A routine Baltimore County planning board meeting escalated into a fiery debate over bus routes in Randallstown, as activists and residents argued over part of the board?s proposed community plan for the development of the West Liberty Road corridor.
The proposal would guide development along Liberty Road from Brenbook Road to the Carroll County line, said project manager Dave Green.
The plan also calls for state officials to convert a portion of Liberty Road into a two-lane highway with a landscaped median and brick crosswalks. Planters and trees would create a tunnel effect to slow motorists, Green said.
Members of the Randallstown Association for Residents Awareness decried language in the draft that encourages the expansion of public transportation in unde-served commercial areas and complained of buses speeding down quiet residential streets at the Thursday night meeting.
“Randallstown is not a metropolitan area ? it?s a bedroom community,” said RARA member Joan Belt.
“Public transportation would be a threat to not only our children but all residents, because our streets are small,” she said.
Other community members who served on the plan?s advisory committee testified in favor of the plan and said RARA members are advocates of “not in my back yard” legislation.
“At no time were additional buses discussed,” said Bill Bralove, committee member. “Public transportation could be minivans, taxicabs, mobility vans. We have people jumping to conclusions.”
Committee members said the plan emphasizes keeping buses on major thoroughfares such as Liberty Road.
The plan also lays the ground-work for an implementation committee to enforce its policies. Green said concepts for Liberty Road, a nine-mile strip between theBaltimore City and Carroll County lines, began 12 years ago.
The state?s transportation authority hosts its own public meetings on bus-route expansion, Green said.
