Re-Capping the Capital

Yesterday's Capital was chock full of all sorts of local interest pieces.

Judging from "Horse park could generate $100 million yearly, 1,600 jobs" the Capital is now reprinting, in full, press releases from the Maryland Stadium Authority. I was a bit surprised to see that Alison Asti wasn't given a by-line. The article enumerates, in some detail, all of the glorious benefits that we might see if Gambrills were to get a horse stadium.

"Annapolis Neck Road residents demand annexation" tells the story of an Annapolis community that has, somehow, seen the surrounding prosperity pass it by. Now, its residents want annexation, and the development dollars they have been assured will come with it. The city seems more than willing to oblige. I thought the general theme of the 2005 Annapolis election was "Let's put the breaks on annexation and development," but I could be mistaken.

A precious piece on Executive Owens' frustration with the head of the Greater
Crofton Council, Torrey Jacobsen, "Owens chides Crofton's dealmaking with developers", informs us that Owens may be a bit nervous someone is cutting in on her territory, negotiating away the county for trinkets and baubles.

Finally, "Gondolas the solution to city's traffic congestion?" tells the story of a couple so desperate to negotiate an Annapolis without traffic, they're behind the idea of bringing ski lifts to the city. When was the last time anyone used Annapolis transit? I will concede though, fur-bedecked yuppies riding through the sky, looking down at the people who make the city go, huddled in our ClearChannel-funded bus stops does offer a frighteningly authentic picture of Annapolis in the 21st century.

Annexation Exasperation

At Monday night's Annapolis City Council meeting, the issue of the City annexation of land in the county was the hot button topic. The concern, among the environmental and traffic-minded, is that allowing the City to annex land in the county, including "179 acres near Forest Drive and Spa Road known as the Katherine properties, and 6 acres off Edgewood Road near the Annapolis Water Reclamation Facility known as the Rodgers property", will result in the land being upzoned and more densely developed than if the land was left under the County's zoning.

Several Councilpeople, including Sheila Tolliver (D), Louise Hammond (D), and David Cordle (R), have sponsored a moratorium bill that would "put a freeze on city annexations until the council adopted a comprehensive set of policies that would 'define land use, transportation, and other conditions under which land would be annexed.'" Sounds like a reasonable position to me.

In fact, I like the idea so much I would like to see the County put a similar development moratorium in place until we can get an accurate sense of the adequacy of public facilities (e.g., schools, water, sewer, roads) countywide. Such a stance would be quite effective for a prospective County Executive candidate, given that whether in the City or in the County, a significant proportion of residents seem to be fed up with the deterioration in quality of life caused by unchecked growth.

Tomorrow's column will showcase the answers from various Mayoral candidates to a questionnaire I asked them to fill out last week.