Copyright ©, 1981, Greater Severna Park Council, all rights reserved.
A considerable share of the time devoted to this project was taken up in the collection of data and in the assembly and organization of documents. This process resulted in a determination that certain changes in the duties of the Officers should be made, that a more formal Committee structure was essential, and that specific requirements for the retention and preservation of official records be spelled out. To effect these improvements a revision of the Constitution has been prepared.
A residual benefit of the research work for this study will be a master file of the Articles of Incorporation, the Constitution, the Minutes of all meetings, and Chronological Lists of Officers and Committee Chairmen.
At this time this Study should be considered a first draft of a more commemorative History which might be published in 1984 to commemorate the twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Greater Severna Park Council.
The Assistance of present and past Officers and members of the Council is acknowledged and appreciated.
G.E.B
On the twenty-second day of October, 1960, the Articles of Incorporation for the Council were signed by William J. Smith, Jr., Joseph M. DeFiore, and John T. Gass, with Smith named as Resident Agent. These Articles were approved by the State Department of Assessments and Taxation on 24 October 1960. The Corporation was established with the following stated Purposes: (a) To unite the communities of the Severna Park area in joint efforts for their mutual benefit and for the advancement of the best interests of the area; (b) To take positive action through united and individual community action to promote organized civic planning, both long and short range. Projects which have a great bearing on all communities are zoning, sewage disposal, water supply, public roads, police protection, schools etc. (c) To initiate or support action to abate nuisances; (d) to assist local public authorities in all efforts towards good government; and (e) To encourage and aid the organization of local community associations in localities of the area where they do not now exist.
Each of these categories will be discussed in the following paragraphs.
- Planning and Zoning
- Transportation
- Wastewater and Stormwater Management
- Public Works Capital Projects
- Government Organization
- Education
- Recreation
- Police-Community Relations
- Membership Services
It is not the purpose of this study to discuss in any detail specific rezoning cases; however, mention in list form of examples which came before the Greater Severna Park Council over the years should be useful in demonstrating the continuing, and almost overriding interest of the Council's members in this subject.
In 1959-60 proposals for a shopping center development in the triangle south of Macey's Corner bounded by Ritchie Highway, B&A Boulevard, and McKinsey Road resulted in extensive Council involvement to insure a buffer zone between this commercial development and contiguous residential areas.
Beginning in 1963 and continuing intermittently until 1971 neighboring communities were supported by the Council in the many necessary efforts to keep heavy commercial zoning out of the immediate local business area along Route 648 in both directions from Dawson's corner.
In 1967 and for many years following, the proper density development of very large rural areas between Jumpers Hole Road and Route 3 north of Benfield Road was of such concern to the members that not only regular monitoring of all rezoning proposals for that tract was initiated, nut the Council's first legal defense fund to hire attorneys for zoning cases was established.
In 1968 and 1969, representatives of the Council worked very closely with the County Planning and Zoning Department to provide citizen input to the new Subdivision Regulations. Also in these years opposition to high density housing proposals anywhere in the Greater Severna Park area became Council policy, and this policy has served as continuing guidance for the development of Council positions on rezoning proposals along Benfield Road west of Jumpers Hole Road, and on or near the Ritchie Highway.
All through 1969, 1970, and 1971, the Council meetings were regularly dominated by issues connected with implementation of the General Development Plan, the writing of the Zoning Regulations, the controversies over the Marina Bill and the proposed Subdivision Regulations, and the very many rezoning proposals which were filed to obtain desired zoning of parcels of land before the more restrictive zoning regulations could be adopted.
In 1972 the Council pursued and almost succeeded in getting a special contract zoning study for the Greater Severna Park area since it had become the major growth area in the County. This study was to be jointly funded by the Federal Government, the County, and the GSPC. Federal funds were committed and the GSPC was prepared to provide both funds and personnel, but the idea failed because of County Council unwillingness to appropriate its share for what appeared to be special treatment of one section of the County.
In the meantime, the County Department of Planning and Zoning had completed its draft Zoning Maps for the Third District and planned to submit them for passage by the County Council in January, 1973. Participation in the process of review and public hearings on these maps became the most extensive and controversial activity of community involvement in the governmental process of the decade. First, in November, 1972, the GSPC provided each of its member associations copies of the detailed Third District Zoning Maps, with instructions to review them and develop community positions on the proposed zoning for each plot in the community; then, after the Administration had presented its proposals to the County Council in January, the Greater Severna Park Council, in cooperation with its member communities, the Severn River Association, and the Magothy River Association, and all other interested parties made their views known to the Council at public hearings. At the conclusion of these hearings, bowing to pressures from many special interest groups, Councilmen offered over one hundred amendments. The GSPC invited the Third District councilman to appear before it and explain the rationale for such unprecedented disregard for the years of effort by the Administration and for public interest as demonstrated during the hearings. This appearance took place and resulted in the call of a Special Meeting of the GSPC on February 20, at which the Council took positions on the 57 amendments which impacted on its area of interest, voting to oppose 37 of them. In March, the GSPC position was taken to the County Council in person and followed up with written testimony for the record. The position was also presented to the County Executive, both in person and in writing. In the final analysis, many compromises were reached and the bill as finally approved by the County Council and signed by the Executive was reasonably satisfactory to the communities.
At the end of 1973, with the new zoning regulations adopted, the GSPC turned its attention to insuring that they were followed and to monitoring all rezoning proposals for impact on the area. In his year-end review the President of the GSPC identified outstanding issues as the Arundel Expressway, the Route 3 median strip, street lights, traffic signalization, capital budget projects, mass transit needs, and the refinery proposals for north county. These topics, plus continued opposition to high rise proposals, expanded commercial zones, and uncontrolled development, and support for maintaining low density zoning in environmentally fragile areas occupied a good share of time for the next six years. In 1981, the GSPC took positions on preservation of farm properties for agricultural use, hucksters along Ritchie Highway, arcade licensing, and the Litz Lake sedimentation controversy, among many other issues.
In 1959 and 1960 traffic movement on Ritchie Highway became a major concern, with identified need for traffic lights at the intersection with Cypress Creek road. Also traffic surveys were being conducted on Route 648 at Dawson's Corner. Throughout the '60s much attention was devoted to many local problems such as inadequate drainage control along feeder roads, the need for protection of school children from the dangers of increased automobile traffic by constructing more sidewalks along routes to schools, and improved traffic signals.
Extensive long-range planning began in 1973 to seek solutions to the future problems of moving increased traffic throughout the area between Baltimore and Annapolis. In behalf of its member communities, the Greater Severna Park Council became a member of the Citizens Advisory Council for the Baltimore-Annapolis Corridor Study and participated actively for the next seven years in the development of alternatives for traffic movement and highway construction involving the Arundel Expressway, improvements to Route 2, reconstruction of portions of Route 3, Route 32, and Route 178, and some potential new interstate routes. During this same period extensive plans were being made for the construction of the Baltimore subway, one leg of which was to extend to the airport and into Anne Arundel County to Marley Station. Council members were much interested in the potential of this system, but County government support was lacking.
Local roads and traffic control through residential areas are of continuing concern.
In May, 1961, the Greater Severna Council adopted the following resolution:
"The Greater Severna park Council endorses an overall 'Master Sewerage Plan' similar to the one previously prepared by the Sanitary Commission Engineering staff, designed to serve the entire area of the Magothy-Severn River Peninsula, which would have a disposal plant carry the completely treated effluent into the deep waters of the Chesapeake Bay. The Council is unalterably opposed to the creation of any lagoons or other temporary or permanent treatment facilities which would by design or any other circumstances, discharge any effluent into the Magothy or Severn Rivers or their tributaries. Further, the rapid growth of this area in the past and the authoritatively predicated rapid future growth make it essential that a 'Master Sewerage Plan' be prepared in conjunction with a thorough study by the planning and Zoning Commission of the best land use for the entire area."
This policy statement provided guidance for Council actions for the next 20 years.
Although there had been some interim proposals during the preparation of the Master Sewerage Plan for local treatment of sewage with the effluent ending up in the rivers, citizen opposition was successful, and in 1968 construction of the large treatment plant at Sandy Point was begun, and during succeeding years most of the residents of the area have been able to hook up to the system and eliminate their septic systems.
Concurrent with the planning for proper disposal of wastewater much progress has been made in the management of stormwater, and many communities now have adequate storm drainage systems in being; however, the problem of control of sediment and drainage during construction of new developments has been a continuing problem requiring attention by such organizations as the Greater Severna Park Council. One example which has been an active issue for more than ten years is the siltation of Litz Lake off Lakeland Road. The GSPC has made numerous attempts to use its good offices in support of the community and the owners in their long dispute with the County.
After over fifteen years of operations under the Charter, some of its provisions have come under attack and are being reexamined. During 1981 the GSPC made its views known to the Charter Revision Committee.