FINKSBURG PLANNING AREA
COUNCIL, INC.
P.O. Box 70
Finksburg, Maryland 21048
Director
Carroll
County Planning Department
225
North Center Street
Westminster,
MD. 21157
Dear
Steve,
It
is my understanding that at the Monday August 9, 2004 Planning & Zoning
Commission workshop two members of the Commission “expressed dismay” with your
Department and encouraged you to remove the 4th. Election District
(4ED) from the proposed Finksburg Corridor Conservation Plan (PLAN). It is further my understanding that those
two members initiated this discussion without any input from the other members
of the Commission or your department.
FPAC
still strongly supports your efforts to include the entire 4ED. I would hope that you would stand by your
pledge to move the entire 4ED forward as part of the PLAN. Please do not the allow views of a few to
override the views and participation of the Finksburg Community in this
most important process.
This
PLAN has been in the planning stages with the Finksburg Community and your
department since the Fall of 2000. You
will recall that the Finksburg Community had one of the highest participation
rates in Carroll County during the planning workshops, the community survey,
and the development of the PLAN. This
indicates that the majority of those participants favored the inclusion of the
entire 4ED since that is where they live – NOT just the “CORRIDOR”. To now exclude the 4ED would contravene all
work and participation that has been done by your Department as well as the
Finksburg Community since the inception of this planning process!
RE: Finksburg Corridor Conservation Plan – cont.
Furthermore,
you will recall that in our meeting of June 28, 2004 we all agreed that it made
more sense to deal with the whole 4ED now since it was 1981 when the
Finksburg Area Comprehensive Plan was last adopted. You specifically said,” It makes good sense to get it done
now”. We all agreed that it made good
sense to deal with all of the 4ED now rather than having the
CPA.designation being stripped and leaving the 4ED PLAN to the County Master
Planning process. Having no PLAN for
the 4ED would not be wise leaving the Finksburg Community vulnerable to
further development for the next several years till the Master Plan could be
revised and adopted.
While
FPAC still strongly supports you in this matter, we are prepared to
withdraw our support if the Finksburg Community does not get the support it
needs in this matter from the Commission or if the citizens notify us
differently as to their views. Our next
FPAC meeting is scheduled for Thursday August 26, 2004. I will keep you informed as to our meeting
outcome.
Please
feel free to call me if you have any questions.
(Please
keep the attached facts in mind when you approach this decision)
Sincerely,
John
Lopez
President
FINKSBURG
PLANNING AREA COUNCIL, INC.
Attachment:
2001
1.
The top 3 reasons people choose to live in FINKSBURG:
1.1.
Rural
atmosphere
1.2.
Feeling
of safety
1.3.
Affordability
of homes
2.
The 3 things people like the MOST about living in FINKSBURG:
2.1.
Rural
setting
2.2.
Quiet
community
2.3.
Location
3.
The 3 things people like the LEAST about living in FINKSBURG:
3.1.
Too
much development
3.2.
Loss
of rural land
3.3.
Traffic
4.
The 3 biggest challenges FINKSBURG will face in the next 10
years:
4.1.
Traffic
4.2.
Development
4.3.
Loss
of farmland
5.
Over 86% of those living in FINKSBURG do not attend any Carroll
County Planning Commission meetings each year.
{The
following numbers in ( ) are based
on an opinion scale of: 2 [strongly
agree] to –2 [strongly disagree].}
1.
FINKSBURG residents support preservation of rural and agriculture land
outside the CORRIDOR. > (1.43)
2.
FINKSBURG residents support conservation measures (zonings) to protect
the Liberty Reservoir Watershed. > (1.35)
3.
FINKSBURG residents are satisfied with the level of opportunity for
residents to provide input on community decisions. > (-0.12)
4.
FINKSBURG residents are satisfied with the level of opportunity to
provide input on County decisions. > (-0.12)
5.
FINKSBURG residents are aware of what is planned for the community in
terms of amount and location of future development as indicated in the
community adopted comprehensive plan. > (-0.62)
(8/23/04)
6.
FINKSBURG residents feel protecting “OPEN SPACE” with in the community
and separating residential, commercial, and industrial subdivision is important
to their quality of life. > (1.58)
7.
FINKSBURG residents feel that the community should increase the amount
of land available for industrial development to provide a stronger tax base and
add jobs. > (-0.71)
8.
FINKSBURG residents support enforcement of zoning ordinances and local environmental
regulations. > (1.05)
9.
FINKSBURG residents support commercial zonings in the MD Rt.140
corridor where existing business zoning can be connected or is contiguous. >
(0.21)
10.
FINKSBURG residents support efforts to help improve the aesthetics in
the MD. Rt.140 corridor. > (1.22)
(8/23/04)