Chairman Guzzone and members of the Howard County Delegation:

The League of Women Voters of Howard County supports an amendment to change the effective date of Ho. Co. 12-09 from October 1,2009 to July 1,2009.

We understand that Delegate Bobo is having such an amendment drafted.

We have looked at Section 15-848: Definitions trying to address the issue of property owner if the applicant for a zoning regulation amendment is not the property owner.

This issue is complex and we were not able to craft acceptable language in this brief time frame. There are other areas for new or revised language in Section 15-849.

The League will work with members of the delegation to present them for a local delegation bill for 2010.

The League requests approval of 12-09 with the effective date amendment so that applicants for Howard County Zoning Regulation Amendments are required to file an affidavit regarding their contributions during the prior 48 month period to County elected officials.

We thank the Delegation members for their attention to this important issue

Grace Kubofcik
Barbara Schnackenberg
Co-presidents
League of Women Voters of howard County