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County planners say the final site plan for Clarksburg Town Center is flawed, but the vice president for the developer described the problems as relatively minor, "like typos."

Rose Krasnow, chief of the Planning Board's Development Review Division, said, "We do not view the issue as typos."

Douglas Delano of Newland Communities said there is some confusion about the mix of houses proposed. In some places houses were called multifamily units, when really what is proposed are live/work units, where residents live above their place of work, he said.

"We're waiting for Park and Planning to review the plan," he said. "Hopefully, they won't find a lot to change."

Planning Board staff is reviewing the 221-page document, Krasnow said.

"We are finding we're not real happy with the submission at this time," she said. "There's a lot that should be on it that's not."

She declined to elaborate, saying it is still early in the review process. However, the review should be completed in time for Robert Kronenberg, supervisor of the Development Review Division, to discuss the site plan at Monday night's Clarksburg Civic Association meeting.

"We both and the board really feel a great sense of urgency about getting the site plan approved," she said.

Delano appeared before the Planning Board last month to present a required update of the community's progress and announce that the plan was filed.

He said he was looking forward to receiving site plan approval.

"I estimate late next year we'll actually start development," he said.

Coldwell Banker has been retained to search for a grocer to anchor the commercial area and find other tenants, he said.

"They've lined up several presentations with retail grocers," Delano said.

Krasnow interrupted that discussion to point out that staff had found some differences between the board's final resolution on the Clarksburg Town Center last December and Newland's site plan, which was submitted by the Oct. 12 deadline.

The Clarksburg Town Center is a 270-acre development that was the first to begin construction in the rural community at the northern edge of Montgomery County. It will have a mix of single-family houses, townhouses, apartments and a retail district.

The 1994 Clarksburg Master Plan says no other retail district can be built in the community before the Clarksburg Town Center retail district is established.

Since 2005 when the Planning Board ruled the developer had violated the certified site plan, Newland, residents and the Planning Board have been struggling to bring the already built sections of the plan into compliance and agree on a final site plan for the remainder of the community.

"Newland did say to us there were some conditions in the final resolution they didn't agree with and asked if we could change," Krasnow said to the board. "We did change some because we felt they were right, but there were others we felt they were not putting forward with what you approved."

The only discrepancy Krasnow named was the number of houses to be built. The board had capped the number at 671, but Newland's plan shows 673.

That and other differences may require an amendment to the board's resolution, she said.

"If we said there's a maximum, there's a maximum," Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson replied.

Staff is developing "an extensive list of comments" for Newland, everything from green space calculations to unit count, Krasnow said last week.

Kathie Hulley, president of the Clarksburg Civic Association, has seen the plans and said she is concerned. She said she hopes the Planning Board makes sure its resolution is followed.

"Once again Newland has not lived up to what it was told to do," Hulley said. "It's got to be done the right way and Newland is fighting and fighting."

if you go

The Clarksburg Civic Association will meet at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the Clarksburg ombudsman's office, 23201 Stringtown Road. Call Kathie Hulley at 301-580-4896.