baltimoresun.com - Carroll planning board threatened with jail
Approve this project or be incarcerated, says judge. How's that for local democracy?

Despite a shortage of water and a petition signed by 600 residents, a judge has ordered the Carroll County zoning commission to reverse itself and immediately approve a 254-townhouse project in a badly congested region of the county. The Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission must approve the Eldersburg project or its members -- including a county commissioner -- could be jailed for contempt, according to Carroll Circuit Judge Michael M. Galloway. The planning commission denied the project last year, citing inadequate facilities in South Carroll, whose population has nearly tripled since 1980. Residents also submitted to the court a petition with more than 600 signatures opposing the project.