All but two of 66 applicants for rezoning in Harford County are asking for permits to increase density and allow a wider range of permitted land uses on their properties.

Applications for rezoning opened in early June and closed Aug. 2. The 66 applications received for the county’s comprehensive rezoning process cover 87 parcels across all districts.

The Department of Planning and Zoning is now assessing each request and will provide recommendations on each application to the Planning Advisory Board, composed of five residents appointed by the county executive who will also review and provide recommendations. The administration will then forward a comprehensive rezoning bill to the County Council, which is the only county entity with authority to rezone properties. The county executive and Department of Planning and Zoning can only make rezoning recommendations to the council.

County Executive Bob Cassilly said residents may be “justifiably concerned” about the potential for increased growth and traffic congestion that could result from zoning changes.

“Those concerns are important and merit full consideration in the comprehensive rezoning process,” Cassilly said. “Public comments are encouraged on each request and those comments will be carefully considered in the evaluation of the requests.”

District A — primarily covering Joppatowne and Edgewood — has the most rezoning requests. Most concern parcels zoned at the lowest density residential zoning, known as R1, and seek a change to the highest residential classification of R4 and greater.

District A Councilman Dion Guthrie said that though he is against rezoning R1 property to a higher density and up-zoning as a whole, he will visit each applicant property so he can better understand the requests.

“If someone can make the case to me, then it will be different, but as of now, I am not in favor of any R1 going to R4 or anything like that,” Guthrie said.

Guthrie, a Democrat, is concerned about overcrowding and is critical of large development projects in the county. He maintains that more development and more dense zoning result in overcrowding of schools, increased traffic congestion and an overall reduction in quality of life.

The 2025 Comprehensive Rezoning — required by county code to occur every eight years — was initiated by Cassilly in February when he submitted legislation to the County Council. The purpose of comprehensive rezoning is to allow property owners the opportunity to adjust to land use changes and the needs of the community.

“Of the 66 requests that came through, I am sure that through recommendations from the county executive and planning and zoning, a lot of them are not going to be moved forward or recommended to the council,” said Council President Patrick Vincenti.

Vincenti cited his experience during comprehensive rezoning in 2016 when he was the council representative for District E. He said that more than 100 applications were submitted during that process and a lot were filtered out by the county executive and department officials.

The council will hold a public hearing and council representatives will vote on applications that are recommended to proceed.

Guthrie explained that he plans to look into rezoning the land known as Abingdon Woods — the proposed site of the controversial Abingdon Business Park, a project that has been abandoned; however, the property owner has not applied for rezoning.

According to the Department of Planning and Zoning’s website, the department can recommend changing the zoning of a property for which the owner has not requested a change. Director of Planning and Zoning Shane Grimm said these changes are typically only done to fix errors.

“For example, if a property is zoned say R1 but is surrounded by B3, we will attempt to contact the owner and ask if they have any objection to us recommending a rezoning,” Grimm said.

If this occurs, the department must give notice to the property owner and the owners of neighboring properties 30 days before the public hearing.

If council members wanted to rezone property not recommended by the Department of Planning and Zoning or sought by the property owner, they would need to propose an amendment to the rezoning bill that would need a majority vote by the council.

Guthrie said rezoning of Abingdon Woods would be a proactive measure to avoid another developer looking to build a large manufacturing facility on the site since it is currently zoned for commercial industrial use. Guthrie stated that he would aim to rezone the land to R1 which would allow for low-density single-family homes.

“Single-family homes would go more in tune with the community,” Guthrie said. “The area isn’t made for tractor trailers and warehouses — that stuff doesn’t belong in a residential area, but houses do.”

According to a news release from the county executive’s office, county officials anticipate having the final comprehensive rezoning report to the council by March.

Applicant properties can be found online through the Harford County Comprehensive Zoning Tracker. The tracker is accessible from the homepage of the county website, www.harfordcountymd.gov, and will be updated in real time as applications are processed.