Harford News

Harford County Development Advisory Committee met June 6.

Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:

The Development Advisory Committee (DAC) met on June 6, 2018 at 9:00 a.m. in the First Floor Conference Room, 220 S. Main Street, Bel Air, Maryland. The meeting was chaired by Eric Vacek, Department of Planning and Zoning.

The following members were in attendance:

Eric Vacek Acting Chairman, DAC

Bill Snyder Volunteer Fire & EMS

Robin Wales Department of Emergency Services

Patrick Jones Soil Conservation District

Len Walinski Health Department

Mike Rist DPW Engineering Sheriff’s Office

Rich Zeller State Highway Administration

Jenni Daniels Planner, Development Review

Also in attendance:

Ben Whetzel

Ken Mills

Kevin Agan

Janet Mills

Nicole Jarkiewicz

Eric Vacek, of the Department of Planning and Zoning, welcomed everyone to the meeting. He explained there is one plan on the agenda. Mr. Vacek explained that a brief presentation will be given by the consultant for the project. The DAC members will give their comments on the project. The meeting will then be opened up for anyone in attendance that may have questions or comments. If anyone has questions that are not answered, there are information request forms that can be filled out and submitted to the Department of Planning and Zoning and they will be responded to in writing. There is an attendance sheet on the side table to sign. If a correct address is given, a copy of the minutes will be mailed or e-mailed. The minutes are recorded and will also be published to the Department of Planning and Zoning’s website.

2003 Mill Dale Court – Preliminary – Subdivision Of Lot 7

Located on the south side of Mill Dale Court; west of Sturbridge Road. Tax Map 48; Parcel 320; Lot 7. Third Election District. Council District B. Planner Jenni.

Plan No. P144-2018 Subdivide existing lot into lots 7 & 7A/12.57 acres/RR.

Received 04-20-18 Anthony & Ann Paszkiewicz/CNA.

Verbatim Transcript

Bob Royer with CNA presented the plan:

I’m Bob Royer with CNA. I represent the client and Paszkiewicz. We are subdividing the lot into two lots, the upper lot has 2.9658 acres and we are proposing one single family house with a garage or a shed and we will treat storm water management treated with rain gardens and swales. The lower lot has 9.607 acres and we are proposing one single family house with storm water management treated by swales and dry wells.

Bill Snyder – Volunteer Fire & EMS

No comment.

Robin Wales – Department of Emergency Services

I have a question. Are there any more development rights on this piece of property?

Eric Vacek – This is zoned RR so it does not have development rights.

Robin Wales - On the preliminary plan, lot 7 will be readdressed and recorded #1999 Mill Dale Ct and Lot 7A will be addressed #2001 Mill Dale Ct. These addresses will work if displayed properly, available, and approved by planning & zoning.

Why I did this is to avoid letters. Another option would be lot 7 could be 2001 and lot 7A could be 2003. We will work with Planning & Zoning and see how we want to avoid this. This would avoid letters since there are no more development rights. That’s all.

Patrick Jones – Soil Conservation District

At this time we have no comments.

Len Walinski – Health Department

The Harford County Health Department (HCHD) has extended its approval for the above referenced preliminary plan. The site is located on the south side of Mill Dale Court, west of Sturbridge Road.

This plan proposes to subdivide existing Lot 7, creating Lots 7 and 7A. The lots are unimproved and will be serviced by individual wells and on-site disposal systems (OSDS). Soil tests were conducted on March 22, 1999 and January 18-20, 1989.

The consultant provided this office with a revised corrected print which addressed our concerns from the previous letter.

The final plat must bear the well, septic reserve area, and plat plan notes. The square footage amount of the septic reserve area must be clearly labeled on the final plat.

Mike Rist – DPW Engineering

1. A sediment control plan and a grading permit will be required for the development of this site. Sediment controls are to be designed to the specifications as set forth in the Maryland Standard for Erosion and Sediment Control, latest edition.

2. Stormwater management must be provided in accordance with the 2000 Design Manual as amended by Supplement 1.

3. A stormwater management concept plan must be submitted for review. Comments must be addressed on subsequent stormwater plan submittals.

4. The final stormwater management plan shall be approved prior to the issuance of a grading permit. A stormwater management permit is required prior to the issuance of a building permit.

5. Maintenance of the stormwater management facility (facilities) is (are) the responsibility of the lot owner(s).

6. Stormwater management practices designed for and located on individual lots shall be constructed and inspected prior to the issuance of use and occupancy permits.

7. Access permits are required for the proposed driveways.

8. The driveways must be paved with the County right-of-way prior to issuance of any use and occupancy permits.

Sheriff’s Office-

No comment.

Rich Zeller – State Highway Administration

The MDOT SHA has no objection to Preliminary Plan approval as the proposed site will access a county road, and there are no impacts to the MDOT SHA right-of-way.

Jenni Daniels – Planner

• This plan proposes to create one (1) single family residential lot subdivided from recorded Lot 7. The property is zoned Rural Residential (RR) and has a maximum allowable density of one (1) dwelling unit per two (2) acres.

• Lot 7 was originally approved in 1991 and was not subject to the Harford County Forest and Tree Conservation Regulations. Lot 7A will be subject under the conditions of the abbreviated process described in section 267-38 of the Code. A Declaration of Intent (DOI) was submitted to the Department of Planning and Zoning. All forested areas to be retained within this lot shall be labeled as “Forest Retention Area” on the final plat, along with deeds containing covenants and restrictions protecting the retention areas, to be recorded with the plat.

• This site contains environmentally sensitive areas, namely a stream and its associated non-tidal wetlands. The stream, non-tidal wetlands and the 75 foot buffer shall be labeled “Natural Resources District” on the final plat. No grading shall be permitted in the natural resource districts buffer for actual home construction.

Public Comments –

Ben Whetzel – My wife, Amanda Gallagher and I live at 2007 Mill Dale Court which is marked as lot 9 on the drawing. My wife and I purchased our home in October of 2016 for $610,000. We never would have purchased our home had we known that a year and a half later everything behind us would be torn out and a home would be built directly behind our back yard. The whole reason we moved to our development was for the private natural setting. The privacy back there and the really nice natural area that currently exists were very attractive to us. Our home itself, honestly there is really nothing special to it. What is special about it is the actual property. We have lived in so many townhouses and communities where you have neighbors on top of you in every direction. That is the reason we purchased our home. Our understanding at the time, which is currently as it stands today, there is only one home building right attached to the parcel and it is right at the end of the court. That is why we purchased the home. It was with that understanding. This issue has already been litigated 20 years ago. Apparently, what’s old is new again. I mean here we are again. This exact issue was litigated 20 years ago and the Circuit Court for Harford County declined to divide this parcel, 1999, the exact same parcel and the exact same plan was submitted 20 years ago as well. I have copies of everything for your file if you would like to see that. As a good faith effort I reached out to the land owners four months ago. I made a very strong offer to purchase what has been preliminary labeled as 7A. I received radio silence from the land owner so, unfortunately, here we are. Now, I am objecting to it. It is the only option that I have at this point. I tried to work it out and it is what it is but if we have to go down the line of litigating this again. The courts are going to see the same thing and we are going to be back where we are. That is my position. I’ll be happy to give you a copy of these records.

Eric Vacek – Yes, sir. I’d like that.

Kevin Agan – I live at 2000 Brick House Lane which is not directly adjacent to the property but I’m adjacent on the corner. I’m actually here because I am strongly opposed to this development. I actually grew up at 2000 Brick House Lane as a child and played in these woods significantly up until my late teens. When my wife and I got married we bought 2000 Brick House Lane from my parents because they were in the process of moving out of the area. The whole reason we bought the property is the same thing as Mr. Whetzel. It is a very private, very quiet, very secluded area. When we were talking with our neighbors we were under the same impression that there was one development allowed on that property. We like the woods. We like the privacy and the seclusion. We would not have bought that house had we known that there was going to be two properties going up in there because, as of right now there is really nothing like this community in the area. We would have to go into southern York County to find anything like this again. Also, you guys have stuff up there for well and septic and all that. That stream is actually a major concern because that stream runs right through that septic drain field for 7 Alpha.

Eric Vacek – That’s on the east side that you are referencing? Lot 7.

Kevin Agan – Yes, there is a stream during a normal rainfall the stream is not usually there. But, because of the rain we have had over this past weekend you can see that where that septic currently resides is going to get flooded. But, my primary objection is the loss of the atmosphere, the loss of the community. We also just attended a block party at Phil Testerman’s house last weekend. There were a number of people from the nearby streets. The community in general is strongly opposed to this. There is a major concern that if 7 Alpha goes through that that is going to negatively impact property values because of loss of interest in the community and people will try to move out. There are several people who have moved in within the last few years that have said explicitly that they like the trees. They like the quietness. They like the seclusion. There are some people that have actually said they will go to court to try and fight this.

Ken Mills – I actually have two horses in this race. I have 1114 and 1116 Sturbridge Road and I can tell you from the neighbors on Sturbridge it is a concern because of the water run-off from that property back there. I’m not an environmentalist about streams and swales but that property where he has a septic field that water that runs through you can see where it comes through the fields, it comes behind the houses. The house at 1118 where he has about a 15 foot river coming through his back yard and around his driveway when we have large rains. What he is talking about with that stream back there is a major concern. All it takes is one rain storm and it looks like we have a river coming down Sturbridge Road because, it is coming off that field and coming around.

Janet Mills – And, we were here 20 years ago for the same thing because we have been in our home for 23 years.

Ken Mills – We do understand, we know what this gentleman is talking about. The neighbors are upset about this.

Eric Vacek – You are at 1114 sir? 1114 and 1116?

Ken Mills – Correct

Kevin Agan – I just want to add one comment. It’s unfortunate that more of the community is not here. Unfortunately, at that party, what was discussed is because of the time of this meeting. A large number of people were not able to get off of work.

Eric Vacek – If they have comments, if they want to get something into our file in the department we are open Monday through Friday 7:30-5:00. If they want to see the plan or talk about the plan they are certainly welcome to come into our department and ask additional questions after this meeting.

Kevin Agan – Unfortunately, a lot of people will not be able to get off of work. That is one of the things they asked me because they knew I was coming to the meeting. Aside from coming into the building how do they get commentary and get it heard. There is disbelief that phone calls and letters will be paid attention to.

Eric Vacek – If you ask a question we typically would respond in writing to you. In terms of opposition any letters that we receive in the department have always been entered into the project file. The plan is reviewed on technical merit that is why we are here but, we are also here because Harford County values your opinion. So, any comments would go into that project file and I encourage anyone here following this meeting today to certainly stay engaged. You can call our department, come into our department or email our department to ask about the status of the plan or if you have additional questions. I saw some people taking photographs of the plan. If you need larger scale copies of the plan we are more than happy to make copies for you. I think I already indicated to Mr. Whetzel that the documents that you have here is the document that was referenced on June 6th by Pamela and Michael Mierski. We received a copy of the Declaration of Restrictions which is under review by our Law Department at this time. If you have any additional information or follow-up documents that are associated with that you are welcome to bring those in.

Ben Whetzel - Everything that I have are in the file that I gave to you.

Ken Mills – Is there anything that we can see to show how the septic field being that close to the houses behind it for the 2nd house or the one in the back. How that septic field being that close to the houses on Sturbridge Road how that is going to affect their septic fields because, everybody else has septic fields that run right up to 15 feet so you are looking at 30 feet between septic fields and that septic field is listed at over 10,000 sq ft septic field. Is there anything that we can see on that and also is there anything we can see as to the grading as to how they are going to handle the water run-off so it doesn’t keep running through if they do all this.

Eric Vacek – I’m going to defer to the Health Department with respect to the septic.

Len Walinski – The septic field meets the 15 foot setback for the septic reserve area. It was perc tested. They got down to 14 feet with no evidence of water. They start to perc about 6-7 feet in depth. They are like 18 minute percs/20 minute percs. To get a 10,000 septic reserve area the consultant would need to show initial system and three repairs. They couldn’t fit that in a 10,000 because of a slow perc rate and the depth that we perc at. It is just easier for them to stretch out the septic reserve area to make it 27,000 square feet and, we like to see three valid perc tests in the septic reserve area. It is based on a 4 bedroom house. If they want to go any bigger they need to show they can put initial and two repairs that will fit in a septic reserve area. They may or may not be able to do that. They did make modifications. The septic reserve area was to close originally to the lot line. It has to be 15 feet separation. The reason why the 15 feet of separation is, is not because of sewer coming onto adjacent properties, the setback is to make sure the contactors can get in there and put their equipment and booms down and not go onto the adjacent property. That is why there is a 15 foot setback. Older lots have 5 foot setbacks again, this will allow for repair or equipment to get in there. Frequently, we do repairs we allow 5 feet to the property line for repairs to the septic system and 15 feet is for new sub-divisions. We just want to make sure they can repair a system without getting onto the neighbor’s property. That is the only reason the 15 feet exists. It has nothing to do with sewage going into adjacent property. It should perculate down. Perculation tests are good. They should perc and recharge the ground water. That is the whole purpose of the perc test when someone flushes a toilet or uses a sink the water basically gets recycled into a septic tank, then the drain field and eventually recharges into the ground water.

Ken Mills – What is the distance from that septic field to that stream that is right there?

Len Walinski – I don’t see the stream delineated on my plan.

Ken Mills – There is a stream out there.

Len Walinski – Rob, can you make me a large scale print to delineate that?

Rob Royer – Sure, I can.

Kevin Agan – The stream actually primarily runs along the old Maryland/Pennsylvania rail bed. The 30 degree diagonal that runs on the east side of the property; there are still railroad tracks in that ravine and that is one of the main beds where the stream actually flows however, even in light rain that can flow up into the adjacent properties. If you want to know where it is it is pretty much that entire north/south lines.

Len Walinski – These are wet season soils so they do have a tendency to have water level issues. It is a wet season soil. It has to be tested at a certain time of the year which it was so; it’s not like a soils classification that you have in Jarrettsville or Whiteford where it is a really dry soil. These soils tend to be wet and they do tend to collect some water. It is normal to have some water at these sites.

Eric Vacek - Thank you, Len.

Mike Rist – I’d just like to respond to one of the comments. You talked about the grading. They do need to do a stormwater management plan for this. It is shown on here conceptually. They are putting in dry wells, they are putting in swales, they are putting in rain gardens and the whole idea there is to infiltrate the excess water that is running off this site. They need to address that; if you have flooding out there today it is not going to help that situation but the intent is to not make it any worse.

Ken Mills – When they built the new house on 1118 Sturbridge Road on that lot one of the things that happened was when we had our first big rain we said to the people when they bought that property that that area generally has a lot of rain flow, water flow that comes from that stream and that field. They had to expand their basement walkout by 15 feet because the water coming through that field and coming down along that stream was going into their basement. They actually had to build a wall and extend their walk-out because it did not have enough of a blockage to push the water away from it and the water was coming down and flooding their basement on a brand new home. There is definitely a water issue there and we wanted to make sure that that is taken care of.

Eric Vacek – Thank you, Mr. Mills.

Ben Whetzel – Just one final comment. Not to be redundant but there are reasons that people move to Harford County there are still pockets of these natural, private settings still left in this county and it would be a real shame to see Harford County go away like Howard County or any of these extremely highly developed areas. We’d like to see these few remaining pockets of these nice areas preserved and that is what we intend to do sir.

Eric Vacek – Thank you again. I encourage you if you have additional questions please don’t hesitate to stop by. If you need copies of the plan let us know but please stay engaged. I want to thank everyone for their attendance today at this June 6, 2018 DAC Meeting on 2003 Mill Dale Court.

Meeting adjourned at 9:25 am.

http://www.harfordcountymd.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_06062018-800