It was recently announced that on March 5th Carroll County Commissioner Ed Rothstein (District 5) will be holding a Community Outreach meeting regarding a proposed storage facility to be located next to Carroll Highlands in Eldersburg (READ MORE). At this point we do not know many details about the new proposed facility other than the intent is to no higher that 3 stories and 35 feet (READ MORE).
Community members Joe and Nancy Lynch recently sent this information out:
Remember a year ago? Town Hall meeting with Ed Rothstein? Get ready, it’s about to happen again. Why? Because our Commissioners are incapable of making this whole storage facility stuffed in the middle of our residential community go away!
Last year, three things made that storage facility go away. First, the incredible, organic community outrage, as demonstrated in thousands of signatures demanding that our leaders listen to us and make this nightmare go away!
Second, one of the three primary lots was deed restricted and could not be used for commercial purposes. We all pitched in money to hire a lawyer, file a court action using the deed restriction to halt the project.
And third, Prince George’s County citizens, like us, were fed up, and demanded that their county leaders stop fitting storage facilities in or near residential neighborhoods; that county passed measures quickly and storage was limited to industrial. Mike Guerin, Commissioner in the Mount Airy district 4, took the initiative to follow PG county’s lead and try to restrict storage in Carroll County to industrial areas only. This element combined with the legal action was enough for the developer to pull out.
One year later, despite Commissioner Guerin’s lead, our commissioners tweaked the law around the edges and here comes another storage facility. We have been given dimensions and it looks like the planned footprint is 50% larger than the first one. With storm water management, parking, we honestly don’t see how this planned 97,500 square foot facility can fit without going higher than 35′, and without utilizing deed restricted lot 19. And while the developer states that he “intends” to stay at 35′ height, the new tweaked regulations allow for up to 50′ structure with incremental setback distances.
We need everyone to show up for the “Outreach” meeting on March 5, 6:30PM at the senior center. Our attorney is ready to go again if this plan is to build on the deed restricted Lot 19.
We need to get an answer to the question, “WHY ARE GOING THROUGH THIS AGAIN? We spent $14,000.00 on legal expenses last year, 100’s of hours going to county meetings, for what? Before this new project gets going, we need our Commissioners to vote to restrict storage to INDUSTRIAL AREAS ONLY! That’s what we want.
Attached are 10 key moments from last year’s Town Hall – even if you attended, it’s worth a reminder of what we were all fighting against, and we’re attaching an article on the PG County action that was referred to above.
Here is the PG County information (PDF): Prince George’s County Storage Facilities Legislation
The Observer obtained permission to share the information above with the community
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It was a year ago (almost to the day) that The Observer went out to the Carroll Highlands area in Eldersburg to take this video when the previous storage facility was proposed for that area:
Again…this proposal looks to be different than the last one (3 story facility vs 4 or 5 story facility) but I think maybe the community is looking for additional details leading into the March 5th Outreach meeting and continue to just have concerns about a storage facility in that location.
Here is a look at the area (via Google) noted for the proposed storage facility in Eldersburg:
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Here are some articles from 2023 on this topic with the previously proposed facility as well as some more recent articles related to zoning because of what happened in 2023:
- WMAR – Feb 2023: Carroll County neighbors upset over plans for new storag facility (READ MORE)
- Maryland Muckraker – Mar 2023: Eldersburg citizens reject big storage facility: “It feels like you don’t care about the neighbors” (READ MORE)
- Baltimore Sun – Mar 2023: Eldersburg residents speak out against Carroll Highlands storage facility during packed meeting (READ MORE)
- Baltimore Sun – May 2023: Proposed self-storage facility, Eldersburg | PHOTOS (READ MORE)
- Baltimore Sun – Jan 2024: Carroll Highlands residents still fighting for changes to commercial zoning in Eldersburg and beyond (READ MORE)
- Baltimore Sun – Feb 2024: Carroll adopts new height and setback rules for commercial properties near residential neighborhoods (READ MORE)
- Maryland Muckraker – Feb 2024: ‘Compromise’: Commissioners decide on commercial height limit after storage facility lawsuit, pushback (READ MORE)
I HIGHLY recommend watching what happens on March 5th with the Community Outreach meeting if this is a topic of interest to you.
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