Fallston-based developer Michael Euler Sr. received public input Monday evening on a revised plan for a retail center of about 29,000 square feet, called Bell Gate Center, on the south side of Route 1 at Old Joppa Road, between Bel Air and Fallston.
Once again, traffic concerns were the main sticking point during his discussion with fewer than 20 people who attended the input session at the Fallston Library. Such sessions are required for most new residential and commercial developments in Harford County, or when plans are significantly revised from earlier reviews by the county.
The Bell Gate complex would include a day care center and "upscale," non-chain restaurant instead of a fast-food restaurant, the latter which had irked residents earlier.
Euler said he has talked to a seafood restaurant and an Italian restaurant, neither of which are national chains, for the site. That news got a response of "Kudos" from area resident Jeff Conti.
Bell Gate also would have a car wash and a neighborhood business like a nail or hair salon, Euler said.
Several people, however, said they are still concerned about traffic, especially in light of the new apartment complex, The Park at Winters Run, of 250-plus units recently completed on part of the former Mt. Soma property, across Route 1 from the Bell Gate site. Some retail is also planned along Route 1 by the developer of the apartment community.
Euler argued his plan for the Bell Gate Center site, which has seen previous business uses, would actually create less traffic and would mean redevelopment, which county planners and government elected officials typically encourage.
The strip of Route 1 running through Fallston has long been designated by the county for high-intensity development.
The heavily commercial corridor, an outlier strip in the county's development envelope, has become a flash point in recent political debates. Some residents remain on struggling septic systems, while nearby businesses continue to grow taking advantage of public water and sewer service available in the development envelope.
Euler has driven a lot of the corridor's development and redevelopment of late, including the Aumar Village shopping center at Routes 1 and 152, the redevelopment of the former Fallston Mall property at the same intersection and a smaller retail cluster that includes a Waffle House and Pizza Hut near Milton Avenue and Route 1. He was involved previously in the Park at Winters Run site, which was developed by Klein Enterprises of Pikesville.
He has also asked the county to extend water and sewer service to part of the Aumar Village property that is not within the development envelope, while also serving a group of homes on wells and septic systems on the southwest side of the Route 152 and 147 intersection. This is one of the changes under consideration in the HarfordNEXT master plan, currently before the County Council, that has generated opposition from some area residents.
Euler, who lives in Fallston, said he does not expect to build out properties like the Bell Gate site to the high-density level he is allowed. He has said the same about the Aumar Village area for which he is seeking public water and sewer.
He said when he and a partner, the late Joseph Deigert, bought the former Fallston Hospital site, it was zoned for townhouses, but they instead opted for single family detached homes on small lots in creating what became Fallston Crossing.
"I think this is as kind to the neighborhood as we can be," Euler said about Bell Gate.
"All I hear is redevelop, redevelop, revitalize, revitalize, and that is what we are doing here," he said, adding: "This is not only redevelopment, but this plan was approved, and we are using the same access [with an exit onto Old Joppa as well as Route 1]."
A few attending the session such as Ellen Pons, of nearby Country Life farm, and Conti, who has often commented on development issues, remained skeptical.
"My objection all along is to the exit on Old Joppa Road," Pons told Euler. She said the new apartments and other businesses along Route 1 have created a "nightmare" at the intersection with Old Joppa, despite the addition of a four-way operating traffic light, replacing what was formerly only a blinking light.
"There's more people now, more people at risk," Pons said. If access is promoted at Old Joppa, she added, "you are once again taking a developer's use of land to denigrate our community."
She said the area already has hair and nail salons, and she wondered why Euler could not leave a green area instead.
Conti said the issue is the growing toll from development overall.
"The problem has always been that these things are seen in isolation, but the impact is an aggregate on the community," Conti told Euler.
As the apartments were built, "everything that we complained about has come true," Conti said, from the design of the building to the relationship of agricultural land across the street – the Pons farm, one of Harford County's last thoroughbred horse breeding operations.
"Everyone in this room knows the traffic has hit a breaking point and this is going to add one more thing," Conti said.
Although the area has been commercial for a long time, he warned that "you are building it out to a state that that road, Route 1 and Old Joppa Road intersection, cannot handle."
Dave Williams, of Fallston, said he thinks residents should take their grievances to the State Highway Administration, as Route 1 is a state road, and SHA continues to allow egress despite the traffic concerns.
Tim Miller, another attendee, did praise Euler for maximizing "your space well," although "it's just a lot of building for space, a lot of parking spaces." The project proposes 150 parking spaces.
Euler also pledged to have a "pretty" entrance sign and address issues like landscaping and appropriate lighting, which he acknowledged has been a longtime concern for the area.
He pointed out the 24-foot lights at the new Waffle House and Pizza Hut, which is adjacent to the entrance of Fallston Crossing, have prompted zero complaints from neighbors since opening in January.