Many residents in the Villages and Highlands probably don’t know from where emergency vehicles originate that respond to local calls for service. Most often, they come from the Urbana Fire and Rescue Department. The Department has been serving the Urbana area since the 1970s. Possibly the lack of familiarity contributes to the lack of...
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I am an elected member of a board of directors for a local homeowners association (HOA). I greatly value the opportunity to serve and to share these thoughts on that service. What I say represents my opinion, and nothing I say should be taken as a statement on behalf of the board. At this...
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The postal service has severe financial problems. Among the impacts are the near zero prospect of having a post office built in Urbana. On the other hand, it appears the postal service has renewed interest in additional contractor-operated facilities, as recently opened on West Patrick Street in Frederick. While I operated a business, I...
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I volunteer with a number of groups, but consider my most important activity to be an elected Board of Directors member of the Villages of Urbana Homeowners’ Association. The Villages are not an incorporated municipality — such as Mount Airy — but the community accepts responsibility for a variety of services provided by municipalities....
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Frederick County has several buildings built more than a century ago. Among those located in Urbana are: the Landon House, the St. Ignatius country church, and the Zion Episcopal Church. The latter two also have cemeteries. In the Villages of Urbana (VOU) there are two more: the Fat Oxen and Dudderer houses. The Fat...
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Society functions well because most people behave in a manner that contributes to good order without being forced to do so. On the other hand, there are people whose behavior knowingly or unknowingly contributes to disorder by: Allowing companion animals to run loose, tagging plants and lawns or otherwise defecating on neighboring property (and...
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The Power of the Press? I’ve observed previously that without letters to the editor it is difficult to judge reactions to my columns. However, I recently spoke with some readers who provided feedback. One reader, Roy Taylor, suggested using the column to influence action on two safety issues at local schools he had pursued...
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A total of 7,000 copies of the Urbana issue of The Town Courier are printed each month. About 3,000 of these are mailed to residents of the Villages or Urbana and the Urbana Highlands. The balance is mailed to other area residents or distributed through racks located in the Urbana Library and other locations....
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Since my last column, several Urbana-related happenings caught my attention that I’ll share. Villages of Urbana Passes Important Measure The Villages is a “Planned Unit Development” approved for slightly greater than 3,000 homes. Until three-fourths of the number of recorded lots had homes constructed and became occupied, the developer, Natelli Communities Inc., exercised it’s...
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The Villages of Urbana (VOU) and Urbana Highlands are homeowner association (HOA) communities. They are not municipalities (i.e., towns or cities) and receive services from Frederick County government as do other unincorporated areas. However, both associations have boards of directors and charters that authorize them to engage in a variety of functions much like...
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