Carroll County to study Freedom corridor zoning after concerns about 2019 rezoning
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Summary
Staff described differences among C1, C2 and C3 commercial zones and bulk requirements and presented three options (text amendments, overlay/floating zones, or a small-area plan). The board directed staff to scope a Freedom-area small-area plan and asked a consultant to review countywide zoning.
Speaker 4, the planning staff presenter, opened the discussion by tying the current review to a prior deferral on self-storage and the Freedom Community Comprehensive Plan, saying, “What I'm gonna present to you today is associated with the self storage deferral, but sort of an expansion of that discussion.”
Staff showed maps and summarized the three commercial districts in the county: C1 (low-intensity, neighborhood retail), C2 (medium-intensity, broader retail/professional uses) and C3 (high-intensity, regional uses). Speaker 4 listed differences in permitted and conditional uses, noting that “self-service storage facility is 1 of those uses that is a permitted use in c 2 and not allowed in c 1,” and that hospitals and amusement parks are principal permitted uses in C3.
On bulk standards, staff said the current code sets a 50-foot maximum height for nonresidential uses that is reduced to 35 feet where a commercial property adjoins residential property; rear yard setback is 15 feet, side yard 10 feet and front yard 10 feet. Speaker 4 summarized that “If it adjoins property in a residential district, in which case the height max is 35.”
Commissioners and participants pressed staff on what changed with the 2019 rezoning. Speaker 3 offered a sustained critique of that conversion from former Business Neighborhood Retail (BNR) and Business General (BG) into C1/C2/C3, asserting that many former neighborhood parcels were placed into C2 and that the outcome broadened permissible uses. Speaker 3 said the result was confusing for residents and argued several times that “they should've been c 1.”
Staff presented three options to address the issue: (1) a text amendment to revise uses and bulk requirements (countywide effect but surgical), (2) an overlay or creative zoning tools specific to the Freedom area (overlay, floating zone, incentive zoning or design guidelines), and (3) a small-area plan amendment to reassess Freedom-area land-use designations and then rezone as appropriate. Speaker 4 explained overlay districts could add area-specific requirements without changing the underlying zoning and floated a Boulevard-style overlay or a floating zone as alternatives.
After discussion about scope and impacts, a majority of participants favored concentrating initial work on the Freedom corridor rather than a countywide rewrite. Speaker 8 framed the preference: “I think that's where we need to look.” Staff and commissioners agreed to begin scoping a small-area plan for Freedom and to have the soon-to-be-hired consultant review the county's zoning code and bulk requirements and return recommendations that may include an overlay for Freedom or other targeted changes.
The board did not adopt any text amendment or regulatory change during the meeting. Instead, the board gave direction to staff to prepare parameters for a Freedom small-area plan, to engage the Planning Commission in the study, and to use the consultant review to inform any future text amendments or overlay design.
Ending: The meeting set next steps for staff to write a scope for the small-area plan and requested the consultant report back with countywide zoning recommendations; no formal zoning actions were approved at this session.
