Constructive Comment #1

A recent amendment to the Howard County Code requires that notice of Pre-submission Community Meetings be mailed to any community association that represents the area of the subject property or any adjacent properties. I have found it very difficult and very time consuming (i.e. expensive) to properly identify these community associations.

To my knowledge, DPZ does not maintain a current list of community associations operating within the county. There used to be such a list, but it is not kept current with respect to the name and proper mailing address of the president of the various community associations. Even with a current and accurate list of the community associations, there is not a convenient or accurate way of determining what specific area each association represents.

I would like to see DPZ afford all community associations the opportunity to register with the department in order to facilitate the notification process. Once registered, it should be incumbent on the association to notify DPZ of a change in the name of its president, or a change in the mailing address of its president. It would also be very helpful if the specific areas represented by each association could be determined from a map maintained by DPZ. Alternatively, each community association could submit a list of parcel/lot numbers that they represent. This way we could be sure that all interested community associations respresenting a given area are given timely notice of land use proceedings.