(3/20) Thurmont is losing one of the key
people who have been helping the town plan for
its future development. County Planner Denis
Superczynski has been also serving as the
town's planner under a long-time agreement
with county.
However, on Mar. 3, the Frederick County
Commissioners wrote a letter to Thurmont Mayor
Martin Burns saying that with the beginning of
the new fiscal year, July 1, Superczynski's
duties would be shifting to that of a liason
to the town's planning commission rather than
a planner.
Commissioner President Jan Gardner said
that the reasons driving the decision is that
the county needs use of their planners full
time and she wanted to avoid any conflict
Superczynski could be placed in if county
planning decisions and town planning decisions
conflicted.
Thurmont Mayor Martin Burns said that
reason the county has providing planning staff
for municipalities is that they don't tend to
need full-time planners. Gardner agreed, but
pointed out that most municipalities had
either hired a part-time planner, share a
planner with another municipality or have
their planner perform other duties.
"We don't need a full-time planner in
Thurmont and I certainly don't want to have to
pay for one," Burns said.
Thurmont Planning and Zoning Chairman John
Kinnaird said that the planning commission
will be discussing the situation during their
March meeting, but "It's really going to
affect us severely if they cut him out in
July."
Superczynski has been serving as the town's
planner during the town master plan update and
during the the town's comprehensive rezoning.
Gardner said that after a conversation with
Burns, she realized that making the change on
July 1 could adversely affect the town. "We
don't want to cause a problem with this," she
said. "He will continue to serve as the town
planner until the town's master plan is
complete."
