Westminster Planning & Zoning Commission - Regular Meeting

Mhm.

Um, we're going to call the meeting to order starting at 6:00 p.m. Um, Chair Baird submitted his letter of resignation as he's been appointed to the City of Westminster Common Council effective date 4/13/26. Tom, would you have any remarks? I just want to say how much a pleasure it's been to work with you all for the last 3 years or so. Uh, we've had some you know, some big things we had to deal with and we had some other things, but you were always all there and uh, really great to work with. We didn't have contention. We had debate and discussion and we figured things out. That's what really matters, you know. It's what you come out at the end of the day and you come out better if you work together in a proper way to get there. So, I just want to tell you all how much I appreciated working with you. And uh, I'll try to do my best on the council to continue doing good stuff. So, thank you. Well, thank you. We'll miss you. And I'll miss all you guys, too, but I'll see you. One question, how Tom, how things coming? They're going. They're going. It's awesome. That sounds good. Good. It's really good. It's a crazy good. Okay, great. If you don't if you got it on mind, I'm not You don't want to say. Get out while you can. I'm a wonderful place. Contact me if you need to, so. Thank you, Tom. See you all, so. See you down the road. Bye-bye. I will be acting chair until the Planning Zoning Commission has full board for a formal vote. Uh, we'll need the approval of the meeting summary from March 19th, 2026. Um, does anyone get to take a look? Um, I'll make a motion for the approval of the meeting summary for March 19th, 2026. I'll second.

Okay, seeing no objections, may the minutes have been approved. Oh, I guess everybody votes by hands. Right, the minutes have been approved. New business is public hearing annexation number 72, resolution 26 statute three How many LLC? This is going to start at 6:02 p.m. Public hearing has been properly published in the Federal County Times, the Daily All State and the Farmers. Annexation resolution 26 statute three approving annexation 72 and the annexation plan. And my recommendation to the main board council. You did. Can we have a staff report from our senior planner Andrea Larson? Yes. So, you have the packet in front of you. I don't know if it's better for you to look at your packet or on the screen, but you can see here this is the outline of the annexation area. It also includes 140 to make it connect to the other side here, which is part of the city boundary. Does not include Sullivan Road. So, the address is 10 Sullivan Road. That's you if you were out that way today. The sheets is the new sheets we're talking about. It was C2 commercial medium intensity in the county. It is going to be B business zone in the city. Both of the water service area one W1 and sewer service S1. Oh, sorry. A little pain in the side. An annexation agreement was approved by the Mayor and Common Council on December 11th, 2023. This had to do with water purposes. It was 1,335 gallons of water at that time that was needed. Sheets needed that guarantee

before they started to go through the process. I think your photo was not Oh, no, it was not. Yes. I apologize. Just to note that. Yeah, no, I apologize. You have some of the last meeting

Yeah, it is. I am so sorry. Just for the record. Yeah, no, just for the record. I apologize. Um It was introduced to Mayor and Common Council on February 9th, uh 2026. Then forwarded to Carroll County in the state of Maryland for their review um and distribution on February 10th. It went to the Carroll County Planning Commission on March 17th and then went to the uh Board of County Commissioners on March 26th for their review. Um they did sign a comment letter. However, we um that'll be included when it goes to the Mayor and Common Council. We didn't get that in time for it to go to um for this commission. So, but the Mayor and Common Council will get a copy of that. There were no comments. They didn't have any comments. There wasn't anything that was um that needed to be brought up or anything. And then um the next public hearing is with the Mayor and Common Council on April 20th. So, the recommendation that we have um is that um that the Planning Commission forward Resolution 2603 of Padanaram Road Annexation 72 to the Mayor and Common Council with a favorable recommendation. And we're here to answer any questions you might have. Does anybody wish to speak? Yeah, I'm John McGuire. Uh I represent Sheets. I'm here to answer any questions if you have any. What's being proposed is consistent with the annexation agreement that's been out there for years now. Do you also have your address, your name and address?

Oh, um, 189 East Main Street, Westminster, 21157. And just to refresh everybody's memory, this is the project where where they processed through the county, but we had an annexation agreement once the construction was completed that they would officially annex into the the city. Yes. And that's what this is about right now cuz the project is obviously complete. I think they opened this morning.

running. So, um, so this is just kind of uh really a formality at this point. Uh with that, part of the annexation agreement is that the applicant did meet city requirements for setbacks. They did get a modification to the rear setback. It met landscape requirements of the city design preference manual. So, these were all reviewed by the city as it went through the county process as agreed upon by staff. So, there wouldn't be a non-conformity issue coming into the city. So, we were part of that site plan review even though it was completely under county review and planning commission review. Yeah, but it never came to our planning commission because it was processed through Carroll County's planning commission. Yeah. Um, cuz I know there was I remember going to a public hearing or two in that regard um, just cuz I know that there was some contention regarding um, traffic at at different points in the process. I I know that what they ended up doing you know, made it better, but there were some people, I guess, that sort of wanted them to solve all the world's problems uh with their redevelopment. That's correct. The city was satisfied with their improvements. Yeah. Okay. Does anyone else any questions? Well, then I'll go ahead and make a a motion uh that the Westminster uh City of Westminster Planning and Zoning Commission for resolution number 2603 annexation 72 to the city of Westminster mayor and common council with a favorable favorable recommendation. Second. All in favor. I. I. Motion passes. With that and the final the end of this public hearing is 608 p.m. Thank you. Have a nice evening. Good night.

So old business map amendment ZMA 2401 the Willows approval of recommendation letter to the mayor and common council on 40 acres. There's a report from the director of community planning and development Mark DeCesare. Keep this short. So ultimately as you recall the the planning zoning commission spent several meetings discussing the layout and architecture. As I've This is the option that the planning zoning commission back. That's the answer to that. I'll just jump. This is the option that planning zoning commission accepted. You can see the open space within the buildings themselves two over two 40 units. Again, nothing new. You see this multiple times. And then also as part of the approval planning commission forwarded the architectural elevations to the mayor and common council. And one of the elements that was an issue was the this corner element. You can see this white area that's kind of bumping out in the corner. That wasn't there previously. They added this as recommended by the planning zoning commission. I know there's still some elements to the look of it whether it should be white or different type of material. Um but ultimately And then another and then option this is option A and the planning commission also forwarded option B. As well. One more. I know. This analysis is not

See the mayor and common council so that's a recommendation letter uh just outlines your reviews, your compli- I've demonstrated compliance with the zoning ordinance and forwarding these two options to the mayor and common council for review and approval. Ultimately, I think you're asking that the mayor and common council choose between option A and option B. Um ultimately at the end of the day, uh well there'll be ordinance that's introduced to the mayor and common council. With that ordinance we'll have two exhibits. Exhibit one will be the um option of the design layout and the other exhibit will be of whatever option A or B of architecturally choose. May would go with the ordinance themselves. Um and I want to clarify also once the as the ordinance goes forward, if it gets approved with those two exhibits, it still has to come back to the planning zoning commission for a site plan review. So you're not locked in. This isn't locking the design. You can still modify anything with that design, anything with the architecture within reason. You're going to You just have to approve anything you approve has to be um consistent with what is being provided and approved as part of these exhibits in the ordinance. So when it comes back to the planning and zoning commission, the planning and zoning commission still has the power to kind of refine the plans, but the the plans that the mayor and common council approve, whatever the planning and zoning commission ends up approving, has to be in the same for lack of a better way of saying the same ballpark. Is that correct, Mr. DuPont?

Yes, it is. It can't be the It can't be something totally different than but there's further refinement that the planning and zoning commission can do cuz this is going to go up to the mayor and common council which the mayor and economic council is pulling the zone down on and attaching these exhibits and then that pulls down the zone and then the applicant can submit a site plan to us that's in line with what we what is approved by the mayor and economic council. Exactly. You you would be approving the whatever you're approving needs to be consistent with what the mayor and economic council are approving, but yes, you can refine it. Yeah. And it doesn't after really the mayor and economic council zone and pulling down the zone because it's not everyone is going back to them after they pull down the zone. Yes. It says the final approval is here. Yes. Of the site plan. That's correct. Okay. Um I do have one other question. I just I noticed there was some discussion around the open space and all of that. And so, this is a situation that I just want to make sure it's clear in my mind and clear for the applicant, even though they're not here, but um clear for us. This is a situation where this project, because of the way it's designed, is not going to be able to meet our our code is what we consider desirable open space. So, we as a city are probably not going to want to take that open space. Their HOA or whatever governing authority they have will maintain the open space, but they're going to end up having to pay some sort of fee in lieu of on a per acre basis or something like that. Is that correct?

That's correct. So, when you go through the planned development process, you have to provide 20% of the net area for open space, common open space. The first thing we look at is whether that common open space is large enough acceptable for the city, especially dedicated to the city. Uh we've met with Abby Gruber, the director of Rexin Park, and this the open space in the area for this property just doesn't provide enough enough open space to use all that would be for city residents to come by. So, the planning zoning commission can then, instead of accepting it, they require that the property owners association, HOA, or whatever it is, owns and maintains that open space, and then they pay a fee in lieu of to the city um for that open space.

a fee in lieu of for the full 20% then because we were not taking it. Whatever it's it's a acreage in lieu of, so whatever the acreage of 20% of the net area, that's what you would be asking for for fee in lieu of. So, because the the community is still getting open space, but not maybe as much as So, the idea is then the city's compensated so we can provide additional open space for the overall community. Yes. Okay. And this the planning zoning commission did this with the recent apartment building, I can't remember what the name of it um Westwood Place? West Weston Weston Street. The Abbys. The Abbys. Abby Place. The by the the Is that the one that I W T? T Muck off of Mulligan. The town

Yeah. So, again, they provided their open space, but it was a hill, and they had an area for a path system, but it wasn't usable for recreation purposes. So, again, we didn't accept the open space for usable for the city residents, and they paid a fee in lieu of. But again, they still met the requirements of open space with the plan. Now, I know we're looking at some of our fees connected to to that they're going to pay they're not going to that they'll have to pay whatever the fee is when they go to submit a site plan to us. That's correct.

Or when it the it's approved, I guess, I guess, or So, if they're not done for a year, whatever the fee is at that time is what they'll be paying. That's correct. Okay. Is there any other discussion? And I would like to make a motion to send favorable recommendation to the mayor and common council for zoning map amendment ZMA 24-01, rezoning map amendment request by certain real property from the R7-500 residential zoning to the planned development 9-2. You have a motion? He can't make a motion. I'm saying I'm Oh, you're making I would like to make a motion. All right. Okay, as stated. As stated, correct. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Motion passed. Well, it doesn't look like we're having having any of the Carol nothing but liaison report. Um Does uh Does anyone have questions or have any other items? Does anybody have any items? Uh What if I Is there a time left where I can thank you for your service? For 3 years you got to get out of here before everyone could thank you for your service. Thank you guys for your service. Put it in the minutes. Thank you. Well, and it's not like this planning and zoning commission won't be seated. You know, it's not not going very far. And and we also every election cycle um we reconstitute who our committee chairs or who serves as ex officio. So, Lord knows he might be here instead of me next time. It's just that we can't have two council people serving as ex officio. So, that's So, that's not for that

position. He He's the one who had to resign, not me. But he might change your mind in a year from now. So who seconded? I would second. All in favor. I. What is the next new one? Eight. Thank you. Thank you very much. What is the next one? Next one is