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More homes nixed By MARGOT MOHSBERG, Kent Island Staff Writer The Queen Anne's County Board of Commissioners yesterday denied a rezoning request for a proposed 175-home community on Kent Island, stating such intense development wasn't warranted. "I just don't think we believe it's the best use of growth allocation," said Commissioners President George O'Donnell, D-Queenstown. Ellendale Farm LLC needed the commissioners' preliminary approval to rezone 34.14 acres of Critical Area land within the 90-acre property off Route 50 in Stevensville from Resource Conservation to Intense Development. Without the commissioners' approval, the developer John Dixon, who has business ties on Kent Island, cannot apply for the necessary approval from the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission. Ellendale attorney Michael R. Foster of Stevensville could not be reached for comment yesterday. The commissioners' decision, however, does not mean the project is dead in the water, according to County Administrator Mark Belton. He said the developer can redesign the project, reducing the number of homes developed in the critical area of the property and clustering them in the non-critical area. "The project is killed as far as its current form, but (the commissioner's decision) doesn't kill it overall," Mr. Belton said. "They can certainly submit at a lower density and therefore they would not need growth allocation." This is the second blow to the project. In June, the commissioners slammed the door on all proposed development in areas not slated for sewer expansion. The commissioners' decision to not give utility access to any new housing or commercial projects for up to nine months tripped up only one project -- Ellendale. The commissioners, in making the decision, said they were awaiting the outcome of their court appeal of the planned Kent Island Wal-Mart, which will affect county decisions including mapping, sewer and water allocation and growth allocation. The Court of Special Appeals
isn't expected to rule until early next year on the county's appeal of
Circuit Court Judge John W. Sause Jr.'s April 30 decision that the commissioners
had unfairly denied utility access to the developers.
Published October 24,
2001, The
Capital, Annapolis, Md.
(From KIDL: If a 175 house development using 34 acres of Critical Area is called "intense development" and not the "best use of growth allocation" then what is 1350 housing units using 372 acres of Critical Area land called? Answer: Four Seasons)
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