Editorial: Elected officials should respect planning commission’s work on Freedom plan – Carroll County Times

After nearly two years of work, the Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved the Freedom Area Comprehensive Plan this week after making a few changes based on feedback it received from the public involving two large tracts of land, the Beatty and Gibson properties.

The residential portion of the Beatty property is designated high density residential. Gibson, meanwhile, which at one point during the planning process was designated for high density residential, was approved as medium density. This is still higher than the low density designation of the previous 2001 Freedom Plan.

While citizens of the Freedom area had argued against the so-called up-zoning of these properties, it makes sense to include some higher density development in this area of the county, one of few places where water and sewer infrastructure exist to support it. Future development here also balances agricultural preservation efforts elsewhere in Carroll.

Of course, the process isnt over quite yet. The plan now moves to the Board of County Commissioners, who have the ability to make significant changes to it prior to final approval, thanks to a state law that went into effect in 2015.

The law gives elected officials in non-charter governments, like Carroll, the ability to modify the plans themselves and remand master planning documents back to the planning commission for specific changes. Previously , county commissioners could only adopt or reject plans, with the latter choice restarting the process.

Thats what happened back in 2009 when the previous board of commissioners rejected the countywide master plan, known as the Pathways Plan. It wasnt until five years later, in 2014, that the countys master plan was finally sent to the commissioners and adopted.

Now, the commissioners have the ability to make minor changes they could simply substitute one word for another or major ones striking the entire document and rewriting it themselves. The planning commission has no power to counter any changes the commissioners may make to the plan, although any modifications would have to go through a public hearing process.

When the law was passed, there was some consternation from planning commission members that giving the county commissioners so much latitude could not only render the planning commissions work futile, but it would also allow elected officials to interject politics into what should be an apolitical document.

One of the final changes the planning commission made prior to approving the 2014 county master plan was to remove a letter outlining the Board of County Commissioners stance on property rights, after speakers at the final public hearing vehemently spoke out against its inclusion, saying it politicized the growth plan.

Theres no question the Freedom Plan was controversial, with hundreds of public comments submitted to the planning commission, many opposing land-use changes included in the plan.

Since Doug Howard, the commissioner who represents the Freedom area, has declared he is not seeking re-election, and presumably the constituents of the four other districts wont be swayed much by what happens in the Eldersburg/Sykesville area, there arent many brownie points to be gained with voters by politicizing the plan.

Still, we are hopeful that even with their newfound powers our elected officials leave politics out of the plan and, save for some minor alterations, respect the months of work of the planning commission in developing a blueprint for growth that is good for both the Freedom area and the county as a whole without making sweeping changes.

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Editorial: Elected officials should respect planning commission's work on Freedom plan - Carroll County Times