Planning & Zoning gets down to business

(2/8) Woodsboro’s newly formed Planning and Zoning Commission quickly got down to business at their inaugural meeting February 7.

The first order of business was the appointment of a Chair and Co-Chair. In a break with precedent, Town Commissioner Jesse Case was unanimously approved as Chairman, and Jeff Crum was appointed as Co-Chair. Normally Town Commissioners serve only as liaison with committees and boards, and while they have voting rights, they never serve in a position of authority. However, even after this was pointed out to the members, they all felt Case was the most qualified and expressed confidence in his ability to lead the committee.

In another break with tradition, Susan Hauver, Walkersville’s Planning and Zoning Administrator, will serve as an advisor to the Woodsboro commission. In prior years, Frederick County’s Planning and Zoning office provided technical support to Woodsboro, but opted not to this year, so Woodsboro reached out to Walkersville to fill the void.

Huaver’s first order of business was to provide the new committee members with an overview of the roles and responsibilities of Planning and Zoning Commissions and their members. She informed the members that one of the tasks needing immediate attention, was to review, and update as necessary, the town’s 10-year plan, which was last reviewed in 2008.

"Plans are supposed to be reviewed and updated every ten years, so we are a little bit behind," Hauver said, "but we’ll get it done."

The ink wasn’t even dry on the paperwork forming the new committee when they were presented with their first order of business – the possible subdivision of plot 106 North 2nd St. to allow a second home to be built.

Kurt Weincich, the owner of the lot, said he was only exploring options for a subdivision and sought information from the town on who owned what is called Arnold Alley east of Second Street. Currently Arnold Alley exists as a formal town street from west of 2nd Street to Main Street, but its ownership East of 2nd Street is in question.

Despite extensive research on Weincich’s part, he could not find the ownership of the street, he said.

On early maps of the town presented by Weincich, it appears the intent was to extend the Alley down to connect to 3rd Street, but that intent got lost in antiquity.

Currently there is a right of way on the 20-foot-wide strip of land that currently serves as a driveway for a house, but no one was sure who owned the right of way.

Hauver told Weincich that all new lots in town needed to have formal road frontage, and without it, it would be impossible to approve the subdivision, which brought the members back to the subject of who actually owned the Alley, and if the town was determined to be the rightful owner, did it need to formally designate it as a "town road."

Hauver told the commission members that until a formal survey and a plat subdivision map was presented, there was nothing further the Committee could do beyond listen at this time.

The Planning and Zoning commission meeting is held the first Monday of the month at 6 p.m. The public is welcome to attend and anyone with business to add to the agenda is asked to contact the office one month before the meeting.