Planning Board approves Jacksonville Community Plan and forwards it to County Council as Master Plan 2030 amendment

The Baltimore County Planning Board voted Feb. 20 to approve the Jacksonville Community Plan and recommended the plan be forwarded to the County Council for review and adoption as an amendment to Master Plan 2030.

Abigail Rogers, community planner with the Department of Planning, presented the draft Jacksonville Community Plan and summarized the background: the update was authorized by a December 2023 resolution to revise the February 2003 Jacksonville plan (referenced in Master Plan 2030), and much of the data in the previous plan dated to the 1990s. Rogers said the update reflects changes including new traffic and population data, the addition of Sweet Air Park, and a proposed senior center. Rogers described the plan’s primary focuses as land use and zoning within the village commercial core, environmental protections (notably groundwater protection), streetscape and signage guidelines, community services including parks and the volunteer fire department, and traffic-safety objectives such as a right-turn lane at the Four Corners intersection, Blenheim Avenue widening, and a proposed realignment of Stansbury Mill Road.

Rogers identified one specific boundary change the draft plan proposes to the village center: adding the property at 14202 Jarrettsville Pike to the village boundary. That parcel was rezoned during the CZMP 2024 cycle from RC-5 and ROA to BLCR, and the planning staff and community proponents said it made sense to include the parcel within the village designation.

Community representatives from the Greater Jacksonville Association participated in the meeting. David Palmer, president of the Greater Jacksonville Association, told the board that some commercial structures in the village core (including an older restaurant and a former McDonald’s building in the Manor Shopping Center) were vacant or available for lease and that the community preferred modest, village-scale commercial development while preserving surrounding rural residential and farm lands.

Board members asked how the community plan would be incorporated into Master Plan 2030; Rogers said the Jacksonville plan will be forwarded to the County Council and that, if adopted by the Council, it will become an amendment to Master Plan 2030 and will be referenced on the county planning website. The board also discussed whether the plan’s scope focused mainly on the smaller village core (the “orange” village boundary) while the greater Jacksonville study area (a larger yellow area on the plan maps) describes surrounding rural residential and farm lands; staff confirmed the plan’s primary focus is the commercial village center while also describing broader community context.

Following the presentation and public hearing, the board moved and seconded a motion to approve the Jacksonville Community Plan and forward it to the County Council for review and adoption as an amendment to Master Plan 2030. The board conducted a roll-call vote; the motion carried unanimously.

Key elements of the approved plan

- Village-scale design guidelines restricting building height and promoting materials and plantings consistent with rural village character; signage guidelines to reduce visual clutter and encourage consistent signage in the village core. - Groundwater protection measures and recommendations to minimize impervious surfaces and mitigate contamination risk. - Transportation recommendations including a right-turn lane at the Four Corners intersection (Sweet Air Road/Jarrettsville Pike/Paper Mill Road), widening and safety improvements on Blenheim Avenue, and evaluation of Stansbury Mill Road realignment. - A proposed village-boundary amendment to include 14202 Jarrettsville Pike (rezoned to BLCR during CZMP 2024).

The Planning Board’s approval forwards the Jacksonville Community Plan to the County Council for its review and any subsequent adoption as an amendment to Master Plan 2030.