A quarter of a century after embarking on a vigorous pro-development policy, the Havre de Grace City Council continues to pursue growth in ways that prove costly for the people already living in the community.
Whether a community chooses policies that are pro-development or more geared toward controlling growth, there are strong and weak ways to pursue either goal. Havre de Grace has chosen a pro-development policy, which is reasonable considering it long has been a commercial and industrial center with a large residential component.
Though it has become more of a bedroom community for major metro employment centers in the past few decades, Havre de Grace still has a substantial employment base of its own. From this perspective, it makes sense for the city government to pursue policies that allow it to continue building houses and expanding commercial opportunities.
Unfortunately, going back to when the city first began seriously pursuing a pro-development strategy that involved the annexation and development of the areas now known as Bayview Estates and Grace Harbour, the expectation has been that the new development would increase the tax base and, by extension, reduce the burden on the taxpayers already in the community.
The expectation isn't necessarily unrealistic, but it has been unrealistic given the methodology followed by the city government. Going back a quarter of a century to when Bayview Estates and Grace Harbour were being developed, a city planner did a rough calculation. She added up the anticipated costs associated with the number of new homes in terms of police and community services and compared the total to the anticipated increase in real estate taxes. The net result was the city would end up about $50,000 to the good. At a time when that would have paid for adding little more than a single new police officer to the force, it was hardly a windfall considering the calculation involved hundreds of new houses. And the planner lot her job because she delivered a message the politicians didn't wan to hear or believe.
The two communities have long since been built out and there are plenty of intangible benefits, not the least of which is that many people who grew up in the older parts of Havre de Grace were able to buy new homes and remain in the community where they grew up. In addition, newcomers have helped to make the community that much more vibrant. And there's the matter of the stagnation that had taken hold in the late 1970s and early 1980s having been dissipated by the new building.
In retrospect, however, there could have been a more substantial economic benefit to the city government had the city chosen to take a serious look at the development fees it charges for things like building permits and water and sewer hook-ups. Though one-time charges, they could have gone a long way toward shoring up infrastructure in the city.
This could all be viewed as water over the dam had the lessons been learned. The city government, however, continues to be rather eager to push for development, even if the result is likely to be an increased financial burden on the city and, by extension, the city's taxpayers.
It started with Bayview Estates, continued a few years later with Grace Harbour and has continued unabated through several Bulle Rock projects and another at Greenway Farm. The projects look promising on paper, but officials only see the additional revenue, not the affiliated costs. The latest wrong-headed council maneuvers will continue that misguided tradition of salivating over more tax revenue while ignoring the costs that will negate much of the new money. The beneficiaries, of course, are the developers whose projects become more profitable, with the existing taxpayers propping up those extra profits.
Two recent cases illustrate the point.
The city council recently waiving a $2,400 fee associated with disconnecting from water and sewer service in advance of demolition. The idea is to encourage the owners of what City Council President Bill Martin called "rundown or blight properties" to upgrade them.
It's a nice idea, but there's no guarantee the owners of those properties are going to pursue redevelopment just because a $2,400 fee is waived. Moreover, the city incurs real costs when properties are disconnected from the water and sewer system, starting with lost billing and also including any city staff time spent inspecting or dealing with problems.
More egregious is the city's decision to reduce the water and sewer hookup fees charged to the developer of the 84-home Scenic Manor project off Chapel Road in the city.
The project received city approval in 2011, but no houses have been built. In an effort to encourage the project to be resumed, the city is offering substantially reduced water and sewer hook-ups on a sliding scale, if the going rate of $8,000 is paid for the first 16 houses. The fee charged to the final 36 houses in the development would be halved to $4,000.
In a market where the going price for new homes is well in excess of $250,000, the reduction means almost nothing to the developer or the final cost of the home. Indeed, the cost of the home will be market driven, regardless of what breaks the city offers.
If the resumption of new home construction at Scenic Manor is realized, it will have nothing to do with the city's cutting fees, and everything to do with whether there is a market for new homes in Havre de Grace. If the new houses end up being built, the reduced fees will do nothing other than put a few more dollars in the pockets of the builders and developers.
Meanwhile, the city, which has been struggling for years to balance its water and sewer funds and has raised rates to do so, will have that much less money in those funds.
There is nothing wrong with pursuing pro-development policies, but when those policies benefit the developers at the expense of those who already pay taxes in the city, as has been the case in Havre de Grace for more than 25 years, that's a problem.