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The reason the Fallston Community was so successful in keeping our
library open was that we were all focused on a single goal that everyone
understood.
Zoning, on the other hand, is not easy to understand. We may avoid writing
that important letter because the whole topic seems so overwhelming complicated. The
following is a guide to help you write a letter (or even prepare a one or two
minute statement) that addresses the important issues facing our
community. We suggest you copy, expand
or preferably, just write or speak from the heart.
MORE INFORMATION ON
COMPREHENSIVE REZONING<---click
STEP 1: List the
specific properties you are objecting to. (Example: "I
am writing about the following properties that have requested rezoning from
agricultural to rural residential: B004, B010, B011, B016,
B018, B019, B020, B024,
B025, B026, B027, B028, B029, B030, B031, B032.
STEP 2:
Make a comment as to whether the rezoning complies with the following 3 legal
requirements:
- The rezoning must comply with the the 2004 Master Plan, in particular,
the Fallston Community Plan of the Master
Plan. The Master Plan states
the following for Fallston:
- "Maintaining the rural character is a priority."
- "...the plan does not support expansion of the Rural Residential
areas."
- "Agriculture remains an important part of the Fallston
community."
- A rezoning should only be permitted if
there is a change in the character of the
neighborhood to support the rezoning.
- A rezoning may be approved if there has been
a previous mistake in the zoning of a property.
(Example: "The proposed rezoning does
not follow the spirit or letter of the Fallston Community Plan in the 2004
Master Plan that promotes agriculture, restricts rural residential development
and aims to keep Fallston rural. Furthermore, the neighborhood has not
changed and to my knowledge there has been no mistake in the zoning of these
properties.")
STEP 3: Refer to any of the
bullets listed below that are important to you.
 | Traffic along along many of the roads in Fallston, especially MD 152 and
Pleasantville Road is becoming more
and more congested with long backups and difficult and dangerous access,
especially during peak morning hours and again in the late afternoon hours. |
| Our schools are overcrowded, especially Youth Benefit Elementary School
and students are still taught in portable trailers. |
| Because of school overcrowding, many of our children are bused
(redistricted) to schools outside of Fallston. Our children should be
attending local schools. |
| Acres of agricultural land have already been rezoned to residential, but
because of the current building moratorium, houses have not yet been
built. If and when the building moratorium is lifted, Fallston could
see a surge in building with sudden and dramatic school overcrowding and
traffic problems. It makes no sense to approve a bigger and bigger backlog
of residential zoning until there is no longer a building moratorium. |
| Smart Growth, the policy adopted by many local municipalities across the
nation, states that new residential development should be restricted to
areas in a development zone (our Development Envelope), not the rural
areas of the County. |
| In comparison to all the other Districts in Harford County, District B (encompassing
Fallston ) had 10x more requests (and recommended approvals) for
rezoning agricultural land to a rural residential use than any other
district. This places a huge burden, selectively, on the Fallston
community. |
| The Fallston community, for the most part, gets its water from wells and
discharges its waste into septic systems rather than using public water and
sewer. More residential building stresses our aquifer, places us all
at risk of widespread contamination should an untoward incident occur
(remember MTBE) and more and more septic systems place undue stress on our
natural habitats and streams. |
| The landscape of Fallston is rapidly changing from a primarily
agricultural rural residential community to a mass of rural suburbia housing
complexes. This is totally contrary to one of the two priorities
of the Fallston Community Plan which specifically states that maintaining the
rural character of Fallston is a priority. Rural character is NOT rural
housing. |
| The Fallston Community plan of the Master plan (the planning guide that
Harford County Law says the County Council should abide by) says that
"Agriculture remains an important part of the Fallston
community." The new Transfer of Development Rights program
recently enacted by the County Council last year, basically abandons this
idea by focusing on preserving agriculture in the northern part of the
County at the expense of Fallston, Jarrettsville, Joppa and Forest
Hill. Members of the Council who live in the northern part of the
County have sold us out. |
| It is clear that a primary reason why Planning and Zoning and the Planning
Advisory Board approved virtually all the requests to convert agricultural
land in Fallston to residential building is to make the new Transfer of
Development Rights program work. |
| I agree with position
of the State of Maryland in a letter sent to Planning and Zoning on
September 9, 2009 that criticized the new TDR program stating that the
development rights should NOT be transferred to agricultural land. The
State specifically stated that the development rights should NOT be used to
up-zone agricultural land and increase the size of the rural residential and
village residential areas. |
| As responsible citizens, we all need to pay attention to what is happening
in our local government. However, my local government did not
make an effort to inform me that they were planning to give away large areas
of agricultural land in Fallston to residential development.
Community opposition to more development in Fallston has been ongoing many,
many years. The County Council, may, at any time, amend the Master Plan
in accordance with the voice of the people. Planning and Zoning and
the Harford County Council needs to open its doors to all the people of
Fallston in designing the Master Plan for Fallston, not limiting active
participation to government appointed committees and developers. |
| Many Fallston residents moved to the rural areas BECAUSE they are rural.
However, these areas will not stay rural if urban business zoning (B1 - B3)
is allowed. Our rural villages exist to serve rural dwellers and only
Village Business (VB) zoning protects our rural character. Business
zoning (B1, B2 and B3) does not, as can be seen by the B1-zoned Rite Aid on
Route 152 and Pleasantville Road The drugstore fully complies with B1
zoning requirements but is clearly out of character with the
community. Please keep rural village business as Village Business
Zoning (referring to B014 and B017). |
| The majority of Fallston residents work full time and do not want to spend
their limited and valuable leisure time fighting for issues that are
supposed to be covered in the master plan of the community. We are
busy raising our children and taking care of our homes. We rely
on Council representatives who will uphold and defend the plan and
wishes of the Fallston community and who are willing to fight to preserve
our agricultural land.
Sample Letter:
E-mail:
jmwoods@harfordcountymd.gov /
council@harfordcountymd.gov
or
Mail to:
*****************************************************************************
Councilman Joseph M. Woods and
Members of the Harford County Council
212 South Bond Street
Bel Air, Maryland 21014
July , 2009
Dear Councilman Woods and Council Members,
I am
writing about the following properties that have requested rezoning from
agricultural to rural residential: B004, B010, B011, B016,
B018, B019, B020, B024,
B025, B026, B027, B028, B029, B030, B031, B032.
As a resident of Fallston, I ask that you limit
further residential building in the Fallston community for the following
reasons:
Foremost,
the proposed rezoning does not follow the spirit or letter of the Fallston
Community Plan in the 2004 Master Plan that promotes agriculture, restricts
rural residential development and aims to keep Fallston rural.
Furthermore, the neighborhood has not changed and to my knowledge there has
been no mistake in the zoning of these properties.
In addition, (list any
or other considerations that you consider important or items listed in the
bullets above).
Thank you.
Your truly,
Name
Address
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