Gorged with wealth and sparkling new homes after decades as one of the Baltimore area's fastest-growing suburbs, Howard County is awakening to a new reality: Development issues will soon take a back seat to the preservation and renewal of older neighborhoods.
Battles still rage over two proposed villages along Route 216 in southern Howard, developments that could bring 2,600 homes. But planners say those fights mark the beginning of the end of Howard's fast-growth period -- foreshadowing changes that every suburb will eventually face.
Signs of wear and tear are showing in the county.
In some older Columbia villages, such as Harper's Choice, Long Reach and Owen Brown, residents worry about recent crimes and complain about poorly maintained rental homes. In the Laurel area, schools with low test scores tarnish the community's image. And along sections of U.S. 1, old, decaying businesses mar the roadside.
In response, some residents have rallied to handle small problems such as broken sidewalks and overgrown vegetation -- and to devise big plans for the future. Columbia's developers and managers have spent millions renovating village centers, apartments, pools and playgrounds.
"We have to start shifting gears into revitalization. The time is here now -- at the same time we plan for the final build-out of Howard County," County Executive James N. Robey says.
Planners, developers, officials and some community leaders agree that Howard will be "built out" shortly after 2010. Current zoning could allow thousands more new homes, but there are no more large blocks of available land.
"As time goes on, the sites that remain tend to be more difficult ones, meaning fewer units per acre," says Joseph W. Rutter Jr., the county planning director. Under current zoning, as many as 30,000 more homes could be built around the county, he says. But many of these lots have been passed over because of steep slopes, environmental problems or isolated locations.
Housing units double
Howard County's population and number of new housing units have more than doubled since 1980, to about 237,000 county residents and 89,000 units. That's an average of about 2,400 new units a year. In recent years that number has declined to about 2,000 units a year -- and officials expect it to drop more.
Preserving Columbia's aging neighborhoods and renewing older, historical ones such as Elkridge, Savage and Ellicott City are the "key issue" in preparing a 10-year plan later this year, Rutter says.
F. Barton Harvey, chief executive of the Columbia-based Enterprise Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by James W. Rouse to promote affordable housing, agrees.
"The preservation issue is coming to the fore all over the country right now," he says. He points to Enterprise's $2.2 million renovation last year of the former Abbott House, a 27-year-old, 100-unit subsidized Columbia apartment house affected by petty crime, vandalism and poor management.
County housing officials named neighborhood preservation as one of their three top issues in briefing papers presented to Robey in December. The other issues: more housing for the elderly and for low- and moderate-income people.
While older suburbs such as Baltimore County's awakened late to the deterioration in Essex-Middle River and other areas, Howard is shifting its focus toward preservation and renewal before any neighborhood sinks too far.
Renewal as opportunity
Michael G. Reimer, CEO of the Howard County Chamber of Commerce, sees renewal as another opportunity. "Aging real estate is certainly not a deficit. If something that's old can't be made usable for today's needs, redo it."
To head off decay, Rouse company officials have spent millions rebuilding the Oakland Mills, Long Reach and Harper's Choice village centers in Columbia. Zoning and building inspectors are working with community groups to handle nuisances. And the Columbia Foundation is helping to sponsor "Howard County -- A Vision," an effort to plan a cohesive community after the build-out.
Rutter says the worries are often similar, but addressing them calls for different approaches.
"The villages in Columbia have a structure in place, a village manager, a board -- there's already a group to go to," Rutter says, while the differences among older communities outside Columbia may require creation of other community groups.
County Council members Mary C. Lorsung and C. Vernon Gray, veteran Democrats who represent several of Columbia's oldest neighborhoods, have begun working to stave off decay in their districts.
Lorsung created a revitalization committee for Wilde Lake and Harper's Choice. It includes Riemer, Rouse Co. President Alton J. Scavo and Columbia Association President Deborah O. McCarty, along with community residents. Their target: problems such as broken sidewalks, decrepit streetlights and neglectful landlords.
"It makes you feel that sometimes, when you're a little guy, the residents are really heard," said Nicky Stenzler, a 26-year resident in Longfellow, Harper's Choice.
Crafting a vision
Gray has convened a community task force to craft a vision for his east Columbia district, aided by the Joint Center for Sustainable Communities, a nonprofit group devoted to job growth, environmental stewardship and social well-being.
In historical Elkridge, along the county's oldest commercial corridor, community leaders such as Kevin Doyle, president of the Elkridge Community Association, say they need a plan to ensure that new land uses fit well with the homes and businesses there now.
Still, some skeptics doubt the fast-growth era is ending -- believing that pressure for new homes will lead to more rezonings and sewer-line extensions.
"Every time they do a general plan, they say that build-out seems to be 10 to 15 years away," says John Taylor, past president of Howard County for Responsible Growth, which has fought to slow development.
Lloyd G. Knowles, a former county councilman, agrees. "Every cycle, there are substantial changes in zoning. There's plenty of uncommitted land."
But Robey, a native of the small Patapsco River enclave of Daniels, says, "I am not going to develop the western end of Howard County.
"You're not going to see high density out there. I'm not going to open that up to development."
Pub Date: 3/14/99