The owner of Carrolltown Center of Eldersburg is seeking a change in zoning at the mall to correct what he calls a "mistake" made several years ago that could prevent the center's redevelopment.

Eldersburg Sustainable Redevelopment LLC, a division of Owings Mills-based Black Oak Associates, has petitioned the Board of County Commissioners to change the zoning of the center from its current business-neighborhood retail designation to a business-general zone.

Black Oak attorney Bill Dulany of Westminster states in his Aug. 29 petition to the county that the current zoning of Carrolltown is a "mistake."

The way the zoning is written, a redevelopment at Carrolltown Center would trigger guidelines in the zoning that would make the center ineligible to have a department store such as Kmart, or even most smaller chain stores. Also, residential use could not be permitted.

"We wouldn't be able to redevelop Carrolltown. Period," said Dixon Harvey, Black Oak president in an interview with The Eagle.

The county's Planning & Zoning Commission will review the request and make a recommendation to the commissioners. The planning commission will hear the background of the case at its 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16 meeting at the County Office Building, Room 003/004, 225 N. Center St., Westminster.

Since repurchasing the center in December 2004, Black Oak has been in negotiations with Kmart's parent company, Sears Holding Corp., to resolve a lease agreement to allow redevelopment of the mall to move forward.

Black Oak officials have said the company's vision is to turn Carrolltown into a "town center" development with a possible mix of residential, offices and retail.

"As we talk with the community and others, our plan for Carrolltown includes a lot of the smaller department stores in electronics, office products and fashion," Harvey said.

The neighborhood retail zoning allows a building to be, at the most, 10,000 square feet, said Derek Meyers, the county's comprehensive planner for the Freedom District.

That size limitation was changed in 2006 due to an amendment to the county's zoning language. Since no project was under way at Carrolltown when the text was updated, the mall would fall under the new guidelines.

"We were not aware of the text amendment change until after it happened, and we have been working with the county since then to figure out how to address the zoning so it can re-enable the redevelopment of Carrolltown," Harvey said.

Three main buildings that comprise Carrolltown are 95,750; 32,520 and 29,881 square feet, according to the developer's petition.

Many popular chain retailers would not be able to fit into a 10,000-square-foot space, Harvey said.

No potential new tenants have been named for Carrolltown, but just to give examples -- Old Navy stores are typically 15,000 to 20,000 square feet; T.J. Maxx stores average 30,000 square feet and Circuit City ranges from 15,000 to 45,000 square feet according to figures available online.

Once the Planning & Zoning Commission has a public hearing and makes a recommendation, it is turned over to the commissioners to vote on the matter.

For the commissioners to approve the request, state law says they must find that the character of the neighborhood has changed or there was a mistake in the original zoning.

"We think it's a mistake given that it's already a very large retail project," Harvey said.

A public hearing could be held in October, Meyers said, but no date has been set.

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