Residents in the neighborhoods surrounding Centennial Lane say the fight to stop a proposed senior townhouse development off Frederick Road in Ellicott City will not be over until they can prevent similar attempts in the future.
The developer of Kimberly Homes went before the hearing examiner last night to request permission to build 30 townhouses between Frederick Road and U.S. 40, a few feet east of Font Hill Drive.
More than 200 people attended last night's session in front of the Howard County hearing examiner, held in the Banneker Room of the Howard County Office Building to accommodate the crowd. Witnesses were still giving testimony late last night. The hearing will be continued Jan. 8.
The hearing had been postponed from its original November date to allow the Department of Planning and Zoning to amend its recommendation to reject the petition after the developer submitted changes to the proposal.
However, planning and zoning officials again recommended rejection, reporting that the plan did not meet the Howard County General Plan policies by contributing to a lack of visual and aesthetic appeal. The grouping of houses also would not match the surrounding neighborhoods, they said.
The Font Hill area is zoned to allow about two homes an acre. However, the county's provisions to encourage housing for "active adults" would permit construction of up to five homes an acre to try to discourage the growing population of seniors in the county from flying south to Florida and other locales to enjoy their retirements - retaining current residents and bringing new taxpayers into the area without overburdening local schools.
Residents said they banded together to defend the aesthetics of the neighborhood, made up of mostly single-family homes. They say the area is inundated with traffic.
More than 200 also attended the developer's first session before the hearing examiner last month.
Now the recently formed Friends of Font Hill boasts more than 300 active members from the Ellicott City homeowner and community associations west of Rogers Avenue. The group has a Web site and is accepting donations to defray legal costs.
Group leader Patrick Crowe, who lives in Font Hill, rented a lighted variable message sign over the weekend which was posted opposite the roughly 7-acre site, announcing the date and time of the meeting.
"We feel that senior housing has a place," Crowe said. But just as "school [crowding] is one tangible measure of density" so is traffic standing in line to pass through street lights along Frederick Road.
The attorney for the developer said he was surprised by the negative reaction. "I never expected this hoopla over this facility," said David A. Carney.
Although the developer filed for the conditional-use permit before presubmission meetings were required "in retrospect probably one should have occurred because there's obviously misunderstandings," he said.
Carney said he does not believe the development will have as much an impact on the community as residents fear. "It's so isolated," he said. "And it's got so much mature woods on the property. It's going to be a little oasis."
The Friends of Font Hill group plans to promote legislation to raise the minimum number of homes for senior housing from 20 to 50, thus requiring at least 10 acres to build in neighborhoods such as Font Hill.
"We feel that the threshold for the in-fill development is incompatible for these kinds of projects," Crowe said.
Some County Council members are sure that limiting the amount of senior housing is the answer.
"Like every issue it's a balancing act," said Council Chairman Guy Guzzone. "We have goals and priorities that at times come in conflict with each other - the desire to provide for our seniors and the desire to maintain stable neighborhoods. It's consequently a difficult decision-making process."