Some Residents Angry About Baltimore County Zoning Decision Benefitting Wegmans

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (WJZ) -- A Baltimore County zoning decision has some residents crying foul. The council has approved zoning for retail at the former Solo Cup manufacturing site on Reisterstown Road in Owings Mills.

Pat Warren reports many are pleased; others are not.

The Baltimore County Council has cleared the way for a new development at the old Solo Cup plant and the developers are eager to get started.

"We're very pleased with what the council did for us last night," said Thomas Fitzpatrick, Greenberg Gibbons.

It voted to let Greenberg Gibbons move forward with Foundry Row, a shopping center that includes Wegmans Supermarket--to the delight of many shoppers.

"It's a great store," said one shopper.

"I get tired of going to the same places," said another.

Opposition to the plan included a petition with 7,000 signatures urging the council to wait for further study.

"They spit in the face of every one of those 7,206 people," said Shirley Supik, Say No to Solo.

The concerns include traffic congestion on Reisterstown Road.

"I have talked to police, EMS, fire department. They have trouble getting up and down Reisterstown Road now when it's busy. You put 5,000, 6,000 more cars now on Reisterstown Road a day...I hate to think," she said.

Opponents say they will petition the council decision to referendum. The County Council voted 6-1 in favor of the project.

"It was an overwhelming confirmation that the community really wants this project to move forward and now we're ready to get underway," Fitzpatrick said.

It would take 28,000 signatures to get the measure on the ballot.

Developers hope to open Wegmans in 2015. If it goes to referendum, it would appear on the 2014 ballot.