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Frederick County commissioners are getting closer to passing a proposal that would give the county greater growth control power over cities and towns.

Despite objections from some municipal leaders and developers, at the commissioners' public hearing on Tuesday the majority of the county board indicated they would support the proposal for more uniform growth rules across the county.

Though Commissioner Charles Jenkins (R) said he would not support the proposal, the other four commissioners said they wanted to move forward with it.

But since they wanted to smooth out the logistics of the proposed legislation, commissioners decided to come back to it Monday for a final vote.

Commissioner Kai J. Hagen (D) said the proposal would help prevent schools in developing areas from getting overcrowded, and could also benefit older schools.

"We have made tremendous investments in beautiful new schools at the expense of older schools," he said. "We don't have an equal system here right now. I think we need to make the situation better than it is."

The proposal that commissioners are considering comes from Commissioner John "Lennie" Thompson Jr. (R). It intends to create a more uniform growth policy across the county. If passed, it would impose tighter growth regulations on municipalities and make it more difficult to approve new development in areas with overcrowded schools.

In essence, the proposal would change the county's growth-control policy (known as "adequate public facilities ordinance" or APFO) and set a uniform standard for school capacity for all municipalities in the county.

Currently, the county APFO allows approval of new development only if that development would not push schools in an area above 100 percent capacity.

The 12 municipalities in the county, however, have different policies. Six of the municipalities do not have APFOs. The other six have APFOs with different school capacity standards. In Mount Airy for example, elementary schools are considered adequate if they don't exceed 90 percent capacity, and middle and high schools are considered adequate if they don't exceed 100 percent. In Brunswick, that standard is 105 percent for elementary and 110 percent for middle and high schools.

Municipal leaders who came to the county commissioners hearing on Tuesday defended their existing growth policies. They said the commissioners' proposal would infringe on their rights to plan for development within their borders and would discourage development in their areas.

Representatives from the Frederick County Builders' Association and the Maryland Municipal League also spoke against the proposal.

"We have control of growth, we just don't do it in the way that you want us to do it," John D. Miller, burgess of Middletown, told commissioners.

Miller noted that only one high school in his municipality is overcrowded and that is because of a large population bubble in one class. Middletown High School is at 112 percent capacity now, but that would change as soon as those students finish school, said Miller, who teaches at the high school.

Other municipal leaders made similar observations and some argued that, for the most part, schools in the county are not overcrowded to the point where the safety of students is in danger. In order to pass their proposal, commissioners have to prove that there will be significant adverse impact on public health, safety and welfare, if their countywide growth standards are not enforced in individual municipalities.

Winslow Burhans III, mayor of New Market, said his area simply has no need for an APFO.

"If you pass this legislation, you'd severely negatively impact the relationship between the municipalities and the county," he told commissioners.

Martin Burns, mayor of Thurmont, said that the countywide APFO will not resolve the county's problems with school funding. He noted that of all the 157 municipalities in the State of Maryland, only 17 have their own APFOs and six of them are in Frederick County.

"I think it's irresponsible not have (an APFO)," said Burns. "But I don't think it's appropriate to force an APFO on the municipalities."

Burns urged commissioners to work with the individual municipalities and try to find another way to resolve the issue, rather than enforce a regulation.

A number of Parent Teacher Association representatives also spoke at the hearing in support of the proposal for a more stringent countywide growth policy. Commissioners also said they received more than 17 e-mails from PTA representatives in different county schools, who urged commissioners to move forward with the proposal.

Daphne Gab, president of the Frederick County Council of PTAs, said that while PTAs are not averse to growth, they are concerned with the well-being of students in overcrowded and old schools.

"Our students are negatively impacted," she said.

The problem is that the state gives money for new seats, while it often takes years to update and renovate the aging schools in the county.

Older schools have outdated technology, lack proper air-conditioning, have no fire sprinklers and their stairs and hallways often do not meet fire and safety codes, Gab told commissioners.

Janice Spiegel, former president of the council, echoed those concerns. Spiegel showed the commissioners a stack of the school system's master plans that she has collected since 2000, when she first started advocating for an addition to Middletown Elementary.

"Middletown Elementary is still waiting for an expansion," she said. "... My daughter was in a portable when the sniper incident happened."

Spiegel also noted that growth outweighs the need for renovations at schools, which leaves old and dilapidated schools on the backburner for years.

"School construction issues are everyone's problem," she said.

E-mail Margarita Raycheva at mraycheva@gazette.net.