More than 30 area residents formed a coalition last week to protest the way the Joppa Road corridor study has proceeded, criticizing it for the lack of "open process" and calling the make-up of the advisory committee slanted toward business interests. "We are not against the study, but the way it has been implemented and how it was formed," said Carney resident Joyce Trageser, who is helping to the lead the protest efforts with leaders of the Greater Parkville Community Council. Learning late last week that the corridor study will be postponed for a traffic study, Trageser said the goals of the coalition stand. "We are going to use that time wisely to meet our own goals," she said. Those goals include getting a new advisory committee with more representatives from the community side and starting over with a "more open" process, Trageser said.

Trageser initiated a meeting for concerned residents last Wednesday at Christus Victor Lutheran Church on Harford Road. The meeting was held after 50 residents showed up to the Parkville-Carney Library on July 10 expecting an advisory committee meeting, she said. Trageser said she and her husband distributed 2,500 fliers to area residents to alert them of the meeting. But no meeting was held.

Planning officials say the July 10 date was never set in stone. Advisory committee members were called about the change. "We clearly said at the last meeting we are shooting for July 10 depending on if the room (at the library) is available," Pat Keller, director of the office of planning, said. "The room wasn't available, so it was knocked back to (July 25)." That meeting has been postponed until a traffic study of the corridor can be completed, Keller said. Library officials said the room was scheduled and used for the library's Internet training that night. "It was irresponsible to send out fliers," Keller said. "All they had to do was call the office." Keller said the meeting was not cancelled because a crowd was expected to come. "That's absurd. We are not playing games with people here. Life is too short for that," he said.

Several residents are questioning the office of planning's "open process." Ernest Baisden, a member of the Greater Parkville Community Council, which was not included on the advisory committee, said residents who signed up at the study kick-off meeting were told by planning staff they would be notified of meeting dates and would receive meeting minutes. He said he was also told that the meeting dates would be publicized in local newspapers. "Everyone on that list was supposed to be notified all the way through," he told residents at last week's "concerned citizens" meeting.

Diana Itter, community planner for the 6th District who is helping to lead the study, said she did not recall that promise. Not required by the county, advisory committee meetings are work sessions for representatives and are not public hearings, Itter said. The planning office is not legally required to publicize the meetings in the newspaper, she said. "We don't have the staff and the ability to notify everyone with the follow up," chief of community planning Gary Kerns said, noting that the planning board was looking into posting dates on the planning office's Internet site. While open to the public, comment from non-advisory committee members are limited, planning staff said. For future reference, Itter said residents should call the planning office to find out the dates of meetings.

Keller defended the make-up of the advisory committee which, according to a list, includes four county representatives, four community organization representatives, three Joppa Road property owners, two PTA representatives, one business association representative, one Joppa Road business owner, one Towson business owner, a resident, an administrator from Oak Crest Village and one lawyer.

The planning office can be reached at 410-337-3211.