From Friends of Harford:
Public hearings will be held before the Zoning Hearing Examiner for:
CASE NO. 5826: SHARON & BRIAN ROWLAND – 308 Foster Knoll Drive, Joppa. Variance, proposed for the First Election District, 308 Foster Knoll Drive, Joppa, by SHARON & BRIAN ROWLAND. Appealed because a variance to Section 267-63G(4)(a)(11)[a][ii] of the Harford County Code, to allow an addition to an existing dwelling within the Critical Area buffer to be located closer to the water than the principal structures on adjacent properties or the local setback for the zoning district, whichever is greater, in the R3 District, requires approval by the Board of Appeals.
CASE NO. 5827: WENDY & ERIC NOWAKOWSKI – 2 Lake Drive, Bel Air. Variances, proposed for the Third Election District, 2 Lake Drive, Bel Air, by WENDY & ERIC NOWAKOWSKI. Appealed because a variance to Section 267-55B(1), Table 55-2, of the Harford County Code, to allow a natural resource use/raising of livestock (ducks) on a lot less than 2 acres (1.98 acres), and a variance to Section 267-23a95) and 267-27C(5), to allow an existing shed to remain within the required 60 foot front yard setback, 32+ feet from the road right-of-way in the R2 District, requires approval by the Board of Appeals.
Date/Time: Wednesday, November 19, 2014 at 6:30 pm
Location: County Council Chambers (first floor), 212 S. Bond Street, Bel Air.
Project details, including the application sent to the Board of Appeals, can be seen at http://www.harfordcountymd.gov/council/ZoningAds.cfm?dt=2014-11-19
If you wish to testify at this hearing, either for or against the request, contact Ms. Dottie Smith, Zoning hearing Assistant, at djsmith@harfordcountymd.gov or 410-638-3349 for more information.
The People’s Counsel has been established to represent the interests of the public in all matters and proceedings preliminary to, arising out of, or affecting the zoning classification or reclassification of land in the county.
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A Development Advisory Committee (DAC) Meeting has been scheduled for the following project(s):
PANDA EXPRESS CONSTANT FRIENDSHIP BUSINESS PARK LOT 4B : Located on east side of Constant Friendship Blvd; south of Arundel Court Tax Map 61; Parcel 103; Lot 4B. First Election District. Council District A. Construct restaurant w/drive-thru; 1.112 acres; CI.
Date/Time: Wednesday, November 19, 2014 at 9:00 am
Location: Second Floor Conference Room, 220 South Main Street, Bel Air, MD 21014
The DAC meeting announcement with links to the proposed site plans is available at http://www.harfordcountymd.gov/PlanningZoning/index.cfm?ID=106&DACID=317 .
The public is invited to attend, ask questions and voice any concerns.
County government has a description of the DAC process at http://www.harfordcountymd.gov/PlanningZoning/index.cfm?ID=53
Do you want to know where this fits into the development process? Read A Citizen’s Guide to the Harford County Property Development Process by Friends of Harford.
If any additional businesses are allowed on Constant Friendship Blvd., a second access road is a must. At Christmas time two years ago, drivers were stuck getting out of there for almost 2 hours. The traffic light cycle simply can’t handle any more traffic. Hopefully, this will be taken into consideration.
“…almost 2 hours.”
I find this very hard to believe.
You’re right.
In some cases, it was even longer.
“Moore said the worst of the backup lasted between two and four hours, with some drivers likely stuck in their cars for about two hours. He said the situation was handled by a coordinated response between the state police, sheriff’s office, and SHA, with officers directing traffic to attempt to clear vehicles from the area.”
http://www.daggerpress.com/2010/12/24/massive-traffic-jam-in-constant-friendship-traps-drivers-for-hours/
It’s pretty awful down there. I won’t go down Constant Friendship on the weekends because of the traffic jams.
Agree – I refuse to shop in that plaza on weekends due to traffic congestion.
In some cases it was quite a bit longer than 2 hours. Even on a normal day it can take a while to get out there.
Walmart, Target, and BJ’s all on the same road with only 1 way in or out and that one way basically dumps into a residential area. Mix in a bunch of Black Friday stupidity and it’s a wonder the whole area wasn’t shut down due to multiple crashes.
Do I recall properly that when that site was developed, part of the development plan called for an egress only to southbound I-95?
As I remember it, the only way the shopping area got built was to NOT have any ingress or egress to 95. That shopping area was strongly protested for a long tiime. Apparently some of the reasons for the opposition have been manifested by what we see aroung the holidays.
As I recall it, the original plans for that property were to make a major mall with its own access to 95 at the developer’s expense. If I’m not mistaken, it was to be an outlet mall. The plan was to avoid the congestion that we see in that shopping area today. The official reason that they gave for not approving it was that Harford County couldn’t support 2 malls. The developers argued that it would draw from Baltimore County because of the easy access to 95. So here we are 30 years later, with 3 or 4 times more houses, and the old 24, the new 24, and 95 are all parking lots full of angry people trying to get to work north and south of here. I’m sure if we get a couple hundred thousand more people in our bedroom community it will straighten itself out.
My suggestion is a road from the roundabout at the end of Constant Friendship Blvd. around the back of BJ’s, connecting to Winters Run Road just above I-95. Easy access to 7 and 40 via Fashion Way. This would not add a lot of traffic to Winters Run heading north since it’s much further this way to Tollgate via Singer unless there is an emergency or a huge backup.
Another good idea but the area between BJ’s and Winter’s Run is probably protected wetlands.
Maybe the best solution would be to build a new Wal-Mart on Rt 24, near Plumtree Road and 924? That will alleviate a lot of congestion in Constant Friendship.
It will get easier once Wal-Mart moves out and closer to Bel Air.,
Well moving the walmart can’t be the answer, I drove 924 from Wegmans to Bel Air just tonight at rush hour and it took me 10 minutes to go 6 miles. The traffic was making me road rage.
Bawahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wonder if Panda express will deliver to evamar? I like my General Tsaos chicken and vanilla ensure.
Are these people relaited to the wonder Dr Noah??
I don’t know. What does relaited mean?
There enough land in between the center and Winter’s Run that the owner could build a second road behind all the businesses on the right side (going in) that would run from the circle all the way back to Tollgate, creating a loop. But good luck getting them to spend the money on that, despite the fact that it would solve the problem. There’s enough room between some of the places that you could build in a few cut-throughs and make the whole thing one way.
Short of that, by far the simplest thing they should do is make the first left turn into WalMart/Target into a round a bout, because most of the accidents are happening right there.
Finally, they had a chance to have that done when they approved the hundreds of apartments behind the Target, but the DAC and P&Z punted on it. So now you’ll have hundreds of “trips” of cars entering and leaving the apartments every day and trying to make those left turns in and out.
It’s a nightmare and our government has done nothing to address it. Instead they just keep applying the rubber stamp.
If a couple hundred apartments couldn’t elicit any changes, you can forget about the Panda Express.
I didn’t even know about the apartments. Probably shopped there for the last time. Lowe’s is about the only thing I went down there for anyway.
Good idea to have a back exit to Tollgate but the people living there would protest against having all that additional traffic going through their neighborhood.
Well from what I can see, the second ingress/egress point would just be a tiny bit up the road and it wouldn’t enter directly into the Tollgate/Constant Friendship community. Certainly no more than the present one. The intersections and traffic signals would be fairly complicated if the whole thing remained two-way, but it could be set up so that the one closer to CF could be left turn only (up Tollgate) and the current one in front of Walmart would be right turn only (to24/95), which could even speed things up.
But like I said, that would require spending money, which neither the county or owner of the center will do.