February Meeting: Perhaps the biggest advance made in the history of FPAC will occur this March 15th as we launch the first edition of the Freedom & Finksburg Banner. This journal style newspaper will be distributed to every residence and business in the Finksburg area – over 4,000 addresses, plus approximately 17,000 in the Eldersburg area. This is a tremendous opportunity for FPAC to express its concerns to a much larger audience, growing its memberships and article contributors. Mike Naused, President of the Freedom Area Citizens Council which initiated the Banner will be at our meeting to discuss distribution of the newspaper and the opportunities for future articles and advertising. This is the first chance local merchants will be able to target their advertising to their Finksburg clientele. Advertisements sold in this first edition will cover all of the costs of mailing and printing the Finksburg edition. Join us and learn what a powerful tool the Banner has become in representing the concerns of Eldersburg – what a powerful tool future quarterly editions will be for Finksburg. We will also be looking for your opinions on how we should grade the Commissioners with our next FPAC Scorecard.

February Presentations: MD State Police Trooper Beck will update us on area crime reports; Barb Larkin from Chocolate Connections and Wayne Myers from Sunbelt Rentals will give us information on the history of their businesses and their products / services.

SNIPES! : Snipes are those awful, trashy looking real estate signs that crop up on weekends throughout our community. They are illegal when placed on State Highways but enforcement is difficult and there are loophole that let the companies paying for the signs to slip from responsibility. An ordinance which will tighten the loopholes and make both the person putting the signs up as well as the company paying for them subject to the fines. Companies other than developers have recently been putting Snipes up throughout Finksburg. We urge you to e mail, call or write your State Delegates to vote in favor of House Bill 1079 as soon as possible.

FPAC Board Nominations: Election of FPAC Board members is scheduled for April. Now is the time to speak up if you would like to become a member of the Board. We anticipate a few openings on the Board due to bylaw mandated retirements, most notably Treasurer and Communications Director. This is your opportunity to have more say in the direction of your Finksburg Planning Area Council. Board members meet once monthly on the first Wednesday evening of every month to decide on short and long term goals of the Council. Please contact Secretary Mary Lewis at the phone number posted below if you would like to nominate someone – or yourself.

Phase II Rezonings The Commissioners appear to be in a holding pattern on the Phase II rezonings. It is our understanding that they prefer to adopt Employment Campus Overlay zoning and eliminate some of the conditional uses in the Industrial Zone before moving forward, if forward is the appropriate word.

Billboards in Finksburg. Commissioners Frazier and Dell refused to place a moratorium on billboards in Finksburg or any other part of the County. Commissioner Frazier stated that "A moratorium might not be necessary because there aren’t that many spaces in appropriately zoned areas left for billboards." Donald Dell chimed in with the remark "Where do you draw the line, How many is too many?" [Perhaps it is the twenty billboards located on Rt. 140 within the one mile between Sandymount & Bethel Roads?]

Subdivision News: The Davidson Property, the last large farm left on Lawndale Rd near Sandymount has filed for subdivision using the infamous ZORC amendment (#01-11) to increase its lot yields in the Conservation Zone. FPAC has cautioned the Planning Commission against approving any plans trying to use this ordinance.

• Save a Stamp: Receive your newsletter electronically. Send your e-mail address to dan@finksburg.com.
• Mark Your Calendar: General Council meetings are the 4^th Thursday of the month at the Sandy Mount United Methodist Church. Meetings begin at 7 PM. Due to the Passover and Easter holidays, the March meeting will be held on the 21^st. Board meetings are the usually 1st Wednesday of each month. The next Board meeting will be held on March 3, 2002.
• Directions to the Meetings: From the West take Rte 140 East to the intersection at Sandymount Rd. Turn South (right) on Sandymount to the Stop sign. The Church is immediately to your left, straight across from the Stop.