Howard County council members plan to designate Gov. Warfield Parkway as a scenic road to protect the trees along it from future development
Council Member Ken Ulman, D-District 4, who is running for county executive, pledged to introduce legislation to add the parkway to the list of protected roads under
the Scenic Road Act.
“We?ll have it introduced next month,” Ulman said, after being notified that the deadline for new legislation had passed.
His opponent, Council Member Chris Merdon, R-District 1, said he would co-sponsor the bill.
“I want to preserve the trees,” said Democratic county executive candidate Harry Dunbar, who also supported the proposal.
“I?m opposed to development everywhere.”
No plans have been submitted to develop along the road, Ulman said.
To protect the character of certain roads or parts of roads, the county?s law, passed in 1994, designates them and sets guidelines for development near them.
However, Ulman said the law, which is little more than a set of suggestions and a list of roads, “has no teeth in it,” and vowed to work to strengthen it.
The weakness in the law became evident with the development along Trotter Road, which is listed as a scenic road.
The scenery along the road was affected from the development of Williamsburg Homes, prompting the County Council to include a 35-foot mandatory buffer between the road and wooded areas.
The county should also look at more creative ways to preserve the natural landscape, Merdon said.
For example, county officials should consider transplanting older trees to new lots, which provide fuller greenery to a new development.
“It?s expensive, but it should be considered,” he said.
The Harper?s Choice Village Board members presented this question to candidates running for county executive and the one open District 4 county council seat during Monday?s candidates? forum, hosted by the village board.
The District 4 candidates, Republican Tom D?Asto and Democrats Joshua Feldmark, Mary Kay Sigaty and one who goes by UNcommon Councilman, supported the legislation.
District 4 includes the West Columbia Villages of Dorsey Search, Harper?s Choice, Hickory Ridge, River Hill, Town Center and Wilde Lake, and parts of Clarksville, Highland and Fulton
