Tom Natelli, developer and owner of a parcel of land just south of the Urbana Park and Ride and east of I-270, intends to build a high-end outlet “destination” mall. The Frederick County Comprehensive Plan designates this property as “Office Research Industrial (ORI), it has “Mixed Use” (MXD) zoning.  

Mr. Natelli’s original proposal was to build out 515,000 sq ft  - 55% of it for retail and 45%  for offices (partial compliance with the ORI designation).  In 2008 Natelli proposed Text Amendment R-98-01 (A) requesting a change in the MXD zoning to allow an increase in the build out footprint to 595,000 sq ft – for additional retail space;  the gross area with this modification would mean a decrease in office space to 40% of the overall development.  He also asked to remove plans for  a 9-screen movie theater -  based on the traffic the theater would add during evening rush hour.  

*****READ WHAT CITIZENS ARE SAYING ABOUT THIS BELOW*****

BACKGROUND ON COMP PLAN DESIGNATION AND ZONING:

The ORI designation is intended for:

• office business
• office professional
• laboratory research
• limited manufacturing
• assembly uses
• banks or savings and loans.  

 

MXD zoning guidelines for the amount and intensity of each land use permitted are determined by the following criteria:

• The relationship of the site to the Comprehensive Plan.
• The gross acreage of the site of land on which, or the project into which, the MXD is established.
• Availability of existing and planned public services.
• Access to existing or planned major thoroughfares and transportation systems.
• Ability to serve the specific needs of the total site or project and the surrounding service area.
• Physical characteristics of the site.
• The amount of dedicated open space.
• Compatibility with surrounding uses and the ability to provide for transition between different uses.
• External and internal relationships which allow for compatibility and transitioning between uses.
• Efficient use of the land.

Citizens at FoFC’s December 2008 Insiders Forum and others have expressed the following concerns with this project and the impact it will have upon their community:

• Congested traffic pattern and impeded flow
• Lack of physical connection via walkways, bike paths to the Villages of Urbana
• the employment opportunities offered (retail clerk median income is about $13,000 less/year than for office administrator;   see data at http://www.dllr.state.md.us/lmi/wages/TOC005.htm )
• No solid plan for environmentally-friendly buildings and parking areas
• MXD compliance (specifically those marked in blue above).

Read one Urbana resident’s comments from the December Planning Commission meeting. and his letter to Santa in 2008.   While many of these concerns will be discussed during the Phase II approval process, citizens are encouraged to speak out not only on Text Amendment R-98-01 (A) changes to the current MXD zoning, but also any concerns or issues with the outlet mall’s location and what it will contribute to Frederick County.  

 

On January 6th (7pm at Winchester Hall) the Board of County Commissioners will decide if Text Amendment R-98-01 (A) serves the community better than the original plan. Let your opinion be known, show up and read it.

 

See full document online at: http://www.co.frederick.md.us/documents/Planning%20Commission/November%2019%20Staff%20Report/MXD_Urbana_ZT_08_01.PDF

Residents are taking a close look at our quality of life now and for future generations. The consensus is that a sustainable community is within our reach, but major changes are needed. The challenges are shifting to a society that is energy efficient and less auto-dependent. Our common wealth and health depend on changing the way we live. Check out the 2008 program videos at http://www.mdgoesgreen.com  (filming courtesy of RAM Digital, Inc) Mark you calendar:  1st Annual CLEAN ENERGY AND GREEN LIVING FESTIVAL        January 17th 2009 11a.m.- 5 p.m at the Urbana Fire Hall. Featuring educational presentations on  Clean Energy (wind and solar), Green Living through Agriculture, Recycling and Green Buildings. Activities for kids too.

Read about it in the November Insider Issues Forum:  a place where citizens learn about policies from the people who decide them;  click here:  (November 2008 Issues Forum “Insider”: Should land zoned for agriculture be used for Mega-Churches?)  

Check out all the uses proposed for agriculturally zoned land, and decide for yourself what YOU think is right. 

Take a look at the 8-minute CD at http://www.we-draw-the-line.org and learn more about the cost of services.  

Think about how putting institutions outside growth (and community service access) areas will affect taxpayers.   Let your Planning and County Commissioners know what you think:

FREDERICK COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

Winchester Hall,12 E Church Street Frederick, MD 21701 Fax: (301) 600-1849

Commissioner Jan Gardner, President jgardner@fredco-md.net Ph: (301) 600-3190

Commissioner David Gray, Vice-President dgray@fredco-md.net Ph: 301-600-1101

Commissioner John “Lennie” Thompson lthompson@fredco-md.net Ph: 301-600-1303

Commissioner Charles A. Jenkins chjenkins@fredco-md.net Ph: (301) 600-1092

Commissioner Kai J. Hagen khagen@fredco-md.net Ph: (301) 600-1303

FREDERICK COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSIONERS

Joseph F. Brown III, Chair     Jfbrown3@gmail.com  

Audrey L. Wolfe, Secretary    no email

Robert L. White Jr.    bobwhitejr@mac.com

Catherine Forrence     404westmain@comcast.net

Richard Floyd    RMFLOYD1@aol.com

John McClurkin  samjbm@verizon.net

Kai J. Hagen, BoCC Liaison    khagen@fredco-md.net

   

 

www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/harford/bal-ha.farm28dec28,0,1538546.story

 

baltimoresun.com

 

A look at farm troubles, triumphs

 

On the Farm — Ted Shelsby

By Ted Shelsby

Special to The Baltimore Sun

December 28, 2008

  There will be a corn crop next year and farmers will continue plowing their fields, milking their cows, feeding their chickens and selling their goods at market. 

 

But I won’t be around to report on it. The newspaper is ending this weekly farm column. 

 

As I look back over a long career, I think about the respect I developed for farmers. They work hard and work smart or they don’t survive. 

 

They are part of the largest industry in the state. They feed us at a fraction of the cost of food in other nations while constantly battling the uncontrollable threats of Mother Nature. 

 

As a reporter, I sought to point out the contributions of agriculture to our economy and to our way of life. I tried to give farmers a louder voice at the bargaining table of government. 

 

As I scan through a pile of farm story clippings, here are some things that stand out: 

 

•The incredible change of attitude on the part of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation toward farmers. 

 

After blaming farmers for most of the ills of the bay for years, the environmental group admitted its past mistakes in 2006 and put its clout behind legislative initiatives designed to keep farmers in business. It concluded that an acre of farmland was better for the health of the bay than an acre of residential development. 

 

•A story in 1998 that pointed out Maryland was on the verge of becoming an island surrounded by states that had approved dairy compact legislation that would allow for the establishment of a minimum price farmers were to be paid for their milk. 

 

The article resulted in the General Assembly doing an about-face and passing dairy compact legislation here after the Senate had killed the bill. 

 

I was flattered when former state Agriculture Secretary Lewis R. Riley told a meeting of the Maryland Farm Bureau that my story might have saved the state’s dairy industry.

 

Unfortunately, the next year Congress outlawed all dairy compact legislation. 

 

•A recent story pointing out that MidAtlantic Farm Credit, a cooperative banking system operated primarily by farmers, had hardly any of the financial problems of other lenders that caused the current credit crisis. 

 

While other lenders in Maryland reported nearly 8,000 foreclosures during the three months that ended in September, MidAtlantic had less that 12 during the entire year throughout the Mid-Atlantic region it serves. 

 

•Recognition of FireFly Farm, a tiny goat farm outside the tiny Garrett County town of Bittinger, as a producer of some of the finest goat cheese in the world. Some of its cheeses were picked over those produced in England, France and Italy at the London World Cheese Awards.

 

•Farmers, rural bankers, businessmen and total strangers coming to the aid of a Garrett County family that had lost its barn during a tornado. 

 

Nobody asked for help, but a convoy of vehicles - mostly pickup trucks - arrived the morning after the storm. An army of men, women and children brought tools and food and began rebuilding the barn. It said a lot about life in rural Maryland. 

 

•A report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1998, pointing out that agriculture - including all phases of the production of food and fiber - was a $17.8 billion-a-year business, employing more than 400,000 people, in Maryland. It surprised a lot of people that farming was Maryland’s biggest business. 

 

•During an era when big farms kept getting bigger as a means of survival, Jack Gurley and his wife, Beckie, showed the country that it was possible to make a comfortable living on a 6-acre Baltimore County vegetable farm. 

 

They grew organic vegetables and sold directly to consumers through a system called community-supported agriculture. Consumers invest in the farm and pick up weekly supplies of produce during the growing season. Their farm was considered one of only a few of its type in the country. State and federal agriculture organizations held a field day at the farm so that others could learn farming from the Gurleys. 

 

• Myron Wilhide’s crusade to save Maryland’s rapidly disappearing dairy industry. The Carroll County dairy farmer was the driving force behind the Maryland Dairy Industry Association. 

 

•Randy Sowers turning his back on conventional dairy farming and taking the big financial risk of setting up his on-the-farm milk processing plant and offering home delivery.

 

The Frederick County farmer’s move is still being watched by University of Maryland officials and other farmers as a possible way of saving the state’s dairy industry. 

 

•The near-demise of Maryland’s more than 350-year-old tobacco industry as a result of a tobacco farmer buyout plan presented by Gov. Parris N. Glendening. 

 

•The threat to Maryland’s agricultural heritage by the rapidly rising value of farmland. Due to development pressures, Maryland has the sixth-most-expensive farmland in the nation. State agriculture officials called it a “scary situation” and said it is major threat to the future of farming in the state. 

 

•Maryland has 40 percent more women farm operators than the national average. Women were the primary operators of 15.7 percent of Maryland’s 12,100 farms in 2006. For the nation as a whole, only 11.2 percent of the farms were run by women that year. 

 

•A three-part series in December 2007 on the continued demise of Maryland’s dairy industry. Stories pointed out that state had lost 85 percent of its dairy farms since 1970. Five counties had lost all their dairy farms, and three others were down to their last farm. 

 

The plight of dairy farmers was not limited to Maryland. It was a problem throughout the Northeast. But most of these states had passed legislation to help their dairy industries, including the payment of subsidies, tax credit and the establishment of a minimum price farmers are to be paid for their milk.

I learned over the years that farming is a tough business.

I wish you success in the future. 

 

Program Date:  December 11, 2008

Time:                  7:00  p.m. – 9:30  p.m.

Location:                    Urbana Fire Station 3602 Urbana Pike (Highway 355)

Refreshments:  Healthy, light refreshments will be provided by MOM’s (My Organic Market) and Veggie Annie

The Program is free and open to the public.

Our final program of the 2008 series features the benefits of SOLAR and WIND energy.  Experts from Standard Solar, Inc. and Potomac Wind Energy, Inc. will present basics about solar and wind appliance opportunities and how to determine if your property might have the right aptitude for an investment.

The program is important for home-owners, homeowners associations and others considering using wind and/or solar appliances personally or cooperatively, for agricultural, educational, faith-based/non-profit, municipal, industrial and commercial power production.

Standard Solar, Inc. has designed and installed more than 100 residential solar electric systems throughout the mid-Atlantic region and recently completed the installation of 205 kilowatts (kW) of solar photovoltaic panels on the roof of the U.S. Department of Energy headquarters. The installation covers approximately 14,000 square ft. of roof space, nearly 1/3 of an acre.

Potomac Wind Energy, Inc. is the #1 supplier of the Skystream brand of small-wind Systems.   They have installed the Skystream wind turbine at the U.S. Botanical Gardens. 

The presentations will include information about net metering and new tax credits, grants and incentives to help make solar and wind return-on-investment decisions more favorable.

Frederick County Comprehensive Plan Amendments being considered now include permitting for free-standing solar systems and small-wind turbines.  This is part of the Agricultural/Resource Conservation Amendment Element. A representative of the County Planning department has been invited.

“We are all stakeholders in shaping a sustainable future for Frederick County.  Facets of this future must include managing growth, increasing care for the land and environment, energy security and a greener-economy.   The Comprehensive Planning process is an important tool and its results are our legacy.” said Janice Wiles, Executive Director of Friends of Frederick County, one of the program sponsors.

“The more clean, renewable energy we can produce personally or cooperatively and use locally, the more we will enhance America’s energy security,” said Rebecca Rush, Outreach Director for OURCommonWEalth Programs.

“OURCommonWEalth programs are intended to inspire citizens, students, business owners and other stakeholders  – including county and city planning staff – with a fresh opportunity to learn from one another and from various professionals,” explained Alan Feinberg, Director, East Frederick Rising CDC.

This OURCommonWEalth event is supported by Friends of Frederick County and Renewable Energy Stewardship Company (RESCO), East Frederick Rising CDC, Sierra Club – Maryland Chapter/Catoctin Group, Ram-Digital and Gallagher/Wood Design.

Note:   To volunteer at this program or help with our 2009 programs, please contact Rebecca Rush at 301-371-9852 or Janice Wiles at 240-626-5209.