Four years after a group of 20 residents and community leaders made recommendations for the improvement of the Route 40 corridor, Howard County planners have not released a design manual based on those suggestions.
A design manual, which would be codified by the County Council, would help guide development along the Ellicott City stretch.
“We urge you … to ask the Department of Planning and Zoning before the end of the year to produce a design manual,” Grace Kubofcik, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Howard County, told the council at a recent hearing.
The issue of a Route 40 design manual was raised as the council is considering a bill to create a design advisory panel, which would review developments in areas where an approved design manual exists.
Without a manual, planners can?t enforce certain design elements, such as reducing sign clutter or planting trees.
Angela Beltram, a member of the Route 40 task force, echoed the sentiment, saying it was her “wishful thinking” that a design manual would be released.
Council Chairwoman Courtney Watson, D-District 1, said the council would take up the issue during budget work sessions.
County planners have their hands full with several other initiatives, such as infill legislation, downtown Columbia redevelopment and the Design Advisory Panel, said Kim Flowers, deputy director for the Department of Planning and Zoning.
“We really would like to bring some of those to completion so once we resume work on Route 40, we can give it the proper attention it deserves,” Flowers said.
Although she couldn?t give an exact date for release, she said Route 40 is “definitely still on our radar.”
“We would have loved to have been able to tackle this earlier, but currently we are in the situation we are with a number of endeavors we really want to bring to completion,” she said.
