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Kamenetz Vetoes Controversial Transit Oriented Development Bill

Bill "contravenes 50 years of regulation" and "is simply not good public policy," according to county executive.

 

UPDATED (6:03 p.m.)—A controversial bill that granted exemptions to the Metro Centre at Owings Mills project will be vetoed, according to County Executive Kevin Kamenetz.

The veto is Kamenetz's first since taking office in December 2010.

The bill passed unanimously Monday by the Baltimore County Council was amended to protect the proposed redevelopment of the Owings Mills Mall and Solo Cup.

Some of the amendments, sponsored by Council Chairwoman Vicki Almond and Councilwoman Cathy Bevins granted exemptions to traffic studies and prohibited county hearing officers from placing additional requirements on the Mall and Solo Cup project known as Foundry Row. Parts of the original bill were also thought to be problematic.

Almond said late Thursday afternoon that she does not expect that the council will attempt to override the veto.

"That would not be my recommendation at this point," Almond said, adding that she would vote against such an attempt.

"My immediate reaction is, after reading it a couple of times, is that the county executive seems to be sending a clear message that the regulatory process and public input are more important than anything," Almond said.

The council passed the bill unanimously to pass the bill Monday night. Five votes are needed to override Kamenetz's veto.

Don Mohler, a spokesman for Kamenetz, said the county executive believes the current development process "serves the county well."

"It allows the public to have input and the county to impose certain conditions," Mohler said. "[Kamenetz] didnt think that this bill moves the county in a direction it ought to move."

Kamenetz, in a statement, said those amendments went too far:

"I am vetoing Council Bill 43-12 because it contravenes fifty years of regulation that mandates public input and government review of development projects in Baltimore County," Kamenetz said in a statement released Thursday afternoon.  "The existing County review process allows consideration of impacts to traffic management and authorizes imposition of conditions to minimize negative impacts.  Significantly altering a process that has served the County well over the years is simply not good public policy."

Councilman Ken Oliver, in a Thursday afternoon interview, said he had only just become aware of the veto and was not prepared to comment.

Oliver was the lead sponsor on the bill.

After the  council vote Monday, Almond called the bill the council's last chance to get the redevelopment of the area right.

"The amendments were for the purpose of allowing future development around this TOD site and to make Owings Mills, which is partly mine and Councilman Oliver's the best that it can possibly be," Almond said Monday night. "This is our last chance to get it right.

"White Marsh went ahead and grew and prospered and Owings Mills did not. Now we have a chance to let that happen. I hope this council can come together to see that all these developments happen and prosper."

Almond said late Thursday that she now will ask the council to delay any attempts to resurrect the bill until after the Planning Board completes its study of transit oriented development issues and makes its recommendations in October.

"I say we leave it alone and come up with a really good piece of legislation after we get the Planning Board recommendations," Almond said.

Related Topics: Baltimore County Council, Bryan Sears, Cathy Bevins, Foundry Row, Ken Oliver, Kevin Kamenetz, Metro Centre, Owings Mills Mall, Solo Cup, and Vicki Almond

number9dream

4:12 pm on Thursday, July 5, 2012

On this fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord 2012, we should give thanks for the strong and principled leadership of County Executive Kamenetz. Mr. Kamenetz has proven time and again that he puts the best interests of his constituents first and foremost in his decision-making process. This TOD project apparently would have been detrimental to the Owings Mills community and Baltimore County as a whole. God bless Mr. Kamenetz!

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Theresa Hall

7:30 am on Friday, July 6, 2012

Oh my Lord, I hope you are being sarcastic....

Ken

4:29 pm on Thursday, July 5, 2012

Good to see Oliver has Kamenetz in his back pocket. Balt. Co. politics will never change.

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K Blue

4:41 pm on Thursday, July 5, 2012

I am not quite following you on your comment. From a prior article: "The bill, sponsored by Oliver and Councilman John Olszewski Sr., Democrats who represent Randallstown and Dundalk respectively, would lift a number of restrictions on transit oriented developments—namely the Metro Centre at Owings Mills. Almond and Bevins amended the bill to protect other nearby developments.....Oliver's bill provides a number of exceptions for the project being built by David S. Brown Enterprises, including allowing changeable copy signs, reductions in required parking and open space, exemptions to school district overcrowding provisions and building height."

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A W

6:18 pm on Thursday, July 5, 2012

K Blue, I didn't understand what was meant just from reading the above article either. But another article - "Tempers Flare Over Owings Mills Development Plan" - about the same topic brings out that Oliver was very against the amendments and was furious that they were added at the late hour.

JDStuts

4:48 pm on Thursday, July 5, 2012

Now he's done it. He has gone and ticked off Jim Smith.

Grab some popcorn, sit back and watch the ensuring clash. The young buck versus the old bull.

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Susan

6:47 pm on Thursday, July 5, 2012

Finally a politician who believes in the law and legal process. The "Brown" bill was merely a favor to a person who contributes a lot of money to campaigns To permit Brown to be exempt for zoning rules and regulations is a slap to the citizens of Baltimore County..

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Obmas

6:53 pm on Thursday, July 5, 2012

Take a look at the circle that was installed at the terminus of the Southbound 795 Metro exit, and you see a perfect example of what exemptions will net the taxpayer. That circle is way too tight and NEVER would have been built that way if State or County road engineers had been involved. It serves to make that exit useless or painful for citizens in Reisterstown to come and shop in Owings Mills anywhere else but Mr. Brown's development. I praise Mr. Kamenentz for the veto. It's only too bad that this didn't happen before county / state roads were re-purposed for the sole benefit of a single private developer.

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Zoobie

7:18 pm on Thursday, July 5, 2012

Much to-do about nothing! If it aint broke, don't fix it. Good job Mr. Co. Exec.

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moe green

7:20 pm on Thursday, July 5, 2012

Kevin is holding out for more money from developers. The council got theirs.

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Darlene

10:36 pm on Thursday, July 5, 2012

White Marsh didn't prosper. Short-term money was made, sure, but it's nothing but unsustainable sprawl that has lost value quickly. Owings Mills has the advantage of the Metro Station. Baltimore County needs to get over the pretense that it's full of rich people in McMansions and gas is going to be cheap for ever and build real, dense, walkable TRANSIT-oriented development in Owings Mills.

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ReisterstownMAN

6:19 am on Friday, July 6, 2012

I say build the WEGMANS and have the other projects go on also.

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John

8:36 am on Friday, July 6, 2012

After the way the York Way project in Dundalk was hanled by Olszewski for one of his friends, I do not trust him to represent the publics best interest.

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Chuck Burton

9:16 am on Friday, July 6, 2012

Why is Owings Mills divided betweeen two councillmanic districts, in the first place? That is no way to handle a "growth area".

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Mike Toohey

8:10 pm on Friday, July 6, 2012

Awsome, Now shut down the metro and get the Bus line out of the Reistestown area and we will be in business.

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