Frank Martin squeezed in an appeal to the planned expansion of Turf Valley on Friday, the last day before the Howard County Planning Board?s deadline.
Martin?s appeal states that the Planning Board erred in its April 27 decision to approve a plan to expand the Turf Valley resort by 120 acres, bringing it to a total of 689 acres in Western Howard County.
“The Planning Board failed to correctly apply laws and regulations,” said Martin, co-chairman of Responsible Growth in Our Neighborhood, a nonprofit that opposes the expansion.
The appeal states that the planning board did not allow Martin and Turf Valley residents to make certain motions and provide evidence during hearings, which spanned from August 2005 to April 2006. Some of the evidence was related to environmental and traffic concerns.
“The Planning Board was concerned about process. They wanted the process to be fair on both sides,” said Marsha McLaughlin, director of the Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning. “They met the technical requirements. They spent a lot of time to make sure the process didn?t have flaws in it.”
McLaughlin said the department only refused motions or evidence if they were irrelevant or had been stated.
The Appeals Board “will hear the case on the record from the planning board, and get a transcript, which could take several months, due to the extent of the hearings,” said Robin Regner, administrative assistant to the Howard County Board of Appeals.
No official timeline has been set for the appeal process.
Martin must prove he is personally harmed by the expansion of Turf Valley before the Appeals Board will hear his case. His appeal listed some of the effects of the project.
“The failure of the Planning Board to correctly decide this case adversely impacts the quality of the neighborhood in that it increases the traffic without appropriate planning, negatively impacts the capacity of the school system and the density of development in the area,” said the appeal.
His attorney, Paul Kendall, also filed a petition for an injunction to the Howard County Circuit Court to halt all progress on the expansion of the project until the appeal is completed. A judge will hold a hearing and make a decision about the injunction. Turf Valley developer Louis Mangione did not return repeated phone calls.
At a glance
Turf Valley is a resort, conference center and residential area on 689 acres between Routes 40 and 70 in Ellicott City. The Planning Board approved a 120-acre expansion to the property, which would allow up to 239 houses to be built.
