Rezoning

Reversing a previous straw poll, the Hagerstown City Council on Tuesday tentatively voted to allow a longstanding rezoning request for a large former industrial property on Pangborn Boulevard. The owner of the land, Pangborn Corp., submitted a request to rezone the property at 580 Pangborn Blvd. from Neighborhood Mixed-Use, or N-MU, to Professional Office Mixed-Use, POM, on the grounds that a mistake was made by city officials when the property was comprehensively rezoned in 2010.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. -- The Washington Township (Pa.) Supervisors agreed Monday to send information about five locations slated for possible rezoning to county authorities for their review. Affected are 19 existing houses in the 14000 block of Harbaugh Church Road, Bayside Homes on Mentzer Gap Road and 15 parcels in the 14000 block of Buchanan Trail East near the intersection with Old Route 16. Those would change from R2 (medium-density residential) to R1 (low-density residential)

Rezoning 44.9 acres in the south end of Waynesboro would open up that land to future development, although no specific plans exist, the property owner said Monday. Dave George, of D.L. George & Sons, said his family took ownership of the land when it purchased the adjacent former Landis Tool Co. complex in 2009. Now, their corporation, GEOFAM, is seeking to rezone the site near Cemetery Avenue, Old Mill Road and Ninth Street. If approved by the Waynesboro Borough Council, the land would be rezoned from medium-density residential to industrial.

After years of study, three public hearings and adjustments to accommodate hundreds of individual requests, Washington County on Tuesday passed a comprehensive Urban Growth Area rezoning meant to concentrate growth in the area around Hagerstown. The rezoning, which takes effect July 1, rezones many properties and makes broad changes to zoning rules in the roughly 35,000-acre growth area. Among other changes, no land within the UGA will have designated agricultural zoning, though agricultural land use will continue to be permitted.

Terry Baker, president of the Washington County Board of Commissioners, tried unsuccessfully Tuesday to convince other commissioners that the county's comprehensive rezoning of the Urban Growth Area should coincide with the introduction of a system of transferable development rights. Transferable development rights, or TDRs, have been advocated by some as a way of compensating rural landowners for equity they lost in 2005, when the county reduced the development density allowed in rural areas.

Thirty residents who oppose a property rezoning near their neighborhood showed up at the Washington County Commissioners meeting Tuesday afternoon. The commissioners gave them what they wanted, defeating the rezoning application on a 4-0 vote. The rezoning had been requested by 632 Joint Venture, a general partnership, on 10 acres on the southeast side of Downsville Pike near its intersection with Halfway Boulevard, north of Interstate 70. The partnership sought a change in zoning from residential multi-family to highway interchange.

Council approves rezoning requests By DAN KULIN dank@herald-mail.com The Hagerstown City Council gave final approval Tuesday to two rezoning requests, which the City Planning Commission had recommended against granting. It was the first time since 1994 the council has gone against the advice of the Planning Commission. The council approved commercial zoning classifications for land along South Potomac Street across from E. Russell Hicks Middle School, and property at East Baltimore and South Mulberry streets.

Last month, the Washington County Commissioners rezoned approximately 250,000 of the county's rural acres. Now, county officials say it's time to review zoning classifications inside the urban and town growth areas. See the full story in Wednesday's Herald-Mail newspapers.

The Washington County Commissioners voted Tuesday to rezone 49.5 acres of agricultural land for a housing development off Mount Aetna Road. The property is on the north side of Mount Aetna Road, just east of the Robinwood Drive intersection. It's across the street from the former Miller Farm, which was the subject of a controversial rezoning and annexation into the City of Hagerstown last fall. The rezoning will allow Triad Properties to subdivide the property into lots as small as 10,000 square feet.

For the third time in three years, the Washington County Commissioners held a public hearing on a Clear Spring rezoning Monday night. The county's proposal would reduce the amount of highway interchange zoning around the town, changing most of it to rural-residential and agricultural land. The county twice before tried unsuccessfully to rezone the area, which extends north of town to the south side of Broadfording Road and east to Ashton Road. It reaches west of Big Spring Road and south of Interstate 70. If approved, the rezoning would limit the potential for commercial development at Clear Spring's outskirts.

Williamsport Town Council members Monday night moved forward on changing the land classification at a treatment facility on Lockwood Road where a private company is processing used oil and converted it to fuel. Under a lease agreement with the county, Spirit Services has the capability to obtain the Nicodemous Treatment Facility on Lockwood Road, which is inside town limits. Richard Grimm, the town's zoning administrator, has said the property is zoned suburban residential and Spirit Services has asked for an employment center zone.

The Northwest has the spotted owl; Jefferson County has the spotted turtle. A 3-2 vote Thursday by the Jefferson County Commission to rezone a 34-acre tract owned by Jefferson Asphalt on W.Va. 51 west of Charles Town might threaten the habitat of the turtle and some rare plants in the Altona Marsh, according to spokespersons from the Nature Conservancy, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and the Conservation Fund Commissioner Walter Pellish, who made the motion to grant the rezoning, was supported by Patsy Noland and Jane Tabb.

Earlier this year, the City of Charles Town Planning Commission denied a request to rezone Hunter Hill, a historic home on the city's east side because the owner had no specific plans for the property. Monday night, the planning commission reprised its earlier vote on similar grounds - that owner William Trussell is still not offering specific plans on how the four-acre property between East Liberty and East Washington streets might be developed. Mark Reinhart, planning commission chairman, said before Monday's public hearing on the rezoning request that the property is for sale.

After years of study, three public hearings and adjustments to accommodate hundreds of individual requests, Washington County on Tuesday passed a comprehensive Urban Growth Area rezoning meant to concentrate growth in the area around Hagerstown. The rezoning, which takes effect July 1, rezones many properties and makes broad changes to zoning rules in the roughly 35,000-acre growth area. Among other changes, no land within the UGA will have designated agricultural zoning, though agricultural land use will continue to be permitted.

A move to rezone Hunter Hill, a historic home on East Washington Street, from residential to commercial was denied by a unanimous vote of the Charles Town Planning Commission on Monday night. The big sticking point among the four members present was the fact that the owner has no specific plans for the 4.4-acre property between Liberty and East Washington streets. The owner, William Trussell, was not present. He was represented by Mark Dyck of William H. Gordon Associates Inc., a local consultant firm.

Reversing a previous straw poll, the Hagerstown City Council on Tuesday tentatively voted to allow a longstanding rezoning request for a large former industrial property on Pangborn Boulevard. The owner of the land, Pangborn Corp., submitted a request to rezone the property at 580 Pangborn Blvd. from Neighborhood Mixed-Use, or N-MU, to Professional Office Mixed-Use, POM, on the grounds that a mistake was made by city officials when the property was comprehensively rezoned in 2010.

A request to rezone a former industrial complex on Pangborn Boulevard continues to meet heavy resistance from the Hagerstown City Council. Pangborn Corp., the property owner of 580 Pangborn Boulevard where a 330,154-square-feet manufacturing facility was located until it ceased operation in 2000, wants to change the current zoning from Neighborhood Mixed-Use, or N-MU, to Professional Office Mixed-Use, or POM, to increase the property's marketability, said...

The Washington Township (Pa.) Supervisors rezoned land Wednesday to clear the way for Crosswalk Church to move to Midvale Road. The supervisors rezoned the former Tri Fab Inc. property, which is 6.61 acres, from industrial to agricultural. Churches are permitted uses in agricultural zones, but not industrial ones. The building will give the church 35,000 square feet, compared to the 14,000 square feet it has in the Gold's Gym complex at 118 Walnut St. “We plan on staying there.

A request from a Waynesboro church to rezone an industrial property on Midvale Road will go before the Washington Township (Pa.) Supervisors next Wednesday. Crosswalk Church, which is in the Gold's Gym complex at 118 Walnut St., asked to rezone the former Tri Fab Inc. building between Homes by Keystone and Baumgardner Lane. The church has requested to rezone the property from industrial to agricultural. The Washington Township Planning Commission recommended the supervisors approve the request.

After years of consideration and three public hearings, a comprehensive rezoning of Washington County's Urban Growth Area is nearing completion. The Washington County Board of Commissioners Tuesday made decisions on the final outstanding issues raised during a Dec. 13 hearing. Once county staff members have revised the document to reflect those decisions, the rezoning will be ready to put to a final vote, county Planning and Zoning Director Stephen Goodrich said. The Urban Growth Area, or UGA, rezoning would make broad changes to zoning in the roughly 35,000-acre growth area around Hagerstown, Williamsport and Funkstown.