Finksburg
Community
Conservation Plan

Carroll County is now working with the community of Finksburg to update the comprehensive plan for the community. Resident and business participation in this process is very important. To develop a plan that reflects the desires and needs of the community, the county needs to know what your vision is for the future of the community, what you feel are its strengths, what challenges it will face, and what your goals for this plan are. Knowing the goals and desires the community has for its future will help in figuring out ways to get there.

In the next several months, you will be invited to provide feedback on these issues in two different ways. A series of community workshops will be held to obtain input on the general directions that the comprehensive plan should be taking. Another series of workshops will be held once a list of suggestions for achieving the plan goals is developed. Recommendations will include any proposed changes in land use designations. The series of workshops will allow people to react to the proposals and to will provide individuals with the opportunity to add suggestions of their own to achieve the goals. All members of the community are encouraged to participate in these evening sessions.

The second type of feedback will come through a survey that will be sent to all property owners in the community. This survey will also address some of the overall issues and visions for the plan. It will include, however, a few more specific issues that will help ensure that the community’s needs are addressed. It is important for each household to fill out and return this survey to ensure that all viewpoints are covered. Please be watching for them to arrive in your mailbox in a couple of weeks.

Since the state’s property records are used to develop the mailing list for this survey, we need your help in identifying addresses of renters, both residential and commercial, so they can be added to our mailing list. Surveys and newsletters will be available at the County Office Building for those who do not receive one in the mail.

The community workshops and the survey are designed to provide every household in the Finksburg community with the opportunity to provide input in this process.

It is up to you to help us make this community participation effort a success!q

The community comprehensive plan update process is divided into six separate phases, each phase having a distinct and specific focus or set of tasks.

Phase 1 is the Background Work Phase. During this time, staff researches existing uses of land, current conditions of community facilities, and demographic characteristics. Staff also interviews community officials, develops the initial study area maps, and prepares the survey and the first news-letter.

Phase 2 is the first Community Participation Phase. All community households receive a series of newsletters. These newsletters inform the community of plan update progress and upcoming community workshops. Each household receives a survey. This survey gives each household in the community the opportunity to participate and share its needs. This phase includes a community workshop series. Participants identify their desires for the community’s future, the goals the community wants to achieve, and other issues specific to the Finksburg community. The community workshops result in a better picture of what the community wants to accomplish and where it wants to go in the future.

Based on the Phase 1 background work and the direction for the future provided by the community, during Phase 3 County staff develop a recommended list of ways to achieve the goals. Any proposed land use changes or additions needed to accomplish these goals are mapped.

Phase 4 is the second Community Participation Phase. A newsletter, which includes all the recommendations, is prepared and sent out to give the community the opportunity to review the recommendations prior to the next set of workshops. These workshops allow the community to give feedback in these recommendations and make additional suggestions before finishing the final draft plan.

During Phase 5, a draft plan incorporating the workshop results is developed.

In Phase 6, the draft plan is available for a 60-day public review period. State agencies and neighboring jurisdictions also review the draft. A community meeting is held toward the end of this review period to allow community members to ask any questions needed to fully understand the draft plan and to be able to provide well-informed written or verbal comments at the public hearing. Following the public hearing, the County Planning Commissioners review the comments and prepare and approve a final draft plan. They forward this draft to the elected officials for adoption.q

The estimated population of the Woolerys Election District (of which Finksburg is a part) was 17,369 in 1999, and it continues to grow at a faster rate than Carroll County. The Election District is the third largest in Carroll County.

The estimated number of persons per household in the Woolerys Election District (3.0) in 1990 was higher than the estimated number of persons per household in Carroll County as a whole (2.85).

According to the 1990 Census, the median (middle) household income for the Finksburg community was $47,016, nearly $5,000 higher than the median income for the county. The per capita income (income averaged out over the total number of residents in the Election District) was $17,564.

Two-person households (1,440) represented the largest number of households (31%) during the 1990 Census in the Woolerys Election District.

About 1,612 of the 3,479 owner-occupied homes in the Woolerys Election District in 1990 had a value between $100,000 and $149,999. Many of the remaining homes (839) were valued in the range between $150,000 to $199,999.

About 33 percent of the dwelling units that existed in the Election District in 1990 were built between 1970 and 1979.

In 1990, family households represented approximately 88 percent of the total community. An estimated 91 percent of the family households were married-couple families. During this time, the majority of households contained 2, 3, or 4 people.

It has been close to twenty years since the plan for the Finksburg community experienced a full update. The 1981 Finksburg Area Comprehensive Plan was the first plan, specific to the Finksburg area, which was adopted to guide the future growth of the community.

The 1981 comprehensive plan for the Finksburg community addresses two major land use issues. The entire Election District is located within the Liberty Reservoir Watershed. The plan recognizes that there is a need for low-density development adjacent to the reservoir in order to minimize the hazards of non-point (runoff) pollution that is experienced from more intensive development.

The inability to provide for public water and sewer facilities for the Finksburg area is also addressed in the 1981 plan. The land use plan recommends directing development onto specific areas where soils are suitable for on-lot sewerage disposal systems.

Although many of the same issues are still pertinent and will continue to be recognized, the new comprehensive plan for the Finksburg area will be somewhat unique to the county because of the area’s special environmental features. While many of the elements of the countywide master plan will apply to this area, new issues, such as scenic roads and watershed protection, will be unique components of this plan. The Finksburg Plan will also address the issues of aesthetic and functional improvements to the MD 140 corridor.

Each resident of the community is responsible during this process for communicating his or her desires for the future of the community as a whole as well as on many specific issues. It’s up to you to get involved early in the process and really make a difference!q

If you have any questions regarding anything you have read in this newsletter or about the process in general, please feel free to contact the planner for your community, Matthew Simmont. Mr. Simmont works with the areas within the Woolerys Election District. As the project manager for this process, Matthew can be contacted at the following address, phone numbers, and e-mail address:

Matthew Simmont
Carroll County Planning
225 North Center Street, Room 204
Westminster MD 21157
(410) 386-2145 (phone)
(410) 386-2120 (fax)
msimmont@ccg.carr.org