AG/RC Proposed Changes From Frederick News Post
2008.05.07
County seeks input during zoning review
Originally published May 07, 2008
By Meg Bernhardt
News-Post Staff
Should Frederick County allow nursing homes next to farms? Should it allow wine-tasting rooms next to vineyards or prevent shooters from using lead bullets at ranges?
The Frederick County Commissioners are inviting public input as they complete a review of the zoning ordinance for agricultural and resource conservation areas.
Planning staff members have compiled a long list of recommendations to address issues that have been raised with the current ordinance, and the commissioners have held three meetings to give guidance on what they think about those changes.
After they have finished looking at all the changes, they will take a final list to public hearing to receive comment. Then, they could go back and make revisions and take it to another public hearing.
And that's just two zoning designations -- the commissioners hope to examine the rest over the next several years.
"This is not quick," said Commissioners President Jan Gardner. "Much of this has been studied for four years."
Many of the recommendations are based on direction given in 2003 by a resident review committee.
Others are based on commissioners' ideas.
For instance, Commissioner John L. Thompson Jr. proposed eliminating golf courses from the agricultural zone in December, but faced opposition from the other commissioners. Thompson believes golf courses shouldn't be allowed because they don't involve animal husbandry.
The commissioners decided instead to propose a "floating zone" for outdoor recreational use, which would allow the county to approve a rezoning anywhere in the agricultural zone if they wanted a golf course placed there.
They could also choose not to approve the new designation if they didn't believe a golf course was appropriate for a specific site.
The outdoor recreation floating zone is just one of the changes the commissioners are incorporating into their review.
Though agriculture and resource conservation zones sound like they would involve simple uses, the commissioners are faced with a long list of possibilities, ranging from fairgrounds to child care centers to neighborhood-sized churches to colleges.
Commissioner David Gray said he was pleased the commissioners were taking a comprehensive look at the ordinance.
"We're making more progress on some of these things than we have in eight years," he said.
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