Four Columbia residents and their attorney say a developer is building more than is permitted by law.
And the Howard County Planning and Zoning Department is allowing it.
“The county office of planning and zoning is breaking the law in approving this,” said Lloyd Knowles, former Howard County Council member, planning board member and zoning board chairman. “You don?t know what else they might be trying to get away with.”
He joins Joel Broida, Stephen Meskin and JoAnn Stolley in an effort to appeal the plan for a high-rise. A second meeting on the appeal is set for Monday.
The group asserts that the county illegally approved plans for a high-rise, owned by General Growth Properties Inc., said Mark Kovach, attorney for the residents.
In the appeal, builder WCI Communities Inc. is represented by Columbia real estate attorney Richard Talkin.
The 22-floor Plaza Residences, to overlook Lake Kittamaqundi across from the Mall in Columbia, would include 160 residential units and 10,697 square feet of retail space.
General Growth Properties Inc. was allocated a limited amount of land for residential development under Columbia?s New Town zoning. The group said the company exceeded its limits when it included about two acres for the high-rise.
The change in the zoning was legal, said Vanessa Kengis, director of sales at WCI, who attended the first hearing.
“We already had an approval,” she said.
But the planning and zoning department decided to extend housing into the company?s approved commercial space in February 2002, said Kent Sheubrooks, county planner for the high-rise project. He said a public hearing, where residents can cross-examine witnesses, was not required.
Kovach said Talkin is attempting to prove that the petitioners cannot have the hearing because they cannot prove the decision harms them personally.
“We?re talking about the government not living up to the rules and regulations that govern us all. The Constitution says one of the basic principles of citizenry is the right to petition your government against wrongdoing. That?s what we?re asking right now,” Knowles said.
Talkin would not comment on the case.
What?s next?
» The continued hearing on the motions for the approval of the site plan for the high-rise will be held at 11 p.m. Monday in the Ellicott Room of the George Howard Building on Court House Drive in Ellicott City.
