Carrolls Board of County Commissioners will meet on Wednesday, Sept. 6, for its first discussion of the Freedom Community Comprehensive Plan.

The commissioners will meet with the Carroll County Planning Commission from 6 to 8 p.m. in Room 003 of the Carroll County Office Building in a joint session that is open to the public, although no public comment will be accepted. Public hearings for that purpose will be conducted at later dates.

The Freedom Plan creates a guide for future long-term growth in the South Carroll area, in terms of roads, resources and future land use designations, which can then guide future zoning changes. State guidelines require the plan be updated every 10 years, but it was last updated in 2001 the planning commission spent the past year drafting a new plan, which it accepted in April.

The planning commission voted on July 18 to approve that plan, which is now coming before the county commissioners for further public debate. The county commissioners can either adopt the plan as is, reject it, sending it back to the planning commission or make changes to and then adopt the plan.

Adoption of the plan is the official term for voting to finalize and enact it.

By meeting jointly, Matt Helminiak, president of the planning commission said, the hope is that the board of commissioners can learn the background behind the decisions made for the plan before debating it.

As we were getting feedback, writing the plan, writing the other chapters, we made changes to certain properties based on feedback we were getting both from the public and the commissioners, he said.

Things changed multiple times, and this gives the commissioners a chance to ask us to explain our reasoning for why things are the way they are in the plan.

The risk otherwise, and what has happened in the past, said Commissioner Dennis Frazier, R-District 3, who has served as an ex-officio member of the planning commission since December, is that the Board of Commissioners would dig into a decision they questioned and end up relitigating the same arguments the planning commission had already spent many hours working through.

On the surface it might look like, I dont agree with that, but once they hear all the deliberation that went into it, they say, Ah, I understand now, he said. It makes sense to have a joint meeting like this to see exactly what the process was gone through by the planning commission, and then the board of commissioners can make much more informed decisions about what they want to change and what to keep.

That power of the commissioners to change some parts of the plan and to keep others, is actually rather new under state law, according to Helminiak.

Usually the way the process works is the planning commission writes the plan, votes on it, puts a bow on it, sends it off to the commissioners for their review and approval or disapproval, he said.

In the past, that meant that if the commissioners could not agree on a sticking point, they would have to send it back to the planning commission to start over from the beginning.

That happened with the county master plan the last time around, Helminiak said, referring to the rejection of the 2009 Pathways Plan. They did not have the tool in their toolbox of being able to modify a plan and it was just accept or reject, and they rejected the county master plan and sent it back and we had to rewrite it.

By beginning with a joint meeting to avoid unnecessary duplication of effort, and using the boards new powers to make changes to the Freedom Plan, Frazier hopes the commissioners will be able to move quickly to adopt a final plan and meet the requirements of state law.

I do think its helpful, he said. If theres one or two things the Board of Commissioners doesnt like about it, they can make one or two changes, instead of saying, I dont like this and because of this were not going to accept the Freedom Plan, which I think would be a terrible mistake.

Helminiak is optimistic that will not happen.

I think it will be a positive experience, he said. Even when they disagree with us, [the commissioners] are a thoughtful group who have our best interests as a county at heart.

The next steps in the process will be to hold at least two public hearings for public comment in the Freedom area, Frazier said.

We also want to have it streaming and online and so forth for people that cant make the meeting and everyone has a chance to see what is going on, he said.

After that, any necessary changes will be made, and, hopefully, Frazier said, the board will vote to adopt the Freedom Plan.

I think its a really well thought-out plan. A lot went into it. I dont see it not moving forward, he said. Im not saying there wont be a change or two, but I dont see it not going forward.

If you go

What: Joint meeting of the Carroll Board of County Commissioners and Planning Commission on the Freedom Community Comprehensive Plan

When: 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 6

Where: Room 003, Carroll County Office Building, 225 N. Court St., Westminster

No public comment will be accepted at this meeting, but at least two future public hearings will be held at later dates. Public comments may also be sent by email to commissioners@ccg.carr.org.

Recordings of all the meetings will be available online at http://www.youtube.com/user/carrollcountygov.

For more information, contact Roberta Windham at 410-386-2043.

jon.kelvey@carrollcountytimes.com

410-857-3317

twitter.com/CCT_Health

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County Commissioners to take up Freedom plan at Sept. 6 meeting - Carroll County Times