The following is testimony made Tuesday night before the Harford County Council about the HarfordNEXT proposal. A copy was provided for publication.
Honorable Council President and Honorable Members,
HarfordNEXT is an exciting and innovative plan for our shared future. I want to thank and congratulate County Executive Glassman, Director of Planning Killian, Deputy Director King and the entire staff of the department for their diligence and insight. I especially want to underline my support for the holistic approach taken in this plan.
At the same time, I have profound concerns about the plan with respect both to what it does and does not do.
'Preserve Churchville-Calvary-Creswell'
The proposed "Study Area" for "Future Growth" which extends from I-95 to Route 1 must be excised from the plan. This proposed growth corridor running directly through numerous properties with agricultural, environmental, and historic easements would violate the integrity of those easements. What should be studied is how to fund additional easements adjacent to existing ones in order to solidify the viability of farming and the historic character of those communities. Farming and farmland preservation are not only good for District D, they are good for all of Harford County.
Rural-agricultural character is what attracts people to live here. To develop the area east of the Development Envelope would kill the goose that laid the golden egg. The continued future of the Churchville-Calvary-Creswell area as largely rural and agricultural is not only essential for the future viability of farming, it is essential for the future of homebuilding and related enterprises.
I had the privilege of working with a gifted and diverse group in which we discussed the possibility of a transferable development rights program for this area to accommodate competing demands. That proposal did not make it into the plan, but it still may be the best instrument by which to achieve a balance of farming viability, rural character, and development potential. I remain open to continue to work toward such an end.
Also, I want to acknowledge the need to provide public water and sewer to Harford Community College. HarfordNEXT should state unequivocally that service to the College shall be provided by extending existing lines running from Bel Air along Route 22. It would be catastrophic nonsense to run new water and sewer lines from I-95 up Schucks Road.
'Our Communities Are Broken'
I am also profoundly concerned by the lack of emphasis on the state of our communities. We read week after week about the crisis of heroin addiction and that does get, at least, one mention in the plan, but we need to say out loud that heroin is not the problem. Heroin is a symptom of problems, and one of those problems is that our communities are broken.
Our municipalities are under stress as are the hamlets, hundreds, and villages of our northern tier. Twenty-five years ago, real estate demand was very strong in our northern tier communities. Today, they are littered with "for sale" signs while developments and single homes spring up nearby in open fields where new residents feel no connection to the historic community. As a result, our communities are in danger of losing cohesion, and our historic housing stock is in danger of becoming abandoned.
Stress reaches crisis proportions in Joppatowne and Edgewood, and Riverside is not far behind.
'Magnet Communities'
As we have created magnet schools, we need to create magnet communities. The holistic revitalization of Joppatowne and Edgewood along with the adjacent Pulaski Highway corridor, Harford County's southwest gateway, should be the top development priority of this plan. The Edgewood commuter rail service should become the hub for a seamless, multi-modal transportation system so essential for our County's future. Also, commuter rail service creates a special opportunity for development especially attractive to millennials while, at the same time, improving community conditions for current residents.
In North Harford, we need to find ways to draw new residents into our historic communities. We also need to develop instruments to make historic homes workable for the needs of twenty-first century families. HarfordNEXT needs to convey a clearer sense of the perils to community as well as to propose cooperative, collaborative approaches to what become increasingly systemic problems. Land use cannot solve all the problems, but the problems cannot be solved without the structural support of government through holistic land use policies.
The key to the most successful possible plan for our shared future is revitalization of existing communities, rather than the development of new ones. That goes for North Harford as well as for the areas with higher residential concentration. There is only so much energy and so much money available for public and private investment. Alarms are sounding in Joppatowne and Edgewood. Needs there demand our attention, but crisis can become opportunity. If we focus on the battle of possible new growth east of the Development Envelope, then Joppatowne and Edgewood shall not receive the attention they desperately need and richly deserve. Done right, the revitalization of Harford's southwest corner can provide opportunity for developers and entrepreneurs alike. That is essential to the vision of HarfordNEXT.
Jeffrey Dirk Wilson, Ph.D.
Pylesville
The writer is a former Harford County Council President.