FINKSBURG PLANNING AREA COUNCIL, INC.
P.O. Box 70
Finksburg, Maryland 21048
July 16, 2004
Board of County Commissioners
225 North Center Street
Westminster, Maryland 21157
Dear Commissioners:
On behalf of the Executive Board of the Finksburg Planning Area Council, Inc., I am writing
to express our displeasure that an employment campus is to be included in the proposed
Finksburg Corridor Conservation Plan (hereinafter "plan"). This plan is to be presented by the
Planning Department to the Planning and Zoning Commission on Tuesday, July 20, 2004.
On July 7, 2004, 1 learned formally that an employment campus, for approximately 150
acres of property adjoining the Gerstell Academy, is to be included in the proposed
Finksburg plan. In the more than 24 months this plan has been in the works, there has been no
official public mention of an employment campus in Finksburg. Such a proposal is flawed for
many reasons, but this letter will contain only our major concerns at this time.
With the adoption of the proposed plan, Finksburg will no longer be a community planning
area, or CPA. An employment campus should go in planned growth areas only. Finksburg,
which lacks public water or sewer and with its close proximity to the Liberty Reservoir, is illequipped to handle such a large project as an employment campus. More specifically, the
proposed site in Finksburg is contiguous to the North Branch of the Patapsco, an
environmentally sensitive area. Additionally, due to the lack of public water and sewer for the
Gerstell site the project would be forced to have its own "proposed alternative sewer system"
without a provision in the governing ordinance for monitoring such a system.
Board of County Commissioners
July 16, 2004
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Ordinance No. 04-02, Employment Campus District, § 223-205, includes as purposes
and objectives the campus should be "clean and obtrusive to surrounding properties....".
Additionally, the Employment Campus District should "minimize the disturbance
to neighboring properties." In the instant matter, an employment campus district
at the Gerstell site would actually uproot those residents of Todd Village, a
mobile home village, currently on the site. One can hardly say that a maximum
allowable building height of 120' would produce a building that is "unobtrusive
to the surrounding properties...." The Gerstell property is surrounded by old
and new residential developments alike that would likely find their properties
devalued by neighboring 120' buildings, spoiling the character of the otherwise
pastoral area.
Instead of proposing an employment campus district for the Gerstell property, Finksburg and
the County could better be served by rehabilitating and infilling those commercial sites
along Rt. 140 from Rt. 91 to the Baltimore County line. In short, do not rezone and develop
additional open space by approving an employment campus district in the proposed
Finksburg Corridor Conservation Plan.
Cordially,
John Lopez
President
CC: Mr. Steve Horn, Planning Dept.
Planning & Zoning Commission
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