This post was contributed by Brian England.
In the planned community of Columbia, auto service and repair has been restricted to gas stations, automotive service parks and to the interior of industrial parks. However, when AAA decided to locate a shop in Columbia, they wanted a more prominent location on a major thoroughfare (in this instance Snowden River Parkway) instead of abiding by the current restrictions.
To avoid public comment on this type of change to the regulations for their proposed Columbia location, AAA, with the assistance of the Howard County administration, the Department of Planning and Zoning and a lax Planning Board, decided to use a process called “Redlining”. Redlining is supposed to be a process that is used for minor changes like small extensions and alterations to buildings. However, in response to citizen concerns about this “unequal treatment” recently a public hearing examiner said, “The regulations were slackened 18 months ago.” The regulations she was talking about were those related to the ‘Redlining”. This has allowed the fast tracking of development that has even has included a 12 story building in downtown Columbia.
Redlines: The Development Engineering Division is responsible for the redline review process which is used when minor modifications or revisions are required for active or inactive commercial site development plans, residential site development plans, road construction plans or public water and sewer plans. The Construction Inspection Division or the Department of Public Works/Bureau of Engineering is responsible for all redline revisions during the as-built process after construction is complete.
You can see from this description that this process is not designed for use on major projects. We understand there are approximately 30 redlines approved per month.
The inappropriate use of the “Redline” process in Howard County is circumventing the planning process. It is taking public input out of the equation. It is against the PELU recommendations, the 2030 General Plan, and it will negatively affect the planned community of Columbia. It is time to put a hold on any large projects that have used this process.
Building an auto shop by the side of a Parkway and even worse, in this case next to a hotel, goes completely against the concept of Columbia, the first Planned Community in the country.
If you are concerned that rules and regulations are being applied unequally, be sure to participate in the comprehensive rezoning process. Hearings begin on Monday, June 10th at 6PM and the changes being made could affect you. For further details see the County Council’s webpage.