Dear Editor,

I attended the Development Advisory Committee meeting that reviewed the plan for "Baldwin Reserve" (Baldwin housing plan comes right from grave) and was shocked by the futility of the proceeding. I asked the DAC Chairman if any of the issues raised by the current surrounding residents would actually impact the final plan. I was told no. When I then inquired about the purpose of the meeting, we were told that it was so residents wouldn't be surprised when the bulldozers showed up.

"Baldwin Reserve" is a poorly conceived project in an environmentally sensitive area that feeds directly into the Little Gunpowder River. One of the two roads planned will be constructed a mere 15 feet from several current residents' property lines. Only the deceased owner and his "heirs," none of whom bothered to attend the meeting, want the project to go forward. Regardless of my opinion on the merits of the development, what current, surrounding residents' desire is the opportunity to affect the plan for road construction design, building setbacks from existing property lines and environmental buffers. Is this truly too much to ask of our county officials and the process they follow for development approval?

I respect the right of a landowner to do what he/she chooses with their property. There is something very wrong, however, when the concerns of current, tax-paying residents are irrelevant, but the desires of a long deceased, "controversial" developer who "often didn't see eye-to-eye with people living near his projects or with local government officials" is essentially rubber stamped by Harford County.

Ted Wasielewski