LAUREL -- Beyond the sloping driveway of Central Parke at Victoria Falls, homeowners paint portraits, soak in the sauna or walk in solitude, free from most cares of the world - including children.
Natalie Dann, 72, settled in the Prince George's County community with her husband two years ago to live near her adult daughters. The retired New Jersey teacher loves the location in the heart of the bustling Baltimore-Washington corridor. Taking a break from a book club meeting in Central Parke's community center, she said, "My goodness, there is everything you possibly want."
The resort-style enclave is among dozens of Maryland communities rising in areas where housing construction is usually restricted because of overcrowded schools or roads. Many would not be permitted except for a unique requirement: Only homeowners 55 and older are allowed.
The idea, legalized a dozen years ago when Congress carved out an exemption in anti-discrimination housing laws, is catching on fast. Maryland officials estimate that nearly a third of residential building permits issued in the past three years are for "age-restricted" housing, either large complexes such as Central Parke or individual homes tucked into the few undeveloped acres of crowded suburbs.
Local governments embrace these communities as a way of enriching the tax base without further crowding schools; some governments even offer incentives to builders who accept age restrictions. Advocates for seniors, meanwhile, say the communities allow grandparents to "age in place" and remain close to their extended families.
But critics say such developments are inherently discriminatory and encourage more density than surrounding communities might desire. Creating "graying ghettos," they warn, could have unforeseen cultural and economic repercussions, such as diminished diversity, overtaxed emergency medical services and less affordable housing for younger buyers.
Moreover, the swell of baby boomers - and the market for age-restricted housing - is projected to crest and recede in coming decades. When that happens, pressure could build to lift restrictions on some homes, triggering the school crowding that the practice was designed to avert.
"What is the purpose of these developments? Are they tailored for baby boomers who are marching toward retirement? Or are they being used by developers as a loophole in planning rules to turn a quick buck?" said Stephen Donnelly of Crofton, who does school planning for growth management for national developers.
The spike in age-restricted housing comes as Maryland prepares for a military expansion that will bring tens of thousands of new jobs over the next decade. Age restrictions, on top of an acknowledged lack of affordable housing, could make housing the relocated workers that much harder.
'Tax-positive' bunch
Controlling growth is a potent political issue in Baltimore's suburbs, as residents seek to keep schools and roads from becoming overwhelmed. Many counties have laws that prohibit homes from being built in areas where roads, police and fire services and schools are inadequate.
But developers have successfully argued that age-restricted housing brings in tax money without adding students to the schools, the most expensive public service for local governments to provide. They might add cars to the roads, but these older homeowners typically aren't driving at rush hour, so the impact is muted.
"These people are ready to retire, and they are extremely tax-positive," said John C. Stamato, president of Ribera Development LLC, which is planning a 55-and-over community of 2,000 homes and a golf course south of Odenton. "That's exactly the kind of people you don't want to lose to other jurisdictions."
A state task force last year agreed, concluding that there is a "net benefit to keeping households in the state when compared to local expenditures."
For every elderly couple that leaves Maryland, the state loses on a yearly basis more than $70,000 in new income per household, more than $5,000 in state and local tax revenue, the task force estimated.
The task force also predicted that the state will face a "tidal wave" of growth of its elderly population, which will make up 29 percent of the state's population by 2020, then level off and begin to decline.
At one time, age-restricted conclaves would have been illegal under the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination. But the act was amended to allow developers to create communities for those 62 and older, as long as they include facilities for community dining and health care.
In 1995, with the first boomers six years away from turning 55, Congress revised the rules to permit communities to be predominantly, but not exclusively, used by those 55 and older. The rules in Maryland are complex. In some communities, developers require that at least one person buying an age-restricted unit is 55 or older; others follow the federal standard, which allows 20 percent of the homeowners to be younger than 55. Many communities are explicit in restricting those under 19 from living in these areas.
The age restrictions are enforced by covenants entered into by the homeowner, developer and local government. Some counties go further, writing them into zoning rules. Under federal rules, signs are supposed to be posted and potential buyers alerted to the age restriction - to prevent too many younger people from moving in.
Nationally, age-restricted housing makes up a small part of the housing market. The National Association of Homebuilders projects that about 10 percent of the approximately 1.4 million housing starts this year - 145,000 - will be for communities for those 55 and older, even if they were not explicitly designated as age-restricted communities.
Age-restricted business is booming in Maryland as building is increasing in suburban areas - such as Columbia, Waldorf and Laurel - to accommodate a trend among baby boomers: The majority want to stay close to the communities where they raised their families, according to numerous surveys.
Robust market
With a baby boomer - those born between 1946 and 1964 - turning 60 every 10.9 seconds in the United States, developers and senior advocates say there's a robust market for age-restricted living now and years ahead.
"We are at the very front end of the baby boomer generation hitting 55," said Lou Baker, president for the Maryland division of Pulte Homes, the parent of Del Webb age-restricted communities. "We have a lot of people heading into that age group."
The nation's 78 million boomers aren't retiring quietly. Many are projected to work at least part-time into their 70s and are sitting on loads of equity from their existing homes. They can easily afford to move into smaller, splashier digs that reflect their affluence and accommodate their desire to be socially vibrant and reinvest in their communities.
That has lent many of the developments an upscale air. Around the country they are being built with indoor and outdoor swimming pools - including separate facilities for grandchildren - golf courses, putting greens, softball fields, tennis courts and even private airstrips.
The homes, villas and condos at Central Parke, for example, glisten, and the streets are impeccably clean. The lawns show not an inch of overgrowth. Here, for a monthly fee, the community mows the lawns, power-washes the houses and staffs a facility with an indoor and outdoor pool.
"We pretty much offer maintenance-free living," said William T. Slenker, president of Slenker Communities, which has completed two Central Parke communities for "active adults" in Ocean Pines, near Ocean City, and in Northern Virginia. More are going up throughout the Mid-Atlantic.
In Maryland, many counties have policies that encourage such development. In Carroll County, where developers would normally be permitted to build four homes on an acre, they could build up to 14 age-restricted homes. Howard County lets developers of age-restricted housing skip to the head of the permit line, instead of waiting for years.
"The problem is, if these builders want to build affordable housing, they face innumerable and, in some cases, insurmountable challenges as far as the schools," said Daraius Irani, director of the applied economics group at RESI, Towson University's research and consulting arm.
While there is an acute need for homes selling for less than $250,000, developers might be finding it easier to win approval for age-restricted housing, and opt for that instead, he said. "Who is going to say no to seniors?"
Planners and government researchers are just beginning analyze the proliferation of age-restricted housing and its effects.
"It's an issue that has come to the forefront," said Lois D. Villemaire, the planning director for Anne Arundel County, where an estimated 25 percent of homes approved in recent years have been age-restricted.
Peter Francese, founder of American Demographics magazine, calls age-restricted housing "morally and economically dumb," because it discriminates not only against families but against the nearly two-thirds of the 1 million Baltimore-area households under the age of 55.
Planners worry that the inherent lack of age and diversity will doom the long-term viability of these developments, while pushing younger people to other parts of the country.
"Why is it OK to discriminate against young people?" Francese said. "Because the perception is that young people will cost the local government a lot to provide their kids with schools.
"Local governments love age-restricted housing because they believe the myth that if they allow only child-proof housing, the municipality will be better off financially. They will not be better off financially because of the unbalancing of the demographics."
Francese and other planners note that the market for age-restricted housing will begin contracting in the next 10 to 15 years as the numbers of people turning 55 begins to tail off.
"The baby bust will come through," he said. "The previous generation will want to sell their condos, and there will be many fewer buyers. Set your watch: I promise you that within a decade, major legislation will appear to allow the conversion of age-restricted housing to conventional homes.
"The owners of age-restricted condos will be screaming, 'You've got to rescue me, because I am stuck with this condo, and there are not enough buyers.'"
Even developers acknowledge that within the next decade, lawmakers nationwide will need to reconsider where the age-restriction line falls - 55, 52 or 50.
In addition, developments can lose their age-restricted status if they don't comply with rules. For example, if more than the permitted number of young people are allowed to buy homes, federal regulators can revoke the fair housing exemption for the entire development.
The result: people of any age buying homes, potentially creating an avalanche on local schools.
Flying here and there
Those concerns seem remote at Central Parke, however.
The streets of the 609-home development, which opened in 2004, are quiet except for the faint splashing of six fountains in front of the soaring 13,500-square-foot clubhouse.
Down the street in northern Prince George's County, builders are charging more than $500,000 for bigger homes on larger lots.
But at Central Parke, people like Dann, the former New Jersey resident, can buy for much less because the developer was allowed to put more homes on each acre under the age-restricted rules.
The bottom line: Dann enjoys a brand-new villa with vaulted ceilings, Jacuzzi bath, loads of cabinet space and a loft - all for $375,000.
"The only land I miss is more land to plant things," Dann said.
Nancy Gaddi moved to Central Parke with her husband from Severna Park. The Gaddis wanted to be closer to their daughter in North Bethesda and her two sons in Wheaton. So they settled on Laurel about 18 months ago.
With a full calendar of activities for residents to choose from - walking club, book club, literary writing class, art class - Nancy Gaddi is constantly spreading her wings. "It's like a job from 8:30 to 4 every day," she said.
phill.mcgowan@baltsun.com