Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski wants the County Council to scrap a Monday vote on a controversial plan to control development near overcrowded schools.
Council members are proposing multiple amendments which Olszewski says he hasn’t seen.
“At this point, it’s unclear what any final legislation might look like,” Olszewski said. “Given the concerns and given the complications of this bill, I would support them taking a step back and really trying to bring all of the stakeholders together to see if there is something workable.”
Councilman Julian Jones, who opposes the legislation, agreed.
“We are literally putting forth so many amendments, we’re literally changing the bill in front of our very eyes,” Jones said.
Council Chairman Izzy Patoka said he expects a vote on Monday. He said a task force studied the issue for a year and there have been three public hearings.
Council members put off a vote once before earlier this month. The legislation, which updates the county’s Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance, has the support of a majority of council members including Patoka, Mike Ertel, David Marks and Wade Kach.
The legislation would tighten restrictions on developers who want to build near schools with packed classrooms. But opponents doubt it would work and say it would have a chilling effect on development and efforts to build much needed affordable housing.
At the council’s work session on Tuesday, council members alluded to multiple last minute amendments. They include one from Ertel that he said would make it acceptable for a school to be at 105% capacity. The original legislation calls for the overcrowding threshold to be lowered to 100%. The current ordinance allows for schools to be at 115% capacity.
Another amendment, according to Ertel, would give developers a way to build near overcrowded schools.
“Theoretically, a fee would be derived for projects that are in areas that have more than 105% capacity,” Ertel said.
While some proposed amendments have been posted on the County Council’s website, others, according to Patoka, were still being drafted on Thursday afternoon.
