Construction workers are preparing to break ground on the third North Laurel Park development project in an area where residents already are fuming about traffic, school crowding and safety.
"In the past six months, it's like everybody wants to build in North Laurel," said Patsy Yingling, North Laurel Civic Association president. "Each time we've had our meetings, it's been something the community has complained about."
County Councilman Dennis Schrader plans to meet with members of the civic association Tuesday at Laurel Woods Elementary School to hear their concerns and discuss his plans to meet the their needs.
Part of Mr. Schrader's plan likely will include a study of the effect recent home construction will have on North Laurel.
Baltimore-based Cornerstone Homes plans to break ground on a construction site that will add 10 single-family homes to 27 the company built last year and 50 others it is now building -- all in North Laurel Park.
"This is a pretty desirable neck of the woods," said Paul Hinkle, one of Cornerstone Homes' two partners. "There are good neighbors, good schools and there's easy access to [Interstate] 95."
Mr. Hinkle was unaware of recent complaints about the development, he said, at least "none that has been expressed to us." He said his company did take steps to control traffic that might increase as a result of the development.
North Laurel Road, for instance, will not become a through street when construction begins on the third development site, which some residents said they feared would happen.
That should help prevent motorists from cutting through the neighborhood.
And 50 percent to 60 percent of the new homes are being bought by people who live "within walking distance of the construction sites," Mr. Hinkle said, so the effect on the traffic and the schools should be minimal.
But when Mr. Schrader meets with the community, he's likely to hear plenty of complaints.
North Laurel Park is east of I-95 and north of Route 216. Homeowners there have complained that county government has not supplied the needed infrastructure -- traffic controls, schools, parks and drainage systems -- to meet the community's needs. Already, speed bumps combat traffic problems on neighborhood streets, and Laurel Woods Elementary uses portable classrooms to ease overcrowding.
Parents complain that the latest construction site, next to the Laurel Woods Elementary School, could also endanger children walking to school because it sits near a path they use.
"As soon as we see construction, we're going to be making noise that our kids can't walk there," said North Laurel resident Donna Thewes. "What's going to happen to the kids?"
Residents also complain that the development is eating away the remaining wooded areas that absorbed the sounds of vehicles on I-95 and Route 216.
"When I moved out here in 1983, it was like country," the civic association's Ms. Yingling said. "It used to be quiet. We didn't used to hear the traffic on 95 and 216. Now you hear it all the time."