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Politics & Government

Community Skeptical of Vision for Catonsville in 2020

A group with the task of studying Catonsville's strengths and weaknesses shared its findings with the community.

The Catonsville 2020 Advisory Committee got what it asked for Wednesday night — a whole lot of community input.

More than 30 people heard recommendations from the group, which has studied zoning, parking, traffic and other issues within the village area for the past two years as part of a push to improve downtown Catonsville by 2020.

Former committee chairman Brian McFarland, current leader Scott Graham and other committee members and officials led the meeting at the Catonsville Library. It was designed to hear community input.

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While residents seemed to agree with recommendations like free, village-wide WiFi and a more direct pathway between Catonsville and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, several were at odds with how to cope with congestion and attracting new businesses and developments.

Both issues intertwine at the intersection of Ingleside Avenue and Frederick Road, a highly trafficked area that has earned it an “F” from the Baltimore County Department of Planning.

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“That would mean that we can't do any redevelopment or revitalization while that intersection is failing in the Village, which is a problem,” Graham said. If enforced, the county can put a moratorium on all building and development projects surrounding a failing intersection.

Graham said the committee recommended requesting an exemption from the county in order to revitalize the area, but some residents said they didn't want to make a bad situation worse.

“How can you suggest more housing, more retail, when you can't handle what's on the road right now?” asked resident Martin Haggerty.

“If we can make it more of a walkable place – that has to be a good thing,” one attendee said. “When you think of Ellicott City, you think of walking. “

Another attendee said she was unclear about what the committee envisioned.

“Are we trying to be Ellicott City?” she asked.

“We want to be Catonsville,” Graham said. “We want to be a village.”

Committee member and local businessman Craig Witzke said the structures along Frederick Road were originally built as homes and now make it difficult to attract businesses, whose owners want an open, flexible floor plan.

“Businesses like , , and are first-time businesses and made it work, and it's great,” he said. “But new businesses know the decks are stacked against them when they start here.”

Witzke suggested that Catonsville's vitality is reliant on revitalization.

“We've got five vacant store fronts on Frederick Road right now,” Witzke said. “I've never seen it this bad.”

Former councilman Sam Moxley created the committee to help improve Catonsville by the year 2020, but just as Catonsville is not a city with its own government, the group has no official power.

“We have no authority and Baltimore County has no money,” McFarland said.

He encouraged community members and business owners to come together to form business revitalization districts to coordinate efforts, both in the community and with the county.

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