EVENING SUN ' > •] •"'•''•' TROPOLITAN SECTION PAGE D1 BALTIMORE, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 1965 PAGE Dl Howard County's Chess Game Rouse And Nippard Outline Varying Views On Columbia's Needs By Ramond Gill Howard county gives an impres- sion of being the scene of a fan- tastic chess match in which neith- er side wants to checkmate the other, nor create a stalemate. The game involves intricate moves and countermovcs and stakes as high as many million dollars and the shape of the coun- ty's future. And there is the persistent hope that everybody will win. Everybody includes every res- ident of Howard county and James W. Rouse, who proposes to build nothing short of the best city in the world on some 15,000 acres in the central part of the county. His opening move was an- nouncement of the huge land pur- chase for development of a dream town which will blend urban ame- • nities with delights such as forests, parks, lakes and golf courses, among other features. Magnitude Was Awesome To Howard countians, accus- tomed to life in their rural or semi-rural environment, the mag- nitude of the thing was awesome. Currently, however, they seem to have digested the plan so well that public sentiment appears to be running strongly in favor ol the new town. But the county commissioners, who must act on the Rouse propo- sals, are confronted with a politi- cal problem that requires cau- tious handling as 1966 elections approach. While reviewing the Rouse plan, they are glancing over their shoulders at the fickle beast known as public opinion. Zoning Framework The present all - Republican Board of Commissioners was LEWIS S. NIPPARD Counsel to Howard county's commissioner JAMES W. ROUSE The man behind the plan to build a new city elected in 1962 which stressed on ,a platform antagonism to- ward high-density development. The idea was that low popula- tion density should be maintained by generally limiting residential zoning to single-family dwellirgs on lots of not less than half an acre. Moreover, the county commis- sioners are working within the framework of a zoning system de- signed to cope with the standard suburban problem of a developer seeking approval of a specific use for a parcel of land. The existing zoning regulations do not envision a situation in which a developer wants to build a new town and plans to "cluster" buildings in certain sections while preserving large areas of open space. Although Mr. Rouse's town, Columbia, would be a relatively low-density area from an over-all iandpoint, the clusters would rep- resent considerably higher density than the country has permitted in newly-developing areas. To the county's Planning Com mission falls the task of recom mending amendments to the zon- ing regulations and the zoning map. And the county commissioners recently adopted a set of guide- lines for the Planning Commission to consider when working on the Columbia project. It is these guidelines and their interpretation which now form the basis of delicate negotiations be- tween county officials and repre- sentatives of the Rouse enter prise. Lewis S. Nippard, counsel to the county commissioners and their chief adviser, stresses that whatever new regulations emerge will have to be applied uniformly to all developers, not just Mr. Rouse. Uniformly Urged "This is why extreme care must be exercised in preparing any amendments to the zoning regu- lations," Mr. Nippard said. Mr. Rouse agrees, but pnly to a point. "They should apply uniformly to all developers who want to build new towns," he said. be fully consistent with the county commissioners' intentions." The plan calls for a density of 2.1 dwelling units an acre. Con- sidering only the land devoted to housing and open space, the den- sity would be 2.6 units an acre, Mr. Rouse said. "The county commissioners were elected on a program of low density and will achieve it in Col- umbia," he explained. There will be 3.600 acres of open space, which is approxi- mately 25 per cent of the total acreage of the town. "We will preserve' the Middle Patuxent, Little Patuxent and Dorsey Run valleys and the prime forest areas," Mr. Rouse said, and commented that the plan includes a 26-mile system of bridle paths. By 1980, when Columbia is sche- duled for completion, 40 per cent of the town's assessable basis will be business' and industry, which will occupy only 15 per cent of the iland area, he commented. Balanced Base "We are achieving low density and a balanced assessable base to hold down the per-capita cost of government, but this is possible only because of the comprehen- "We are interested in a zoning siveness of the plan," he said. system that would permit and en- courage development of new com- munities in conformity with higher standards of growth," he ex- plained. "Impose the highest standards on us and anyone else who wants to come in and build a com- munity," he said. Housing Density Higher "But don't make us tear down the quality of our plan by forc- Nippard said he believes the Columbia plan "will satisfy jour concept of low density." Another guideline of the county commissioners is an assertion that, "We would not adopt an amendment to the zoning regula- tions which would authorize row- COLUMBIA house •• development in Howard COLUMBIA'S LOCATION and its relative size compared to Baltimore city and Washington, D.C. ing us to conform to a zoning system that does not apply to! the development of a new town." One of the guidelines adopted by the county commissioners is a commitment to low-density de- velopment. Mr. Rouse is convinced the over-all density of Columbia coi.nty." Mr. Rouse maintains there is a distinction between rowhouses ano "townhouses," which he pro- poses to build in Columbia. Variety Of Housing The town will have a "wide va- riety of housing types," with den- sity so low in some sections that there would be one house per ten acres," he said. His concept of townhnuses is "small groups of six or eight con- nected houses, groups clustered around courts, varying setbacks and avoidance of architectural sameness." Such concentrated development will "permit saving nearby open spaces for the enjoyment of the people who live there," he said. He described rowhouses as "un- relieved rows of houses of mono- tonous sameness. "We are as much opposed to rowhouse development as the county commissioners, and we share their hostility to it," ex- plained Mr. Rouse. Regulation Possible He said it is possible to draft a zoning regulation which would prohibit the rowhouse and permit the townhouse. "I believe we can come up with something acceptable to the com- missioners," Mr. Rouse said. Mr. Nippard asserted that the county commissioners "are unal- terably opposed to rowhouse deve- lopment in the traditional sense of the term. "The problem is how to devise a regulation to permit desirable multiunit housing without allow- ing the monotonous and updesira- ble," the county solicitor said. "Until now," he said, "public [Continued, Page D 5, Column 1] Tsrrernoon"" •>" rw> -f-r-