Village at Bestgate is the better option

Last Monday, along with a hundred or so other residents of the Bestgate corridor, I asked the County Council to plan to keep the possibility of a Village at Bestgate alive. ... Some of the people who have lived along Bestgate don't want any more change. I sympathize with them. But the property is going to be developed either as the proposed Village at Bestgate or with 150 townhomes and 24 single-family homes with few or no amenities for the other residents of the area. The choice between the options is clear. The Village at Bestgate is far and away the better option for the county as a whole, and 6,000 people living in the Bestgate corridor in particular.

The Village would provide Bestgate corridor residents with a convenient place to shop for basic needs - to get a haircut, fill a prescription or get a shoe repaired - without fighting the crowd at Annapolis Mall, crossing General's Highway or, even worse, driving on West Street to run basic errands. It would also allow fewer shorter driving trips without competing with the Parole Center.

The Village's proposed community center would be a great place for the residents of the Bestgate corridor to mingle and would provide a place for community groups to meet. Furthermore, permanently saving the back 24 acres would create a wonderful place for area residents to jog, walk our dogs, and bird watch without driving all the way to Quiet Waters.

The primary opposition to the Village comes from people who do not reside along or even near Bestgate and who will not be adversely impacted by the Village. What no one needs is the residents of the Bestgate corridor driving into and around the Parole area to run their basic errands and tying up traffic on West Street or General's Highway in the process.

Joel T. Thomas

Annapolis

Majority on Bestgate back village concept

Your June 9 sub-headline for the Village at Bestgate story "Neighbors oppose plan" missed the critical point that the majority of the 6,000 people who live on Bestgate Road are in favor of this mixed-use center. Among the 100 people at the County Council were Joel Thomas, President of the Seabreeze Community Association, Bob Mueller, President of Tidewater Colony Community Association, Sherri Weeks of Harbour Gates Apartments, Pastor Hosea Hodges, representing Fowler United Methodist Church, and citizens from Admiral's Reach, Wingate and the Scott's Crossing communities. These people represent a cross section of the 6,000 people who live on Bestgate Road.

The neighbors referred to in the sub-headline opposed to the Village live on General's Highway miles away and are not affected by this development. Yes, there are a small group of people who live on Bestgate Road who are opposed, but the majority want the local services offered by the Village and preserving 24 acres of open space that would protect the headwaters to Saltworks and the Severn River.

Local convenient services, 24 acres of open space, a donated 5,000-square-foot community building, 500 permanent jobs filling the need for affordable community housing in Annapolis and Smart Growth clustering of the Village on the front 32 acres of the property - it does not take a rocket scientist to understand why the majority of the people want the Village. Time is running out, and if the mixed-use Village is not built we will end up with luxury homes on the entire 56 acres. We must take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We urge the County Executive and County Council to listen to the people who live on Bestgate Road and introduce the Annapolis Neck Small Area Plan on June 17.

Joe and Leslie Goetz

Annapolis