Unamericanism to have government tell a private landowner they can not develop their own land in accordance with the zoning code. If you didn’t want a Wal-Mart you should not have let it been zoned B-3. The only reason that was done because the same people didn’t want Section 8 Apartments built there!
Why would anyone think there is a need for another superstore anywhere on Rt 24 or Rt 924. With a BJ’s, Walmart and Target in Constant Friendship and a Target at 24 and Rt 1. Lets not forget the Super Walmarts’ in Fallston and Aberdeen. This is ridiculous; all of these super stores hurt the small stores within neighboring shopping centers. And, why anyone who owns property in Abingdon would want Walmart to move to Bel Air is even more questionable to me. All that will result in is a vacant store front, an eye sore, in an other wise beautiful community. Thankfully Gavigans bought CMart, that place made that part of Forest Hill look horrible for years. It’s not about Abingdon vs Bel Air locations, it’s about construction and vacancies…there are a lot of vacant store fronts just look around people. I’m all for growth when it benefits the community but this doesn’t, at all.
Couldn’t agree more – when is saturation? Good lord we’re drowning in retail and of recent times building nothing but faceless, sameness subdivisions that you couldn’t distinguish the difference between here or Arizona, or New Jersey – national stores chains that offer nothing unique to us or about us to others. We disregard the value of open space and places for people to do anything other than shop. There was a film some years ago called “Koyaanisqatsi” and it seemed so reactionary at the time. Anymore I’m thinking they were right.
It is not another store…..It is a move. Why is not germaine. That is Wal-Mart’s decision to make. The community does not get to say no we don’t like this buisness but we do like this buisness.
If you wanted no buisnesses there it should never have been zoned B-3. Wal-Mart is simply following our zoning plan for the development envelope.
100 years ago you could have built anything you wanted, pretty much anywhere you wanted because there was ample open space. Now, with us literally and nearly piled upon each other some planning is necessary. To think in such absolute terms that the community and it’s government has no right to interfere when whatever is proposed has considerable negative effects on the quality of life in the neighborhood affected isn’t reasonable.
CDEV – Walmart IS simply following their zoning rights but that doesn’t make it the “right” thing to do. Even if it’s a “move” it is still a new location for them, another building resurrected, a redundant store considering the proximity of their other locations (even if we exclude Abingdon). Here’s the important question, what happens to the Abingdon location? Just another vacant store to add to the growing list in Harford County. It would be refreshing to see businesses buy and renovate existing locations.
BTW, the request that the SHA deny Walmart the right to build a main entrance on Rt 924 only has the potential to force Walmart to choose another main entrance. It will not stop the build regardless of who does or does not want a “Walmart”. Don’t worry the Abingdon store will be vacant soon…if they actually move and don’t just build another.
Money Tree, I agree planning is needed. Simply go to Southern Maryland and look at Waldorf and what no planning gets you. We have a plan. Accordingly the plan for that land was Residential. When it looked as if we would get Section 8 apartments on that land the nearby residents (some are the same ones itching now) complained and got the county to rezone it B-3. That became the new plan. So Wal-mart is sticking with the plan.
Stacy, Right or wrong or as I would say Nieghborly is not the issue. The can do what they are doing and do not need you to like it! I think it is not neighborly if you tell me I can not build a shed in my back yard.
Furthermore we have had multiple buisness relocations in this area recently Weiss became Homegoods/DSW, Planet Fitness was something before, Ruby Tuesdays is now a new resturant, Belissimo used to be the Crab Pot, Pelican Cove used to be another resturant, Buffalo Wild Wings used to be Lone Star, and the list goes on. I doubt with the proximity to I-95 that will stay open for long!
CDEV – FWIW, I agree with you wrt it not being neighborly to tell someone what they can and cannot build in their yard. That’s why I don’t live in a development with a HOA, lol! I still hope the SHA doesn’t allow an entrance on 924. Hopefully the Abingdon location isn’t empty for long but that is a much larger facility than what you’ve listed as a comparison and each of the locations you listed were vacant for a while, some much longer than others. Regardless, it is a great location and I’m sure someone will take it over in time.
What is “right” has nothing to do with it since your definition of right is what you think in this given situation. Despite all those that object to the new Wal Mart they are legally entitled in their use of the land as based on the law, like it or not. Want the law changed elect new members of county government. Better yet run for office yourself. Many people have gotten their start in politics because of issues just like this.
Here are some of the bylaws of the Community Councils
APPOINTMENT. Members of the Community Councils are appointed by the
County Executive of Harford County, Maryland pursuant to Section 412 of the Charter. Appointments shall be made to represent a balanced range of civic,business, institutional and community interests.
GOALS
1. Strengthen existing communities and neighborhoods and help achieve a satisfying quality of life for all county residents.
2. Advise the Harford County Executive and his/her Administration on
issues of concern and interest to local communities.
3. Act as a liaison between the members of the community-at-large and the Harford County Administration.
4. Increase citizen participation and responsibility of communities
throughout Harford County.
more here-
http://www.harfordcountymd.gov/CommunityCouncil/ByLaws.pdf
If you aren’t attending the meetings and making your voice heard, perhaps you should.
No, it shows that those two are not PEOPLE friendly and five care about the quality of life for citizens.
Interesting that you would say that about a Democrat but I would bet you dinner you would still vote for her over a “people Friendly” Republican.
Actually this agenda is friendly towards small business. Small business have a difficult enough time without being pushed out.
“…1,200 signatures supporting the new Wal-Mart, with no indication of its origin.”
That should set off some red flags. Why should anyone pay any attention to a secret petition?
Walmart has conducted two forms of outreach so far, the first collecting signatures at a table at the front of their store in Abingdon, and the second a mass mailing to pretty much every household in the area asking for support.
In either case, with all their vast resources, only coming up 1200 signatures in support is kinda lame.
Word on the street is that this petition was from the signatures gathered at the store, as people had previously stopped at the table and noted that Walmart was happy to take signatures from people no matter where they lived.
Shady.
The new store will be built, what Wal-Mart wants, Wal-Mart gets.
Remember the names: Dick Slutzky and Mary Ann Lisanti, Council members to VOTE OUT OF OFFICE! We have lived in the Bright Oaks development since 1980, 32 years. We’ve seen “country” turn into “city”. Traffic around here is HORRENDOUS! Putting a Wal-Mart SuperCenter across the road from us is LUDICROUS! What are these politicians thinking? Or ARE they thinking?! Whoever is a party to this should be voted OUT of office!
I applaud Slutzky and Lisanti for their votes. They understood that the meaningless resolution does nothing to prevent Walmart from moving. All it does is give residents the impression that they are doing something and, more concerning, sends the message that even though a land use is permitted, the County Council will undermine their own zoning decisions.
Or, conversely, it sends a signal to developers that they can’t just throw together whatever plan they want and totally ignore community input and plain common sense.
Just because you “can” do something doesn’t mean you “should” do it.
How about Walmart decides not to put an intersection in at Bright Oaks? Some people might be happy with that and drop their opposition. Or what if Walmart engaged the community at all and took ANY of the input of the 1,000 people that came to the Community INPUT Meeting in July? They didn’t. They haven’t. They have decided they will do what they want to do. Some people aren’t even talking about stopping the store from being built, instead focused on changing certain aspects of the plan, and througout the entire process they have been ignored as well. Walmart (required to) came to the community and asked for its input and they ignored every last bit of it. You know what changes they made to the site plan between the meeting in July and September? NOTHING. Do we honestly believe that 1000 people went to that meeting and not a single one of them had a better idea than the suits who put the plan together?
People talk about a sense of entitlement? Well here it is. That’s corporate entitlement. They believe that because something is allowed that makes it okay to do, they believe it’s okay to ignore the community they have been a part of for 20 years, turn their back on it, and just rake in profits at our expense.
Well, yes, they can do that, but it doesn’t make it right and people don’t have to sit by and allow it to happen totally unhindered.
I despise Walmart (for many reasons), but applaud Slutzky and Lisanti for standing up to the letter of the law (in this case, local zoning law) and for NOT pandering to the general public. You folks that keep whining to the politicians to do something are the same dumb-asses that get incensed when a politician breaks (or bends) a law to make you happy (read….to get re-elected!) YOU are the reason that politicians have bad reputations. Stop your whining and political threats when a couple of the “GANG OF SEVEN” actually did the proper and lawful thing! DAMN!
You moved into the development envelope…..What did you expect?
We don’t agree often, but that’s one of the great points people have to come to realize and can’t be said enough.
On this issue I find myself agreeing with people I normally disagree with. Although I find many calling the idea of locating a Wal-Mart there Socialist. I find that Ironic!
Just like those urban folk that move to the country and then complain about the smell when their farmer neighbors spread manure on their fields to fertilize.
I have limited knowledge of Lisanti other than watching her on the dais (sic??); but this would not be the first time that Slutzky has put himself squarely on the side of developers and in districts of the county that are not his. Red Pump Elementary comes to mind…
Well done, Harford County Council. The move supports responsible business practice as County Executive David Craig stated: ““I feel that it would in the long run be better for the county if Walmart were to re-invest in their Constant Friendship location. All too often, we are quick to abandon older facilities and communities in favor of new locations without looking at ways to revitalize what we already have. Now that the state has put the finishing touches on the new interchange at 24 and 924, the traffic situation in that area has improved greatly, and the current location is much better equipped to handle the volume of traffic that a store such as Walmart generates.”
This is not a time to be redrawing Main Street and Rt 924 to make room for Walmart just because it got tired of one location and wants to throw it away like an old toy, just because it can by a new one. This is the time to support our existing businesses and our amazing downtown community. Keep good jobs in Harford County and Keep the character of the county strong for our children.
I hope readers will write to their County Council, to Maryland State Highway Administration, and also attend the meeting on October 17. You may also want to see The High Cost of Low Price: http://www.walmartmovie.com
http://idlewildstreet.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/petition-keep-walmart-out-of-bel-air/
Aravinda Pillalamarri
Bel Air, MD
Wal-mart is an existing buisness. I thinks some people just don’t like the clientel.
By the number of thumbs down you got it would seem that some people do like like to hear the truth.
As Jack Nicholson would say. Some can not handle the truth.
I am so tired of hearing it’s about the clientele. Some of us have to drive 924 a couple of times a day. At certain hours from the Festival to Ring Factory Road it’s become a parking lot. For a large majority of the opposition, it simply about the traffic. Period.
Hard to believe with comments I heard at an Abingdon Community COuncil meeting, Public Feedback meetings etc. I hear alot of NIMBY.
I find the vitriol over a Walmart to be rather amusing. Thank you all for brightening my day.
The lot in question is zoned appropriately for a Walmart. So is their current location.
I live in Joppa, and rarely shop at walmart. when i do, i drive to the Fallson store, so i have no dog in this fight.
If walmart wants to move, and is willing to pay whatever amount is required of them for infrastructure improvements, then they will do it. If the residents in this community are truly concerned about the increased traffic, they would have moved over a decade ago.
Face it, you’re in the 95 corridor; growth WILL happen, like it or not.
passing a resolution was a waste of time. the land is already zoned. the council members just wanted to put on a display of concern and involvement. They could care less if walmart moves, stays, or goes bankrupt. as long as they have their positions of miniscule power, they are happy.
Thanks again for the chuckle, especially you, PTBL,
Jeff
Jeff: So Wal Mart…” is willing to pay whatever amount is required of them for infrastructure improvements”
I guess missed the part where the ONLY improvements required by Wal Mart are adjoining their property. The rest of the improvements to handle the 10,000 cars a day will be paid by YOU and the other people in this county.
Expect Emmorton Road to become just like York Road (6 lanes) and then see how much you’re chuckling.
10,000 cars a day is an exageration. Wal-Mart does not have that many customers!
10,000 is their number
PTBL; did you get that number from your Lord and savior Obama? He is really good at tossing numbers around too, even if they are just another lie.
10,000 is the number provided by Walmart, just reference their traffic study published on the county website if you don’t believe it.
Arturro Nasney is being his usual assh*le self.
10,000 is the estimated average amount of traffic that already passes by the property, not the amount of traffic they expect to have in their parking lot on a daily basis, correct?
Native, no, 10,000 is trips to Walmart and that figure was called a reasonable estimate by Walmart. Check out the traffic study for specifics on traffic counnts in the various intersections in that area.
Not having business pay sufficient impact fees is a decision that our county government has made to attract developers. If county government were more demanding of developers to pay for all the necessary infrastructure upgrades perhaps Wal Mart would not think it economically viable to build this new store.
Bright Oaks folks can go through Hunter’s Run now and get to a traffic light now by the professional centers instead of taking their live in their hands on 924. Maybe the existing traffic patterns are going to need to be altered, maybe extensively around the new store site. But that would be up to state roads officials – who are supposed to be keeping the welfare of the commuting public in mind, I would hope. Not so sure that politicians should be doing all this grandstanding right now. I don’t remember a lot of the politicians in office now being very vocal years ago about development, whether they were in office, private business, etc. The only guy who years ago seemed to have been in touch with what was in store for the Abingdon/South Bel Air area was Delegate Dan Riley from Edgewood. What happened to him – wasn’t he vote out eventually?
Drivers will also cut through Kings Charter and come out on Patterson Mill Road driving right into where middle and high school buses come out and teenager drivers. Guess it is a good thing fire department there to deal with even more accidents than we have now. Yea another issue is car insurance is already going up in price and will continue to do so with all this building and traffic and the high number of accidents. And for the people like CDEV who say this is the “development envelope” doesn’t mean it is a dumping ground. Smart Growth was supposed to be about trying to curb suburban sprawl not creating unlivable conditions. People who come up here to visit cannot believe what has happened to this area. They ask me how people can stand living here.
dear phil: ALL politicians grandstand; and as far as yer buddy Dan Wiley goes, I can recall him telling the NRA he supported the second amendment while telling Handgun Control Inc he supported their gun grab agenda. the only shame about wily Riley getting voted out of office was that it came about eight years too late. if you cry-babies along 924 don’t want any traffic in your neighborhood do what my daughter did and buy seven acres among other seven-to-ten acre homes in Cecil Cnty and enjoy the view.
I do not support the Walmart, and will not shop in it. However, you can not change the rules midstream.
The company is within it rights and current zoning regulations to build. It sounds like a slippery slope to me, changing the zoning cause you dont care for the product.
What is this? The Kremlin? Do these Anti Wal Mart signs also come with a Red Flag with a Hammer/Sickle?
Some of the comments on the various news articles have made me laugh out loud, you people want the government to stop a free/private enterprise business to not be allowed to move where it wants because you all want some woods, and less traffic?
LOL Comrades, the nerve/mindset of some people. How can you thumb down a basic principle of being a citizen in this great nation? I’m not saying I like the idea of having a York Road in Harford County, but get real, it’s going to end up like that.
To those “veteran” residents of the county who have seen change in the past 25 years, we knew it was coming eventually, it’s only a matter of time.
I don’t get it, you don’t like it? Move. Just like what Wal-Mart is about to do. LOL
I think this really sucks! The Council is wrong and doesn’t have the legal right to stifle free enterprise.If this council was around in years past things like Harford Mall, Tollgate Town Center and Bel Air Plaza wouldn’t exist. Wake up! The County is growing. We aren’t a farming community any more.
…the issue is really about how the property was corruptly rezoned in the first place. What did David Craig know and when did he know it? What’s the quid pro quo? Will his legacy in Harford County be educator, County Executive, man that led Harford County to have the highest vacancy rate in the state?
Downtown Bel Air has shuttered another business. While golfing with Evergreen Development managers David Craig says, “let them eat cake….from Walmart”.
The council did not stop walmart and will not. Take some time and read what was written. It is only asking SHA not to allow the entrance at Brightoaks and 924. That is it.Put it down the road on 924 any way Walmart will still have 2 ways in and out on county roads. I am from Abingdon and I can’t wait for the new Walmart to open. I signed the “for” new Walmart petition and so did most of me neighbors. I would sign it again if needed. Maybe you Belair (south???) Cry babies will do something to help and move out that will fix the traffic issues. For the ones that stay I will see you at the new 924 Walmart. Walmart – Low prices. Every day. On everything. Now in Belair!
The council is not directly saying stop but it knows without this third enterance it would make the plan a nonoption. It is essentially a backdoor way to stop it!
Not true. If not having 3 ways in and out would stop this walmart then how do you explain the current walmart or the Fallston walmart with only one way in or out. What about the festival shopping center with only two. This resolution only is to help with the traffic on 924 not stop the walmart.
Disallowing one of three entrances will only add to the traffic at the other two entrances, you all do realize that, right?
NIMBYs galore in here.
The plans show a 4 lane road on Plumtree and expansion of lanes on Bel Air South Parkway. People can come up 24 and turn on either of those roads and into the property easily. SHA will not allow them access directly on to 24.
We are so sorry that this will cause traffic to back up and delay you in your travels on Route 24 as you travel to Forest Hill. Poor you. You should have known that you had to DRIVE through the development envelope one day and planned better. You should have anticipated that corruption would win and a mega-corporation would get whatever it wants wherever it wants. But never fear, when David Craig is Governor Walmart will again whine about the traffic back-ups and your tax money will be spent to widen Route 24 again so you can shop at Walmart. Start contributing your share of the $20 million now. Save a penny, spend a buck.
GETREAL, MY COMRADE WAS COMMENTING ON THE GENERAL OVERALL ATTITUDE OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE EXPRESSED OPINION OVER MOVE IN PREVIOUS NEWS ARTICLES. PERHAPS YOU SHOULD READ, MAKE YOU SMART LIKE OX.
Once upon a time when the “development envelope” was decided on it all seemed like such a good idea, and the building began of residential as well as business.
The problem comes in when you saturate the area with building and there is no way to build the roads needed to handle additional volumes without taking land by eminent domain. These small pieces of ground left to develop have the responsibility to conform to the existing scale and character of the neighborhood. The Traffic Element Plan states this clearly. It also states adequate roads are necessary to protect the investment already made by the county and to keep the system safe and able to function.
Councilman McMahan’s presentation at the County Council meeting included a video that shows the current traffic problems at the site, which Ms.Lisanti called a “traffic nightmare”. Adding a few lanes only around the proposed project will only result in a much bigger gridlock with an additional 10,000 cars a day, almost a 50% increase to traffic on 924. These numbers are based on Walmart’s traffic assessment and on the SHA published numbers.
Why should adjoining and nearby residences, businesses, churches, cemeteries, and other properties be forced by eminent domain to give up property by eminent domain to support the roads that would be needed beyond the 2000 ft near this property to support this type of traffic? Who’s relatives buried in a historic cemetery should be disturbed for Walmart? Why should we as taxpayers be forced to pay for these additional roads so Walmart can build there? Which 911 call for a heart attack or life threatening situation is worth not getting to so Walmart can build there? Who’s child is expendable as they cross a 5 lane highway to get from school to home? Who’s life or bodily injury from an accident is worth it?
What about the environmental issues? This site sits directly on top of Plumtree Run watershed that we are spending millions on to clean up. How many homes in the area should have chemicals from Walmart’s landscape products that are kept outside running through their neighborhoods enroute to the Chesapeake Bay? Read the labels that say “Cause Cancer”.
There comes a point when enough is enough and a plan from 30+ years ago needs to be tweaked and adjusted. What worked then no longer works and our safety and communities should not be destroyed and put in jeopardy just because Walmart (or anyone else) wants to build there and they fall under that particular zoning type.
They must meet the other conditions laid out in the Master Plan and Traffic Element plans which are also the law.
We can only hope that citizen pressure on Craig and the Council will lead them to do the right thing for the citizens who must live with this nightmare.
Look you are clearly exagerating. No one has suggesting digging up a cemetary. No one has to cross a 5 lane road to walk to school as a result of this. As I see on Rt. 40 everyday the bus clearly stops on the correct side of the road! PS the chemicals already run off at their current location. Perhaps you think only Abingdon Residents shouldd put up with it?
Personally I don’t see the value for Walmart to move from their current location. The existing traffic nightmare will become gridlock and people will opt to go to Aberdeen or Fallston rather than sit in that mess for hours. It will be quicker to get to those stores as well.
Wegman’s looked at this spot and decided it didn’t allow for the traffic they generate and a 7×24 Walmart superstore with full auto, pharmacy and more will draw more than the Wegman’s estimates. Do the math.
Funny, Boulevard is a huge shopping center with the road infrastructure in place and even they don’t have another traffic light and full intersection access within 800 ft of other traffic lights. Only one in/out off 924 and all other traffic has to go on 2 lane side roads to get in. Why should this property get access others can’t, including the fire department??
Since when is it the governments business to decide who can build a business in a properly zoned area. Sounds more like communism, you build what the collective wants, or nothing at all.
This would have been a very simple issue if there wasn’t corruption, a misinformation campaign, and undue influence exerted when the property was rezoned in 2009. What did David Craig know and when did he know it? I believe that before the last rezoning round the Craig administration knew of Walmart’s desire to locate at Plumtree and, despite the recommendations of the community in the focus groups and the People’s Council, the Master Plan went into his office with the property zoned residential and came out of his office zoned B3. Now, you can say that “the community” didn’t want section 8 housing there but we all know that the owner or developer was never going to build such a development. It was all part of a ruse to get the community to comply with the change. The County Council was also misled. They were told by the County Executive, David Craig, that the developer wanted something like the Avenue at White Marsh with boutique shops and locally owned restaurants. Walmart was in the pocket all the time.
Libertarian friends–Walmart is using you to do their bidding now. You can’t say that the property owner can do what they want with their property if they got the zoning changed with sweetener and payola. Where is the outrage over all the corruption? Just because the corrupt rezoning happened a few years ago doesn’t mean that we should forget about it! This is the issue. This is the wrong that needs to be corrected. Where is the free market in a corrupt market?
Yes, this IS the way it is done in Russia–with backroom bribes, disinformation, strong arming, and cronyism.
The Council failed to do its homework on this re-zoning. The first rule in zoning commercial is that all the uses have to considered a possibility. You can pick and choose which retailer you like or want. Captain Jim was the councilman and gave the thumbs up in his district. He should be held accountable and now he has tried to cover his tracks with anti-Walmart speeches and phony resolutions which make the entire council look foolish.
You are correct on this. Boniface and the Council have just admitted they are incompetent and don’t know what the hell they are doing. “No one envisioned when we changed the zoning to B3 that we would be creating a large box store.” Boniface said each of the councilmembers thought it would be something more in keeping with the existing character of the street, such as office buildings. “We let you down because we didn’t recognize the fact that you could have a big box come in there,”
They may have partaken in the kool-aid because they thought the flavor was good at the time. Let’s not forget who SERVED the kool-aid paid for by the developer. I will ask this question again, what will David Craig’s legacy be in Harford County? Will he be known as an educator, County Executive, and man that shuttered Bel Air and led it to have the highest vacancy rate every? How many empty store fronts will we need to look at if the move is permitted? Giant, Mars, Weis, 2 optical stores in Festival, 5 Below, Highs, Verizon, Sprint, ATT, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Courtland Hardware, Prestons, Boyd and Fulford, Shoprite, Christopher Matthews (already closed), the hair salons, the nail salons, etc, etc.