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Carroll County zoning board grants continuance for Broadbeck Road conditional‑use case
Summary
The Board of Zoning Appeals granted a continuance for Case 5912, a request for conditional use and a variance for a blacksmith/welding shop at 1300 Broadbeck Road in Hampstead, after the applicant asked for time to obtain legal counsel. The hearing was rescheduled and the county will reissue notice to adjoining owners and those who signed in.
The Carroll County Board of Zoning Appeals on a 4-0 vote granted a continuance for Case 5912, a conditional‑use and variance application for a blacksmith/welding shop on 8.36 acres at 1300 Broadbeck Road in Hampstead.
The applicant or his representative asked the board for a continuance so he could obtain legal counsel. A board member moved “that we grant the request for a continuance to the next available date,” and another member seconded; the motion passed 4-0. The board set the next hearing for March 2 at 9:30 a.m. and said it would send new notices to adjoining property owners and everyone who signed in at the hearing.
The case file includes a December 2015 site visit, multiple letters from neighbors and businesses (including a December 21, 2015 letter from George Renfro and letters from Carrie Stem and Donna Stem), agency memoranda, and a December 14, 2015 review from the Bureau of Comprehensive Planning stating the request “is not inconsistent with the 2014 Carroll County Master Plan.” The transcript record notes the property is in the county’s conservation zone and identified legal citations in the file as local code sections 158.071(d)(10) and 158.04.
Board members discussed the need to balance the applicant’s right to counsel with fairness to members of the public who attended the advertised hearing. The board asked staff to reissue notices to adjoining owners and to everyone who signed in, so those people would receive formal notice of the new date.
At the continuance hearing several members of the public spoke; one attendee, Jennifer Beaker, identified herself as “director of patient access for University of Maryland Medical Center” and questioned why counsel was requested on the day of the hearing. Paul Murphy, who said he is a small business owner, asked the board to speak louder for a hearing‑impaired attendee. The board chair confirmed the hearing was publicly advertised and a site visit had been completed on Dec. 16.
Because the applicant requested a continuance and the board agreed to reschedule the matter, the application was neither approved nor denied; official review and any required site‑plan review will occur after the rescheduled hearing. The board recorded that all parties who signed in and all adjoining property owners will receive updated notice of the March 2 hearing.
