FOH Special Interest Items

Maryland Court of Appeals Decision on Master Land Use Plans (Terrapin Run, Allegany County).
Quoting 1000 Friends of Maryland: "Developers propose to plop 12,000 people in a rural area of Allegany County that does not have the infrastructure to accommodate them. The development, Terrapin Run, violates the county’s comprehensive development plan. This plan represents countless hours of citizen, business and local officials’ efforts to thoughtfully design where and how the county should grow. Unfortunately, the Maryland Court of Appeals decided that local governments do not have to follow their comprehensive plans and therefore not follow citizen input."

Friends of Harford endorses the position of 1000 Friends of Maryland. We encourage you to
read further details on their site and sign their petition.
For additional background, see the court ruling itself and a Cumberland Times article about the proposed development where this challenge began.

Gravel Hill Rubblefill: The Hearing Examiner's recommendation against the variances requested for the rubblefill was appealed to the County Council at its session on Tuesday, 5 Jun at 7:30 pm. The Council supported the recommendation of the hearing examiner. This decision is now in appeal in the court system .... again. Read about the history dating back to 1989.
Mixed Office Project on Rte 543 at I 95: "James Run". The first project under Harford County's new Mixed Office zoning category was also the first significant test of the new county law requiring public input meetings on new development projects. Friends of Harford supports Mixed Office zoning for the site under consideration. However, we believe that the concept presented by the developer at the public input meeting is not in conformance with the intent of the MO legislation.

Harford County draft Priority Preservation Area Plan, October 2007 Required by state law, this plan designates the Lower Deer Creek Valley Rural Legacy Area as our Priority Preservation Area.
Deer Creek Watershed Restoration Action Strategy , July 2007. This joins the April 2003 Bush River Watershed Management Plan.
Deer Creek Water Availability Study, by Susquehanna River Basin Commission, May 2008. The objectives of the Water Availability Study are to inventory and assess key water resources of the Deer Creek Watershed, establish an estimated sustainable yield from the watershed, describe and inventory current water uses, project demands for different use sectors, and evaluate potential issues and problems related to future water availability through the year 2025.