Some Finksburg residents remain concerned about a possible automotive repair business on nearly 4.5 acres at the intersection of Old Gamber Road and Route 91 in Finksburg. But the owners of the proposed business say their new neighbors have nothing to fear.
“I would never plan to live next door to a business if I thought it would be an eye sore or decrease property values,” said Ginger DiMaggio, who says her family also plans to build a home on the site where she and her husband wish to relocate their business.
Brian and Ginger DiMaggio, of Finksburg, have appeared before the Board of Zoning Appeals twice already, and their hearing is scheduled to continue in June.
Jim Johnson, president of the Finksburg Planning Area Council, believes the originally proposed 32,000-square-foot facility would be a “particularly bad visual for neighborhood residents and motorists passing through the area.”
Other members of the community have raised concerns over what living near an auto repair business would do to their property values.
Charlie Duvall, who owns the Carroll County Tack Shop, also on Old Gamber Road, agrees with Johnson. “They want to put down a lot of blacktop, and the rest will be a building that would be way too big for our neighborhood.”
The DiMaggios disagree. “The building will be a good deal smaller than 32,000 square feet. Once we start doing the site plan development, there is an additional 30-foot setback for storm water management that would make the maximum size of the facility about 20,000 square feet,” Ginger DiMaggio said, though she said it could be smaller still.
Addressing community concerns, Ginger said, “We thought the zoning appeals hearing was just to see that we could get the use, not to determine size of the building. We?re not at that stage yet. We never intended to alarm anybody to this extent, and we welcome the chance to talk to the community about their concerns.”
