There will be no commercial building on a 54-acre plot of former Rosewood Center property, putting at least temporary brakes on a plan by The Associated Jewish Charities to build a large senior living complex at the site.

The County Council rejected The Associated’s petition to change the land from residential to office use, in addition to striking down several other contested northwest-area petitions at an Aug. 26 meeting.

The session marked the end of the county’s quadrennial Comprehensive Zoning Map Process, as the council voted to approve or reject the Planning Board’s recommendations on nearly 600 requests countywide.

In the case of the Rosewood site, Greenspring Valley residents formed the Greater Greenspring Association partly in response to The Associated’s petition and pelted county officials with letters and e-mails in the months leading up to this decision.
 
After the Aug. 26 meeting, Council Chairman Kevin Kamenetz, who represents most of Greenspring Valley, said he respected both the residents’ concerns about development and The Associated’s mission in building the complex.

“I would like to see the entire Rosewood property, perhaps including The Associated land, to be considered as a whole,” he said. “The residents’ points of view were valid but I also recognize the charitable view of The Associated.”

Officials need to figure out a plan for Rosewood that takes a larger view of the whole property and accounts for residents’ needs, Kamenetz said.

Jim Angelone, head of the Greater Greenspring Association, said the group is obviously happy with the vote but does not want to gloat over The Associated’s defeat.

“We want to continue working with the Associated Jewish Charities. They are obviously a very important, valuable organization in our community,” he said.
 
The decision also buys residents time to consider the future of the whole Rosewood property, he said.
“The biggest part of the decision is we are not under a crunch. Everyone can sit back and figure out a real, integrated plan going forward.”

The Associated did not respond to a request for comment in time for this article.

Most changes rejected

The council also turned down a request by Mitchell’s Golf, at the corner of Interstate 795 and Westminster Pike in Reisterstown, to upzone the 46.3-acre property from watershed protection to allow for major business.

Councilman Ken Oliver, who represents that area, said traffic was the main reason the council rejected that petition.

“Nobody presented a plan to show me there could be (no traffic problems),” Oliver said. The property also lies outside of the county’s Urban-Rural Demarcation Line.

“The URDL was not going to be moved,” he said.

Another rejected request was Temple Oheb Shalom’s petition to upzone 12.9 acres at the northwest corner of Nicodemus Road and Berrymans Lane from watershed conservation to residential use.
 
The synagogue, which has a cemetery on Berrymans Lane, had wanted to build a chapel or school on the parcel in the future. Residents were concerned because the site is outside the URDL and, they said, its development would endanger the Liberty watershed.

The council approved, however, the majority of three petitions by The Valleys Planning Council, Inc., to place 130 acres along Tufton Ridge Road, 356 acres along Hillside Road and 62 acres at the southeast corner of Park Heights Avenue and Garrison Forest Road into conservation zoning.

The council’s vote rezones 97.8 acres of the Tufton Ridge area and 286.6 acres of the Hillside Road area, a result that Teresa Moore, executive director of the residents’ group, was happy with.

“We are very pleased with what was done and we think it shows a lot of courage and willingness to do the right thing,” Moore said, explaining that the rezoning will protect the edges of scenic Valley roads.
 
Although the requests were only partially approved, “we are happy at this time with what we got and feel it was a successful effort.”

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