WESTMINSTER, Md. — Hundreds of residents, emergency responders and industry representatives filled a Carroll County public hearing to debate a proposal from Commissioner Susan Krebs to place temporary deferrals on certain types of development in the county’s Freedom Community area.

Residents urged commissioners to pause approvals for self‑storage buildings, multiunit and 55+ developments until zoning text and public‑facility rules are clarified and infrastructure deficiencies are addressed. "When the county went through a comprehensive rezoning process in 2019, over 1,300 properties designations were changed," said Nancy Lynch, who lives adjacent to a proposed storage site. "This is the site of the proposed storage facility in pink surrounded by houses." Many neighbors said rezoning from BNR to C2 allowed uses they consider incompatible with existing single‑family neighborhoods.

The hearing reflected a stark division. Fire and EMS officials, led by Joe Dennis, deputy chief of the Sykesville Freedom District Fire Department, described operational limits that they say raise public‑safety risks if development continues under current codes. "We urge the deferral of any further developments until specific ordinances, codes and requirements address these deficiencies in design and development," Dennis said, listing minimum road widths (he cited a 20‑foot minimum), vertical clearance ("at least 13 feet 6 inches") and unimpaired apparatus access as examples.

Developers, realtors and builders warned that a moratorium would be legally risky and economically damaging. Alex Sandalsman of the Maryland Building Industry Association testified that "there is no evidence of an emergency that would justify putting a moratorium on development projects in the Freedom District," and industry speakers asked for exemptions for projects already in the approval pipeline. Several developers said projects had spent months or years and substantial fees in the review process and asked commissioners to 'grandfather' pending site plans.

Speakers who supported the deferral pointed to traffic fatalities, congestion on Liberty Road and Maryland routes 26 and 32, overloaded schools and stormwater problems. "Planned major streets and roads are designed to offload traffic from the main corridors," said Kathy Martin, who referenced a $34,000,000 budget the county has identified for improvements to Maryland 26. Katie Garrity told the board that Freedom Elementary is "over 118 students over capacity," and asked how the county would accommodate further enrollments.

Other residents described repeated notice and transparency failures: several speakers said they learned about rezoning or road access changes only after plans were advanced. "Our voices are not being meaningfully considered," Rebecca Stover said, describing a crowded 2023 meeting about the same storage facility.

Several speakers urged a middle path: revise zoning chapters, update site‑plan standards and the county’s adequate public facilities requirements (APFO), but allow projects that have advanced far in the pipeline to proceed. Clark Schafer, a zoning attorney, warned that a broad deferral requires a narrow legal basis and evidence of an emergency; he said courts expect concrete, demonstrable harms (for example, ambulances unable to reach patients, or documented school capacity failures) to justify suspending approvals.

Developers and landowners repeatedly requested criteria to exempt projects already in review. Barefoot Land Company and representatives for planned age‑restricted developments asked the board to preserve by‑right processing or to allow site‑plan review to continue for projects that have paid review fees and reached late stages of engineering review.

Commissioners did not take a vote on the deferral ordinances during the hearing. At the end of the session an unidentified meeting participant moved to adjourn; the motion was seconded and the chair declared the meeting adjourned after a voice vote.

What’s next: no formal action on the proposed deferral was recorded at the hearing. Commissioners said they would take the testimony under advisement as they consider possible text amendments, requests for exemptions and whether to refine the legal basis and scope for any temporary deferral.

(Reporting based solely on the public hearing transcript.)