Sykesville BZA hears Thrive appeal over whether Parcel B site plan must trigger Warfield PEC amendment

The Sykesville Board of Zoning Appeals heard competing legal and technical arguments Feb. 4 over whether a proposed assisted-living facility on Parcel B of the Warfield Planned Employment Center (PEC) must wait for a formal PEC amendment before the town will accept a site plan.

Mister Bowersock, counsel for the applicant Thrive, told the board he was asking the body to proceed with Thrive's appeal of the town manager/zoning administrator's Aug. 28, 2025 letter that concluded the Parcel B proposal is inconsistent with the approved PEC preliminary plan and therefore requires an amendment. "We're asking to move forward with Thrive's appeal of the zoning, administrator, town manager's decision in case 2025DashO4," counsel said.

Why the dispute matters: the PEC process is a multi-step master-plan workflow intended to preserve coordinated development across Warfield's parcels. If the zoning administrator is correct, the applicant must pursue a PEC amendment (concept, preliminary or a combined preliminary step under the code) before the planning commission will consider a site plan; if the applicant is correct, the developer could proceed first with parcel-level preliminary/final site-plan review and later update the PEC documents.

In testim…