Community opposes plan for 18-foot-wide home | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

The narrow single-family home could be the latest of its kind to spark protests in north county, if the county Board of Appeals upholds a variance granted earlier this year to property owner Shawn McCarthy.

That would allow construction on a 25-foot lot in the Arundel Gardens neighborhood.

Last fall, a Howard County developer built a 12-foot-wide home on Belle Grove Road in Pumphrey, prompting complaints from neighbors who feared their property values would plummet.

"It needs to stop somehow," said Gary O'Neil, a member of the Arundel Neighborhoods Association's board of governors. "It's awful for the community. Your first impression when you go to buy a home is the neighborhood, and then there's this strange-looking thing dead in the middle of it."

He and other residents are fighting to prevent construction of narrow homes on so-called infill lots.

"What the board decides in this case will set the law not only for Brooklyn Park, but for the whole county," said Albert M. Johnston, a Severna Park community activist who has worked on zoning issues for 40 years.

He plans to be at tonight's hearing, along with representatives from the Linthicum-Shipley Improvement Association, the Taxpayers Improvement Association of Pumphrey and the Olde Brooklyn Park Community Association.

Mr. McCarthy, a Severna Park resident, and his lawyer, Robert Fuoco of Glen Burnie, did not return calls seeking comment.

David Bastine, outgoing president of the Arundel Neighborhoods Association, said he was surprised to learn a home could be built on a 25-foot-wide lot.

"Where did things like this come from? It was always 50 feet, with a 7½ variance on both sides," said Mr. Bastine, a longtime Brooklyn Park resident. "Something got lost in the shuffle."

He said his biggest concern is that homes built so close to other structures can pose a fire hazard.

Tracie Reynolds, spokesman for the county Office of Planning and Zoning, said Mr. McCarthy applied for, and was later granted, a variance to build the 18-foot-wide by 40-foot long home.

Otherwise, the plans didn't meet zoning requirements that a house be set back 7 feet from the property line.

Ms. Reynolds said it's legal to build on a 25-foot lot because that's how the neighborhood was subdivided years ago. Property owners typically bought two lots and built in the middle of them, she said.

Brooklyn Park is often touted as one of the most affordable communities in Anne Arundel. The median price for a home sold last month in the 21225 ZIP code, which also includes sections of Baltimore city, was $241,450. The county's overall median sale price was $339,000 in June.

Developers have also taken an interest in the neighborhood. There are plans for about 135 townhouses in the former Southview Shopping Center, plus 91 townhouses behind the Sunnyfield Estates neighborhood and another 13 single-family homes near Patapsco Park.

County Councilman Daryl Jones, D-Severn, who represents the area, is drafting a bill that will require developers to conform to architectural standards - such as height and width requirements for houses - before building. Mr. Jones was unavailable for comment.

Cecelia Fabula, a member of the Arundel Neighborhoods Association's board of governors, said she plans to assemble a group of concerned residents and head to Annapolis this fall, demanding that County Council do something to stop building on in-fill lots.

"Maybe if we get 50 or 60 people down there, they'll take notice," she said.

The hearing begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Arundel Center, 44 Calvert St. in Annapolis.