{"id":200459,"date":"2017-06-22T05:05:14","date_gmt":"2017-06-22T09:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/editorial-planning-commission-taking-freedom-plan-feedback-seriously-carroll-county-times\/"},"modified":"2017-06-22T05:05:14","modified_gmt":"2017-06-22T09:05:14","slug":"editorial-planning-commission-taking-freedom-plan-feedback-seriously-carroll-county-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/freedom\/editorial-planning-commission-taking-freedom-plan-feedback-seriously-carroll-county-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Editorial: Planning commission taking Freedom plan feedback seriously &#8211; Carroll County Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><p>    Carroll County's planning commission legally could have decided    to vote to accept the Freedom Area Comprehensive Plan as-is on    Tuesday, following a second public hearing and the end of the    60-day public comment period, putting the fate of the plan in    the hands of Board of County Commissioners.  <\/p>\n<p>    That the planning commission decided to hold off until July to    determine the next steps for the controversial plan  and    possibly even longer, according to Chairman Matt Helminiak  is    a sign that it is carefully considering the large amount of    public feedback it has received.  <\/p>\n<p>    \"However [long] it takes to get through all of the comments and    for the planning commission to get comfortable with the    accepted plan, plus any modifications that they choose to    make,\" Phil Hager, the county's planning director, told us    regarding how long the next steps might take.  <\/p>\n<p>    At this point, it's hard to argue that residents' voices aren't    being heard. However, the planning commission and, ultimately,    the county commissioners will have to weigh community outcry    and criticisms with what they believe are the right steps for    the county and the Freedom area, which has long been targeted    for future growth.  <\/p>\n<p>        Jon Kelvey      <\/p>\n<p>        Public process will continue with Board of Commissioners      <\/p>\n<p>        Public process will continue with Board of Commissioners        (Jon Kelvey)      <\/p>\n<p>    Many of the arguments we've heard against the Freedom plan    during the public review process make sense. Some of the    proposed land-use changes seem out of character with    surrounding properties. In a few of those situations, we've    already seen the planning commission make changes. Pushback    regarding the Beatty property off Bennett Road being zoned for    commercial while neighboring a residential area, for example,    led to a compromise that creates a buffer between where any    future commercial development might take place and the existing    neighborhood.  <\/p>\n<p>    We also agree with those who have argued the infrastructure is    not in place, especially in regard to roads and traffic, for    the future growth the Freedom plan calls for. It is worth    noting, though, that the Freedom land-use plan is just that  a    plan  and not a guarantee of those zoning changes or growth.  <\/p>\n<p>    Separate processes also exist, such as traffic impact studies,    when development becomes closer to reality, to address those    concerns. In some cases, it's possible developers would be    asked to pay for some necessary road improvements to make their    plans more viable, although the elephant in the room remains    Liberty Road, which would require state funding.  <\/p>\n<p>    But, in other cases, there does seem to be a bit of NIMBY-ism    at play among the Freedom plan's detractors; particularly those    who have decried any potential development on land that is    currently used for agriculture or is undeveloped. Folks who    moved to Eldersburg and surrounding areas during periods of    rapid growth in Carroll just a few decades ago surely didn't    expect the door to close behind them, did they?  <\/p>\n<p>    No plan is going to satisfy everyone, but it is clear the    members of the planning commission are taking their duty    seriously and considering the loads of feedback received. That    will hopefully result in a better Freedom plan by the time it    eventually reaches the Board of County Commissioners, whenever    that may be, and at which point the public should once again    have an opportunity to weigh in.  <\/p>\n<p><!-- Auto Generated --><\/p>\n<p>More here:<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.carrollcountytimes.com\/opinion\/editorials\/ph-cc-editorial-062217-20170621-story.html\" title=\"Editorial: Planning commission taking Freedom plan feedback seriously - Carroll County Times\">Editorial: Planning commission taking Freedom plan feedback seriously - Carroll County Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Carroll County's planning commission legally could have decided to vote to accept the Freedom Area Comprehensive Plan as-is on Tuesday, following a second public hearing and the end of the 60-day public comment period, putting the fate of the plan in the hands of Board of County Commissioners.  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/freedom\/editorial-planning-commission-taking-freedom-plan-feedback-seriously-carroll-county-times\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187727],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-200459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-freedom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200459"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200459\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}