MDCC
receives conditional approval in Freedom
By Richard D. L. Fulton
News Editor
FREEDOM
TOWNSHIP, Pa. – The town board of supervisors unanimously
granted conditional approval to Mason-Dixon Country Club, Inc.’s
(MDCC) conditional use application.
MDCC
has proposed a half-billion dollar, 867-acre “golf community”
of more than 1,160 homes interlaced with a golf complex spanning
Freedom Township and a portion of northern Frederick County,
Md. According to Freedom Township regulations, golf communities
are permitted in the affected zones only as a conditional
use.
The board
of supervisors rendered its decision at a Dec. 21 meeting
following the final conditional use hearing on Dec. 15.
Carroll
“Duke” Martin, a project manager for Mason-Dixon
Country Club, Inc., told The Dispatch that attached
to the approval were 74 conditions, but that the holidays
had prevented the development staff from reviewing them in
detail.
“We
haven’t had a chance to really go over them yet. You
don’t go through 74 overnight … but we don’t
believe anything really raised any eyebrows. We were happy
to get through the process although we have all those conditions
set. I remain optimistic,” he said.
The last
of the special exception hearings was also held on Dec. 19,
concluding with public comment. The respective attorneys were
given until Jan. 31 to file briefs and until Feb. 10 to obtain
responses to those briefs.
The board
then has 45 days to render a decision, making a special exceptions
request decision possible in March.
However,
conditional use and the special exceptions do not necessarily
pave the way for preliminary plan presentations.
“We
have to go back before zoning for another special exception,”
Martin said. The developers plan to request an exception for
a transmission main from the development’s proposed
Marsh Creek pumping station to the planned treatment facility
off Natural Dam Road.
Once
all the necessary special conditions and conditional use approvals
are obtained, MDCC plans call for a six-phase build-out, with
completion slated tentatively for 2009. The development would
sit principally between Emmitsburg Road and Bullfrog Road,
with its northern boundary near the U.S. 15 interchange. A
commercial section, including a hotel and businesses, is proposed
between U.S. 15 and Shorbs Mill Road.
MDCC,
Inc. is owned by Caswell and Marie Holloway (Holloway Development
Corporation) of Philadelphia. The Holloways began purchasing
land for the project around 1988, and began work on the development
concept around 1998.
