Happy New Year! In addition to the information about the upcoming Legislative Session, this post contains two important subjects with January public input hearings: 1) the proposed 2030 Master Plan has two input opportunities; and 2) input on the size and structure of the County Council is offered through a Virtual session. Councilman Kach has stated that he remains committed to ensuring the Master Plan preserves our suburban communities in Lutherville-Timonium and intend to introduce amendments that will ensure its future.
I encourage you to provide your input as the final plan for both subjects will obviously have a tremendous, long-lasting impact on the future of Baltimore County. While the hearings have taken place, it’s never to late to email and express your concerns to all the members of the County Council as soon as possible.
Written testimony may be submitted to countycouncil@baltimorecountymd.gov or by mail to the Baltimore County Council, 400 Washington Ave., 2nd floor, Historic Courthouse, Towson, MD 21204.
As I promised when sending out the January Newsletter, here is the announcement regarding the upcoming public comment on the Master Plan 2030.
What I am requesting you to do is to email Councilman Kach to let him know that the Master Plan’s recommendation to create three “Core Retrofit Areas or Nodes” is unacceptable for the Lutherville/Timonium Area. You do not have to be lengthy in your email. Simply saying you oppose these nodes is enough if you want to be short and to the point.
You can look at the Master Plan 2030 on the County’s website but let me give a short description of these nodes (core retrofit areas). Each node is approximately 2500 linear feet in diameter, and they are circular in shape.
The southernmost is centered around West Ridgely Road and includes Lutherville Station; the middle node is centered on Greenspring Drive and it extends halfway to Aylesbury in an easterly direction and across I-83 to include houses in the Holly Ridge and Hunt Ridge subdivisions in a westerly direction; the third and final node is also centered on Greenspring Drive, from north of the Light Rail parking lot on Greenspring, down in a southerly direction to include a few of the one story warehouse spaces on Greenspring where Stuart Kitchens is located. This third node also extends west of I-83 to include some of the units in Mays Chapel Village (Averne Ct., part of Blondell Ct.)
These nodes are where the County planners recommend that the County concentrate redevelopment efforts in the area, all of which are in proximity to the Light Rail line. The redevelopment would include “Commercial & Office development, as well as Multi-family Residential development.” To paraphrase what the planners are advocating, they want to build a series of apartment complexes along the Light Rail line! Many of you have expressed concerns about the loss of the suburban character for our area. In my opinion, this is just another step in that loss of character.
If you are as concerned as I am, please email Councilman Kach (council3@baltimorecountymd.gov). Councilman Kach shares these concerns, and he has been supportive, but your voices will emphasis the importance.