The Long Reach village board will appeal the county Planning Board's decision approving a 727-home development in Kendall Ridge, the final Rouse Co. community in east Columbia.
The village board, which criticized the project's high density and open space provisions days before its Nov. 23 approval, voted unanimously in a closed session Tuesday night to fight the project at the county Board of Appeals.
"It's premature to talk about all the grounds," said village board chairwoman Cecilia Januszkiewicz. "We'll raise whatever issues we have the right to raise."
In an appeal, the village board would have to demonstrate that the Planning Board's decision was "clearly erroneous," "arbitrary and capricious" or "contrary to law," based on county land development and subdivision regulations. The deadline for an appeal is Dec. 23.
rTC The Rouse Co.'s general manager of Columbia, Alton J. Scavo, said he can't envision any grounds for an appeal.
He insisted that the Columbia developer's final plan is consistent with previously approved plans.
"I would hope an appeal would be filed because of merit, not out of nuisance to try to delay an inevitable project," he said.
The Kendall Ridge III plan has been controversial since last summer, when the village board and more than 100 Long Reach residents protested part of the project that would include 64 townhouses to be sold or rented to moderate- and low-income families.
That section would be built by the nonprofit Enterprise Foundation, the affordable housing organization founded by James W. Rouse and his wife, Patty, on land donated by the Rouse Co.
Overall, Kendall Ridge III would include 527 townhouses, condominiums and apartments and 200 single-family homes east Snowden River Parkway, between Routes 108 and 175. It would be built on 145 acres originally zoned for industrial use.
The Long Reach board supported the Rouse Co.'s request to rezone the land in 1990.
But in a Nov. 14 letter, the village board objected to the specifics of the Rouse Co. plan, saying it features lots that are too small for single-family homes, townhouse development that is too dense and a shortage of open space that can be used by children.
Although they expressed some similar concerns, Planning Board members last month approved the final plan, saying it conformed to the Rouse Co.'s earlier submissions and agreements.
Rouse Co. officials met with the village board the evening before the Nov. 23 Planning Board meeting and modified their plans to include more paths, preserve a grove of mature trees and reduce the number of townhouses by 13.
But that wasn't enough to win the support of village board members, who say the plan is out of character with older #F Columbia neighborhoods and will create congestion.
Rouse Co. officials, however, say the Kendall Ridge III plan is similar to other Columbia neighborhoods developed over the past decade and won't result in overcrowding. The number of housing units has been reduced from the 921 originally proposed, they say.
Mr. Scavo, the Rouse Co. senior vice president, said an appeal could delay the company's plans to transfer land to builders in the next two months in preparation for construction.
Without delays, he said, homes likely would be finished by next fall.
He said appeals of Rouse Co. plans for residential development in Columbia have been rare throughout the 27-year history of the new town.