Emmitsburg
Town News
Emily
Salmon
(3/1/2001)
Mother
Seton expansion still on hold
Construction
workers cannot move even an anthill at the
Mother Seton School in Emmitsburg, despite
the September 2000 groundbreaking for a
new addition, until the site plans are
approved by the Emmitsburg Planning
Commission.
Representatives
for the school expressed frustration at
the delay during the commission's meeting
Monday night. Mother Seton Principal
Sister Mary Catherine Conway said that two
weeks ago, "after we were pretty sure
we were set," she received a letter
from the town saying the site plans were
still incomplete.
"How
long are we going to keep playing this
game of back and forth?" Conway asked
the commission. Conway said too many
expensive changes could jeopardize the
addition.
The town
and Frederick County have a total of 20
recommendations to the site plans that it
has addressed to the school in previous
letters.
Two major
sticking points are the town's request for
acceleration and deceleration lanes at the
school's entrance on Creamery Road and a
fence around a bio-retention pond that
would hold less than a foot of water.
The
principal civil engineer hired by Mother
Seton, Fred Thompson of Gower Thompson in
Baltimore, said the bio-retention facility
was a pond designed to absorb water, not
hold it, and a fence would not be
necessary.
The
town's Feb. 9 response with
recommendations was reasonable, said Town
Manager David Haller, since the town had
not received the site plans until
November.
Haller
agreed that the fence was not necessary,
and Frederick County Principal Planner
James Gugel did not see the necessity for
the lanes, given the posted 25 mph speed
limit.
Commissioner
James
Hoover, however, said the
commission wanted both the fencing and the
acceleration and deceleration lanes for
the children's safety.
Another
issue was the school's participation in
widening Lincoln Avenue, a long-term goal
for the town that Hoover said would cost
at least $200,000. He said Tuesday that
one of the town's recommendations was the
school's dedication of a certain footage
of its property along Lincoln Avenue to
the town.
About
five years ago, the school offered to give
the town footage along the street in
return for certain services from the town,
said Sister Cora Anne Signato of the
Sisters of Charity, which owns the
school's property. She said the town never
accepted the offer.
The
services, Hoover said Tuesday, included
replacing a fence, covering a playground
with blacktop, extending drainage pipes
and moving trees.
At the
meeting, Haller commented, "It was
certainly not much of a gift; it was
pretty expensive." Haller said he
would arrange to meet during the week with
the town plan reviewer, Jeff Fitzgerald,
and with Thompson to try to iron out the
differences between the two parties.
At the
suggestion of Ted Brennan, the planning
commission chair, commissioners waived the
time period required for receiving the
plans, saying they would consider the
plans at the March 26 meeting if they were
received at least two weeks beforehand.
The commission usually requires that
members receive site plans at least 30
days before the meeting at which the plans
will be considered.
Interfaith
suggests new single-family development in
Silo Hill
Only two
months after receiving a gift of land in
Silo Hill, representatives of Interfaith
Housing of Western Maryland are proposing
to build a single-family housing
development in the Emmitsburg subdivision.
The
Ausherman family of Frederick donated the
6.5-acre site to the organization in
December. Originally, while the land was
owned by the county's famous construction
family, the Frederick civil engineering
firm Fox & Associates had designed
preliminary plans for a townhouse
development on the property.
Now,
Interfaith would like to replace the plan
for 43 townhouses with 27 single-family
houses. Jonathan Soule, of Fox &
Associates, unveiled the plan for the
development at the Monday meeting of the
Emmitsburg Planning Commission.
The
design calls for houses with a "zero
lot line." Each house would sit with
one side aligned with the lot line. Soule
said the arrangement would provide more
open green space for the development.
A text
amendment to the town code would be
required for the proposal to be
considered. Kay Schultz, director of
self-help housing at Interfaith, said at
the meeting that single-family homes were
better suited for self-help housing, where
families help build their homes in return
for a reduction in costs.
She also
said that the design would reduce sewer
and water costs. Addressing Commissioner James
Hoover's concerns that approving a
text amendment would set a precedent for
future developments, Schultz responded,
"It gives another option. It doesn't
mean it's the only thing or the best
solution for every property."
Silo Hill
resident Michelle Metz was concerned about
the number of houses closely spaced
together. "Why does there have to be
so many?" she asked. "I can't
foresee 27 homes going there."
Soule
responded that the actual density of units
per acre would be about the same as in the
current neighborhood. When contacted
Tuesday, Schultz said Interfaith planned
to proceed with a formal request for a
text amendment.
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