New Apartment Plan Near Hunt Valley Towne Center Depends Upon Old Rules

Summary

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A proposed apartment complex near the Hunt Valley Towne Centre is proving contentious, with parties battling over old rules that hearken back to the mall's beginnings.Wood Partners wants to build a 218-unit apartment building at York and McCormick roads. The project's size, combined with the fact the developer would like to get approval without having to go through the entire review process, has raised objections from people who live near the mall.

Wood is aiming to have its designs classified as a refinement to the 1979 plan that created the Hunt Valley Mall. The shopping center was redeveloped and opened last year by Greenberg Gibbons Commercial Corp. under its new name.The county's Development Review Committee has sanctioned Wood's approach. Some local residents, including members of the Greater Sparks Glencoe Community Council, are appealing. The matter was brought before the county's Planning Board last week, with the support of the planning office, in what some see as a compromise aimed at cooling opposition. We see it as an opportunity to come to a more complete understanding of the project, Jeffrey Long, the office's deputy director, said during Thursday's hearing. The board is considering Wood's filing as an amendment to a Joint Subdivision Planning Committee, or JSPC, plan. JSPC is a review process out of use since 1992. The Planning Board hasn't heard a JSPC case since 1982, the year its members were individually sued by a rejected developer.

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Extract

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New Apartment Plan Near Hunt Valley Towne Center Depends Upon Old Rules

Attorneys spent considerable time Thursday arguing the meaning and context of county codes. One was Arnold Jablon, a former director of the county's Office of Permits and D...

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