About 75 Strawbridge Estates residents turned out for a public hearing Monday night, determined to stop a proposed extension of Placid Drive west to Hodges Road.
Residents are concerned about safety and environmental issues they say should scuttle the proposal, which has been part of TC street plan for the Freedom area for 17 years.
"Not only do we not want the road connected, but we want the project removed from the county master plan," Tom Bowen, a resident of the 30-year-old development, said. "We don't want to have to deal with it anymore."
Despite the vocal opposition, Edmund R. "Ned" Cueman, the county's planning director, said the extension of Placid Drive is "still essentially alive."
At the end of a nearly three-hour discussion at Liberty High School, Mr. Cueman asked if anyone in the audience saw "any reason to build the road." Silence met his query.
"I have your drift," said Mr. Cueman, who called himself "the servant who has to defend the public plan."
Mr. Cueman gave a history of the self-contained community of 80 homes.
"Originally Placid Drive was not dead-ended," he said. "It was supposed to be continued. Had the original developer owned all the land, the street would have gone through."
The street begins at Sykesville Road and ends at a heavily wooded watershed area.
The extension proposal was revived when Macks Homes, a development company based in Owings Mills, announced plans to build Stone Manor, an 89-home subdivision on 57 acres along Hodges Road.
The developer would be responsible for constructing the extension, which would traverse an environmentally sensitive area and a stream that feeds Liberty Reservoir.
Mr. Cueman said securing wetlands permits from the state would be difficult, especially in the light of opposition from the county's Office of Environmental Services.
"We had to weigh the benefits of the road against the environmental impact and the degradation potential," said James E. Slater, environmental services director.
Lawrence M. Macks, president of the development company, also expressed concerns about the environmental impact of the proposal. He has prepared an alternative plan, with another access to Hodges Road for Stone Manor. "We try to do as much as possible to save pertinent parts of the environment," Mr. Macks said. "It is time to take a look and see if the plan needs amending."
If extended, Placid Drive would provide access to Route 32 for several hundred new homes along Hodges Road, which also essentially is a dead-end street.
Helen Spinelli, a county planner, said the extension would allow neighbors to circulate within their communities without using major roads.
"I moved to Strawbridge Estates because nobody can get back there," said Wayne North. "I resent you telling me that you are building this road for my benefit."
Residents painted pictures of major traffic jams. They fear the road, which has sharp curves and steep grades, would become a dangerous thoroughfare for motorists traveling to Route 32 (Sykesville Road).
Nina Roscoe of Judges Court called the road "dangerous now with just our traffic. We don't want people to come into our development without a reason."
Ms. Roscoe has collected nearly 100 signatures on a petition opposing the extension.
Signers claim the extension "would exacerbate existing, unsafe conditions for our children who walk to school" along Placid Drive to Freedom Elementary.
Stone Manor is working its way through the county review process and is on Tuesday's Planning and Zoning Commission agenda.
Two planning commissioners attended the meeting and assured residents they would make the opposition known to the commission. "You have made a compelling presentation," said Dave Duree, planning commissioner.