Frederick County Adopts Moratorium

Fed up with new development outstripping its infrastructure, the Frederick County Commissioners have put a 2-year moratorium on some new construction in unincorporated portions of the County.

Something for Anne Arundel's developers to keep in mind when cry foul about finally having to pay their fair share.

County Buckles on Church Case

Pieces in the Sun and Capital re-count how, apparently, Riverdale Baptist Church, put Anne Arundel County over a barrel regarding the development of their mega-church in Lothian. The deal, struck between the County attorney and the Church, would require:

• The County Council must remove zoning rules such as those that block the building of a private school with fewer than 125 parking spaces on a scenic or historic road.

• Approval of building and grading permits for a two-story classroom that doesn't exceed 40,000 square feet; an entrance road from Wrighton Road; and two private fields.

• Approval by the county Health Department of septic and storm-water management facilities for the church and the school buildings.

• Permission to subdivide the tract to create three residential lots.

Sounds to me like the County is giving up the farm on this one.

Felling Oak Hill

Yesterday's Sun had an interesting piece on the expansion of the Oak Hill Juvenile Detention Center in Laurel. The facility, nominally a branch of the Washington, DC public school system exists in a precarious position, both physically and philosophically.

Its history goes back to 1929, when the federal government granted the 888 acre tract, which is located between Fort Meade and the National Security Agency (NSA), to Washington, DC. The juvenile detention facility, which houses up to 188 incarcerated middle and high school youth, was built in 1967.

The current expansion flies in the face of Senator Cardin's persistent efforts to shut the facility down, and his arguments that the center should be moved back to the District because, the location is too remote and prevents close interaction between the youths and their families.

District officials have argued that because the center houses youth whose stay is often months at a time, the rural facility gives them the opportunity to spend time outdoors. The City's other juvenile detention center, in northeast DC, has no outdoor recreation space. In the past, the City has also expressed that it would be willing to part with much of the land beyond what is immediately being used, about 40-60 acres.

With BRAC and large-scale development planned for the area, expect this issue to heat up even more over the coming years.

Compromise Forged on Subdivision Bill

At Monday's County Council meeting, Councilman Reilly's bill to exempt so called "minor subdivisions" from school adequacy of public school provisions ran up against considerable opposition, and faced substantive amendments by Councilman Cohen.

The bill, ostensibly designed to address cases where local landowners are being held up in the process of subdividing their land so their children or other family members can build homes, was opposed by several groups, including South Arundel Citizens for Responsible Development (SACReD), on the grounds that it was too open-ended. Or, as Mike Shay said, "The bill was never really crafted to serve the people they were intending to serve."

Councilman Cohen's amendments narrowed the number of new units that can be created from five to three and require the land owner to possess the property for five years before subdividing. Curiously, Councilman Reilly opposed both.

Leopold Vows Firm Stand on Impact Fees

Today's Sun has an article on decreasing home sales in the County, dovetailing that finding with Executive Leopold's increasingly firm stand in favor of a significant increase in impact fees. Predictably, the homebuilders got on the record mewling that "higher impact fees would limit their opportunities to provide affordable housing." Leopold responded, with all that really needs to be said about that laugher, "the enormous success of the homebuilding industry in the previous few years has not produced a significant increase in work-force housing units." In fact, I'm pretty hard pressed to identify any "work-force" housing units that have been produced in the County, outside the few theoretically mandated by the City of Annapolis.

It's a wonder these people can sleep at night. Put an inclusionary zoning bill in front of them for their endorsement and they send their top shill to the County Council to fight it tooth and nail. Tell them you are going to make new development pay its own way, and they try to paint you as an "opponent of workforce housing." "Shameless" doesn't even begin to describe these folks.

Let us hope that the County Executive can stand firm, and that the Council can stand behind him, in his effort to expand impact fees to include at least 100% of road and school related impacts. We can be assured that the development community will be bankrolling the opposition.

Home Slice

No, that's not a photoshop job from an Onion article, that's the real deal. In an effort to get around setbacks on small lots, developers in Anne Arundel County are now building 12-foot wide, free-standing house slivers.

Target, Wal-Mart Fall by Wayside

Citizen activism has prevailed again in Anne Arundel County, in the short span of a few days, we learn that both the Target planned for Wayson's Corner and the Wal-Mart planned for Crofton have been beaten back. Walt Petrie's oversized plans for Wayson's Corner were turned back by the County Executive's announcement that the County will purchase the 30-acre property with $6.1 million in Program Open Space funds.

William Berkshire's foolish floodplain fill project for Wal-Mart was scrapped based largely on the fact that it had tremendous public opposition and would have been an environmental nightmare.

Wal-Mart Ups the Ante

Unsatisfied to simply fill in 13-acres of the Little Patuxent's floodplain, Wal-Mart has decided to upgrade its original plans for a store on Route 3 in Crofton to include the construction of a "Supercenter". In Wal-Mart lingo, a "Supercenter" includes not only conventional retail options, but grocery goods as well. This, despite the fact that Wal-Mart has repeatedly denied an interest in providing grocery shopping at the location in the past.

The Sun article repeats misinformation propagated by the development team that the project calls for "filling in at least 3,500 cubic yards of nontidal wetlands along the Little Patuxent River." Actually, in this case, the Sun conflates two different pieces of information: The fill (volume) will be used on the Little Patuxent floodplain, to bring the 13 acres up to a flat grade with the existing, upland piece of the property. The amount of fill is not 3,500 cubic yards, but instead something like 37,000 cubic yards, about 3,700 dump truck loads. The non-tidal wetlands (area) that will be destroyed is something on the order of .6 acres.

Needless to say, Wal-Mart's change of plans has even gotten the normally docile Ed Reilly worked up, "They made a fundamental change to the character of the project without consulting us and notifying us, and that concerns us. I am very disappointed that they didn't contact us." Watch out folks, he's disappointed. I suspect that when hundreds turned out against Wal-Mart late last year, the handwriting on the wall was in large enough font that even Councilman Reilly could make it out.

Councilman Benoit, whose district includes the site of planned store, offered: "The message that Wal-Mart is sending: They don't care what the residents of this county think. I don't know what they are trying to do. If they are trying to incite major, major community resentment, they are going to succeed."

Is this hubris on Wal-Mart's part, or a high stakes game of chicken?

Stormwater, Stormwater Everywhere, and Not a Drop for the Cows to Drink

Sunday's Sun relays the unfortunate, though not uncommon, consequences of poor stormwater design, and the comedy of errors that can ensue trying to correct it. It's a tale about a Prince George's farmer, Joseph Mills, whose creek dried up after a development went in upstream, and who has been forced to resort to watering his cattle from a fire hydrant as a result.

The ironically named Oasis Farms, an 1,800 home, mixed use community outside Bowie, put in a 6-acre farm pond, with the Army Corps of Engineers assent, to detain stormwater runoff from the property. Problem is, the stormwater that fell on that site prior to development and was converted into groundwater provided base flow for Mr. Mills' stream, an unnamed tributary of the Patuxent River.

The developer, General Growth insists it did nothing wrong, and the regulators, who unanimously approved the plans, are falling all over themselves to pin responsibility for the matter on each other. Despite the fact that, "the plan pointed out there would be both temporary and permanent changes to the way in which water drained off the land," it was approved.

And that was only the beginning. The stormwater pond not only caused the stream to dry up, it also starved a downstream wetland of water. A wetland drained of water isn't particularly good habitat, and scores of turtles, frogs, and snakes that had inhabitated it were crushed on the road seeking wetter pastures. At this point, you may ask: "Couldn't they just drain the pond?" No, they can't, because now it's polluted.

So what is the solution proposed by regulators? Drill a well and pump up groundwater to the surface to flood the area again. Nevermind the fact that that's probably only going to worsen the problem since it originated with loss of groundwater re-charge in the first place. (Some other regulators apparently suggested conveying stormwater from elsewhere into the stream, of course a bad idea because it is loaded with pollutants).

So what is the correct solution? The right solution now is the same as it was before the development went in and what it should have been required of the development itself: Use infiltration systems, like bioretention areas throughout the community to convert stormwater to groundwater. These methods, which are one component of low impact development were actually honed in Prince George's County and, the Low Impact Development Center, a clearinghouse on low impact development, is based in Beltsville.

Maryland counties have the capacity to require that low impact development methods and infiltration be used on every new development project. Why do we continue to settle for less?

"Ballstonization", One Salve for Sprawl

Today's Post has an interesting article on what, at this point, should be fairly common sense: The areas surrounding Metro stations in the DC region should be high-density, walkable, mixed-use communities. The prime example of the successfulness of this model is Ballston, VA.

Some are perplexed as to how bringing more people to a community could possibly reduce congestion, but the reality is, in a well-connected neighborhood, like those surrounding metro stations, once a critical mass is achieved, businesses and amenities can sustain themselves largely based on the foot traffic from the area, and individuals are able to work either in their community, or within the range of public transit, reducing the need for car trips.

We know building more roads isn't the solution, and given that each of these metro stops represents tens of millions of dollars in public investment, it's important that we take full advantage of these resources and focus growth where it makes sense.

As Usual, Tutman Gets It Right

The Patuxent River and the environmental community in Maryland are lucky to have Fred Tutman as the Patuxent Riverkeeper. Fred is one of the most eloquent, intelligent defenders of the environment, and his piece in the Capital, "Property rights and our busted ecology" hits the bullseye. A must read.

Odenton Developers Decide to Play Hard Ball

Jay Baldwin, president of Reliable Contracting, and John Stamato, of Ribera Development are threatening to build 500,000 square feet of warehouse space on 50 acres in Odenton if they don't get the zoning on their property changed to changed to mixed use. The property is currently zoned for industrial use.

USGS Releases Comprehensive Report on the Impact of Land Use Changes

This lengthy edited volume looks like a great resource. "Rates, Trends, Causes, and Consequences of Urban Land-Use Change in the United States". The report includes chapters such as: Change to Urban, Agricultural, and Forested Land in Central and Southern Maryland From 1850-1990; Changes in Anthropogenic Impervious Surfaces, Precipitation, and Daily Streamflow Discharge-A Historical Perspective in a Mid-Atlantic Subwatershed; and, Wrestling Sprawl to the Ground-Defining and Measuring an Elusive Concept.

Post Expose on the Cozy Relationship between Developers and Pols

Today's Post contains an investigative piece exploring the often unseemly connections between local politicians in Loudoun County, Virginia and the development community.

Wayson's Target Gets Setback

Turns out their stormwater plan is giving them problems. County spokesperson, Pam Jordan, declares "This is obviously a major delay in any improvements (i.e., conversion of forest to paved consumption pad) the owner has in mind for the property." Par for the course.

Naval Academy Considers Gambrills Farm Proposals

Today's Capital reports that the Naval Academy is now openly considering proposals for the Gambrills property that used to serve as its dairy farm.

All of the local pols interviewed, including several recently elected, expressed an interest in keeping the site rural, and opposing its conversion to a horse park.

James King (R - Delegate, 33A) - "I'm leaning against the horse park because the constituents in my districts have been openly opposed to it. I think on this one you have to listen to the residents."

Janet Greenip (R - Senator, 33) - "I would like for the property to remain open space, but not to be a drain on anybody's pocketbook."

Jamie Benoit (D - Council, 4) - "I very much want it to stay a working farm or other agrarian use. It has the potential to be a real model for organic farming."

John Leopold (R - County Executive) - Wants to see the Navy's land remain agrarian, while respecting the wishes of nearby communities.

DC Area Counties Move to Limit Growth, Developers Concerned

Today's Post reports that three DC metro counties: Loudoun and Prince William in Virginia, and Montgomery in Maryland have either recently passed, or are looking to pass significant restrictions on growth. In Loudoun, new building rules will reduce by about half, the numbers of homes that can be built in the rolling piedmont that forms the western section of the County. In Prince William County, the board of supervisors voted through a one-year freeze on most subdivisions because of a lack of transportation funding. The Montgomery County Council president has introduced legislation to impose a moratorium on large developments until the adequacy of current infrastructure facilities can be assessed.

Susan Matlick, director of the Maryland-National Capital Building Industry Association, gets the priceless quote of the week award: "As far as we're concerned, it's just pandering to the electorate." Newsflash to Ms. Matlick, it's called "carrying out the will of the voters." It's nice to see politicians do it every once in a while.

Anne Arundel would do well to learn from these three, particularly the Montgomery County model. In many parts of the County, facilities are simply not adequate to handle the new growth that is allowed.

County Running Short of Land: Development Community Offers Modest Proposal

According to a recent report by outgoing Director Joe Rutter's Department of Planning and Zoning, the County is dangerously short of land zoned for commercial and industrial development. Only 6,381 acres of undisturbed woodland, wetland, and meadow remain to accomodate the County's ever increasing demand for Wal-Mart's, Jiffy Lubes, Burger Chef's, and car dealerships.

"This (study) just demonstrates where that (developable) land is so we can get our claws into it .... Excuse me, I mean our arms around it," said county land-use spokesman Tammy Jordan.

Given that the area left is only 3 square miles larger than the City of Annapolis, this revelation has raised considerable concern on the part of the development community.

Developer lobbyist and Director of the Alliance for Faux Land Use, Jack Pantylines, is the leading advocate for what he calls "a modest proposal for Anne Arundel County's future." Mr. Pantylines proposal, which has the backing of much of the development community, including John Ribera, Michael Sturbridge, Liam Buckshire, and Gerry Coke, would include filling in portions of the Magothy, Severn, and South River, zoning them C-4 along the periphery, with swaths of tight industrial zoning in their interior. "Let's be frank, these rivers are already moving in this direction. They're basically cesspools, turning the color of a well-shaken Yoo-hoo after almost every rainstorm. By passing this legislation, the Executive and Council will virtually triple the amount of commercial and industrial property in the County, and ensure that the tax burden for County residents continues to decrease, as it has over the past 3 decades of intense development."

County Executive-Elect John Leopold expressed some concern about the proposal, but offered, "I have my Chief of Staff looking closely at it. Will there be opportunities for ballfields on these reclaimed mallscapes?"

Despite Leopold's hesitation, Pantylines is undeterred. "Hey, it's a win-win-win. I get thirty pieces of silver from my developer overlords, the Executive and Councilmembers get the eternal goodwill of the people who fund their campaigns, and the people of Anne Arundel County get to keep laboring under the delusion that they can grow their way out of the problems associated with growth."


An artist's rendering of the Severn's future as an important commercial hub
This is, unfortunately, only partially satire. Any resemblance contained herein to individuals living or deceased is purely coincidental.

Proposed Crofton Wal-Mart Gets Wet Reception

Today's Capital covers the ongoing drama of the Crofton Wal-Mart , a project threatening wetlands and the 100-year flood plain connected to the Little Patuxent River. The opposition to the project, lead by members of Crofton First, testified at the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) hearing that, among other things, encroaching several acres onto the 100-year flood plan, which the project proposes to do, could lead to serious flooding of Route 3 south of the project.

It remains to be seen whether MDE will uphold its mission "to protect and restore the quality of Maryland’s air, water, and land resources, while fostering smart growth, economic development, healthy and safe communities, and quality environmental education for the benefit of the environment, public health, and future generations," or whether it will cave in to another wealthy developer and allow the public to bear the weight of its ineffectual decision making.

Patuxent Riverkeeper, Fred Tutman, put it best, "[The public] subsidize[s] bad environmental practices [because erosion control, flooding and cleanups eventually cost the taxpayer]. There is nothing smart about a project that threatens the Chesapeake Bay and a local waterway."

No, there isn't. And, frankly, there isn't anything smart about paying bureaucrats who are charged with protecting public resources a salary for negotiating away our natural heritage. It would be encouraging if the change in administrations at the County and State level could put an end to that practice.

Developers Skirting Campaign Finance Rules

Because buying candidates for $4,000 apiece isn't enough, local developers have found ways to give more, virtually anonymously through various Limited Liability Corporations that they've set up. Some good investigative reporting by the Capital reveals that, at least, Phil Bissett (R), John Leopold (R), George Johnson (D), and Dennis Callahan (D) have been on the receiving end of this graft. Bissett, in particular, seems to have his hand in the kitty of those who gave so generously to sitting executive and willing pawn of the development community, Janet Owens.

Top among those are Ed St. John, purveyor of nearly all the squat, ugly commercial/industrial complexes you see popping up around the County (over 2 million square feet!) and assorted Sturbridge LLCs, run by the DeStefano family. I'll leave you with this ominous line from Mike DeStefano, president of Sturbridge Homes. :

"In our business, it's particularly important to make sure candidates understand the importance of homebuilding in this county."

Right, its importance to degrading existing residents' quality of life and draining the tax base, because people like you, Mr. DeStefano, have fought so hard against letting impact fees accurately reflect the cost of building new infrastructure to accommodate it.