Good Afternoon,

Attached are plan sheets from the most recent submission of the Clark Farm Site Development Plan. Please be advised, Clark Farm is tentatively scheduled to be before the City of Westminster Planning and Zoning Commission on April 8, 2021 at 7:00PM. Currently, Planning and Zoning Commission meetings are held virtually via Zoom and can be viewed on the City of Westminster Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/westminstermd/.

Clark Farm Public Comments

If you would like to provide written comments, please email your comments (include your name, address, and phone number) to Planning@westgov.com, no later than April 2, 2021. Please state “Clark Farm Comments” as the subject of your email.

Clark Farm Public Testimony

If you would like to speak at the meeting, please email your request to speak (include your name, address, and phone number) to Planning@westgov.com and you will be sent instructions on how to access the April 8, 2021 meeting. Please state “Clark Farm Testimony” as the subject of your email.

Respectfully,

Mark A. Depo

Director of Community Planning & Development

City of Westminster

45 West Main Street, Suite 1

Westminster, MD  21157
Main: 410-848-9002

Office: 410-848-7967

See below for an email from Mark Depo, Director of Community Planning & Development, as well as some attachments for the most recent site plan for the project. It appears as though the builders may go before the planning and zoning commission as soon as March 2021. The real question that remains is if the community will be allowed to give input to their plans in this virtual environment? One sure hopes they will allow us too (as they have with previous projects submitted to them).

Pages 1-13

Pages 14-27

Good Morning,

I hope everyone is staying safe and warm. Attached is the most recent site plan submission for the proposed Clark Farm development (Site Plan S-18-0017), also referred to as WTTR/Web property. Please be advised, Clark Farm Site Plan S-18-0017 may be before the Westminster Planning and Zoning Commission as early as March 2021. At such time the Clark Farm Site Plan S-18-0017 is scheduled for a Planning and Zoning Commission, you will be notified via email.

As you may recall, the proposed market rate 35 multi-family unit development is a permitted use at the property. In addition, during a Planning and Zoning Commission and at the community outreach meeting, there was discussion regarding a possible modification requested by Clark Farm to Zoning Ordinance Section 164-86.A.(1) that requires “No building, other than a single-family detached dwelling, shall be constructed within 200 feet of the nearest existing dwelling.” I would like to draw your attention to Sheet 5, Layout Plan, as the proposed multi-family unit development is now located 200 feet or more from any adjacent Furnace Hills dwelling (see “200’ Setback Line Non-Clark Farm Properties”) and a modification to Section 164-86.A.(1) and the required 200 feet setback from these dwellings is no longer being requested by Clark Farm.

If you have any questions/concerns regarding this correspondence or the provided site plan, please feel free to contact me.  

Respectfully,

Mark A. Depo

Director of Community Planning & Development

City of Westminster

56 West Main Street, Suite 1

Westminster, MD  21157
Main: 410-848-9000

Below are some of the highlights from the meeting with Berkentine Builders last week:

·         They have changed the plans so that the apartment complex will be 200 feet away from the houses on Mulligan lane to avoid needing the variance

·         The apartments are “luxury” apartments

·         They are not HUD apartments, but they cannot refuse housing vouchers

·         The entry way will be on Mulligan Lane and they will possibly close off WTTR lane to avoid their tenants going that way.

·         They plan to submit the final plans to the zoning committee in the next few weeks

·         They will need dig into some of the surrounding homeowners yards to connect to the sewer lines

·         In the plan they presented, they planned to tear down all the trees surrounding the property line by the Mulligan lane houses.

Below are some items that the surrounding homeowners requested the builder do. We can only hope that they incorporate these items into their plans. They said they were not going to go “bankrupt” to make us happy:

·         Mature trees or significantly larger trees then the 1-2-inch requirement they said they needed to meet

·         Privacy fences, including the entry way into the apartments

·         Stop signs or traffic lights in the surrounding areas where traffic will increase. Especially where the entrance to the apartment complex is

·         Dim lighting for the surrounding houses at night

The builder’s mission is to “create products and relationships that are meaningful and inspirational to families to better the Community and those who live in it.” Someone asked the builders how this project would better our Community. They struggled to answer this question. First, they said if they weren’t going to build this apartment complex, someone else would. Second, they said our kids can live in them one day. Needless to say, no one at the meeting was impressed by either of these statements. We can only hope they will step-up their plans to incorporate more privacy for the surrounding homeowners.

Community Outreach Meeting hosted by Burkentine Builders

Please Come to Voice YOUR Concerns About the Clark Farm Apartments

Wednesday, February 26^th from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

Westminster Volunteer Fire Department John Street Quarters

28 John Street, Westminster, Maryland

If this apartment complex is built, it will DESTROY our neighborhood. Let’s all rally together and voice our concerns.

– The formal plan for the other 35-unit apartment complex to be built near Safeway was approved.
– The zoning committee asked for input for the community before they approved items that were not in compliance with city/county laws and regulations
– Although Westminster Elementary is at 95% capacity, they are convinced these two apartment complexes will not put them over
– For these 35 apartments, they only have 42 parking spaces. Where are all these people going to park?
– One of the zoning committee members is concerned about the endangered species that live on the Clark Farm. He asked Mr. Gray to look into this. It is our understanding that the vultures are a federally protected species.

Thanks to everyone who came to the zoning committee meeting! Let’s keep the momentum going! It is our understanding the formal plan for this farm will be submitted in the next month or two.

Yesterday, 1/30/20, approximately 20+ trees were cut down on the property.

Today, 1/31/20, a geotechnical company called Hillis-Carnes Engineering Associates has been drilling away for several hours at the soil near the East Tower.

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We are hoping to have a meeting with the builder, Burkentine Builders, soon. It appears that the builder will be submitting the official site plans in the next month or two. The builder’s preference was to build town homes, but the city denied the water allocations. The builder’s hands are tied by the water allocations; the only thing he can build at this time is apartments.

Thanks to everyone who came to the meeting at the library yesterday! It was great to meet you all and share research/ideas. Also, thanks to everyone who has signed and shared our petition. We currently have over 900 signatures.

Below are some important dates to add to your calendars. It is very important that we rally together for these city meetings and be very vocal about our concerns.

Monday, January 27 – Mayor and Common Council Meeting at 7pm at City Hall at 1838 Emerald Hill Lane, Westminster, MD

Thursday, January 30 – Meeting at the Westminster Library at 7pm to prepare for next zoning committee meeting.

Thursday, February 13 – Planning And Zoning Commission Meeting at 7pm at City Hall at 1838 Emerald Hill Lane, Westminster, MD

To prepare for the zoning meeting next month, a room has been reserved at the Westminster Library on Thursday, 1/23/20 at 6:45 pm so that we could all get together and share our thoughts, ideas and research. We plan to meet for approximately 1 hour. We hope to see you there!

Thank you for everyone who has taken the time to read and sign our petition! We really appreciate it. As of this morning, we have over 470 signatures on the petition. There have been a lot of comments from members of the community on the petition. Community members are wondering why this water allotment was approved so easily and why was this 200 ft leniency approved before homeowners or the surrounding HOA’s were notified of the project?

There has been a lot of activity on the Clark Farm Properties over the past week. On Sunday, there was some small construction equipment moving around near the “collapsed” barn. On Monday, a surveyor was seen on the property. Several trees on the property have also been marked with different colors (pink, blue and lime green). We are not sure what these markings mean. There have also been lights on in the evening. We suspect they are trying to move the process along as fast as possible now that attention is being brought to this project.

The following is a list of people you can contact about your concerns regarding this project. It is very important that the community voices our concerns about this project to as many people as possible

Mayor Joe Dominick

Call: 410-848-9000
Email: jdominick@westgov.com

Andrew Gray, Comprehensive Planner for City of Westminster

Call: 410-751-5505

Email: AGray@westgov.com

Carroll County Times

Call: 410-857-7866
Email: cctnews@carrollcountytimes.com

WMAR-2 News

Call: 410-435-TIPS

Email: newsroom@wmar.com

WBAL-TV 11 News

Call: 800-677-WBAL

Email: newstips@wbaltv.com

WJZ-TV 13 News

Call: 410-578-7568

Email: newsroom@wjz.com

Fox 45 News Baltimore

Call: 410.467.5595

Email: news@foxbaltimore.com

Gregory Pecoraro, Westminster City Council President

Call: 410-848-9000
Email: gpecoraro@westgov.com

Tony Chiavacci, Westminster City Council Member

Call: 410-848-9000
Email: tchiavacci@westgov.com

Kevin Dayhoff, Westminster City Council Member

Call: 410-848-9000
Email: kdayhoff@westgov.com

Ann Gilbert, Westminster City Council Member

Call: 410-848-9000
Email: agilbert@westgov.com