Some Baltimore County residents decried a deal to provide public water and sewer to their aging Randallstown community, calling the deal a thinly disguised plan to make the land more attractive to developers.
Subject to approval from the city, members of the Baltimore County Council earlier this week voted to extend the boundaries of the metropolitan district, opening residents along Randallstown?s Deer Park and Liberty Roads to public utilities. All of the residents signed a petition in support of the request, officials said, but some residents said they were never notified and fear public utilities will only invite more development to their community.
Joseph McGee blasted Councilman Ken Oliver, D-District 4, for his support at the meeting on behalf of McGee?s father, a longtime Deer Park resident.
“I?m sick in my heart,” McGee said. “You?ve brought the city into his backyard and it stinks.”
McGee accused county lawmakers of shifting the “urban-rural demarcation line,” a planning tool that separates areas of intensive development from where development should be limited or discouraged. He and community activist Bill Bralove pointed to a 40-home project proposed for their community that five years ago was in the rurally classified region.
But county officials said the areas approved for public utilities Tuesday were already marked as urban.
“In most cases, the URDL is concurrent with the metropolitan district line, but not always,” legislative secretary Tom Peddicord said. “This was not an extension of the URDL.”
Oliver, who, along with County Executive Jim Smith have accepted campaign donations from the developer of the 40-home project, defended his position against development outside the URDL. He said residents were notified in 2004 their properties might be rezoned, and encouraged them to participate in the comprehensive rezoning process conducted every four years if they want to limit development in their neighborhood.
Bralove, president of Renew Incorporated, an umbrella group of Randallstown and Owings Mills community associations, suggested the county conduct an audit to avoid future shifts that might open more land to development. He said he asked Oliver to table the motion until the county can investigate why the line appears to change.
“I?m not saying anything is wrong,” Bralove said. “I?m just asking for someone to look into it.”
